Harvesting colostrum

[comeonbaby]

Im wanting to hand express my colostrum whilst still pregnant and freeze for babe for when he arrives.
Ha anyone done this? How did you find it? How was feeding baby from a syringe? Did you too up with milk?

I will not be breastfeeding at all which is why I wasn't to express the colostrum...I won't be discussing not breastfeeding so please do not ask 'why not'

I can only answer partly as did not do this in advance, only once baby arrived. She took it no problem at all, wouldn't latch but loved the syringe. Make sure you get plenty of syringes and they give you little sterilized packaged bowls to express into as well.
The colostrum wouldn't have been enough for us on it's own so I was also giving formula.
Good luck. Colostrum then bottle feeding worked well for us.

Thank you @WhoIsBU
What size syringe did you use? I've bought some sterile syringes in 5ml and I've bought lots to express into that I have put in sterilizer to start today. The pots have lids that I can then write the date on, as was going to freeze in the pot and use syringe when ready to actually feed.
Did you freeze or express and go?

Express and go. She scoffed all the colostrum I could give her and then milk after so I couldn't freeze any. I tried the pump as well and although it did work, it wasn't for me. So once milk came in I just gave formula.

The syringes and pots were just given to me at the hospital. I think they were 5ml although not sure. They were about 3 inches long.

From my experiences of expressing colostrum you will need to use the syringe to "hoover" it off the nipple as it comes out in very thick drops which are useless in a pump as they get stuck all in the mechanism. You could then squirt into a pot though but you'll have to be quick as IME little drops left exposed to the air harden very quickly and then it's hard to use it. Bigger quantities and airtight storage help.

The staff in the neonatal unit mixed mine with drops of water to make it go further but I don't know whether that's recommended. It was a bit of a blur.

I expressed colostrum with both for both of mine. First dc was a traumatic birth and breastfeeding was hard going. The syringes helped to plug the gaps. For dc2 I haven't needed them as he has been a dream on the breast. I was given 1ml and 3ml syringes by the midwives. I think I expressed around 30ml in total each time and froze.

Also the syringe you hoover with needs to be tiny, I think 2ml was the size I used in hospital. I tried with a 5ml medicine syringe and it was hopeless because the hole was too big to form a seal with the droplets.

Thanks for all your feedback...very helpful 😊
I've manages my first hand expressing today into a little pot and all went well 😊 had a little difficulty with one breast, but got there in the end and have just over a tea spoon.

How long between sessions would you advise? I've read to try three times daily, but my nips are a little sore, which I'm sure is perfectly normal...with any luck may help induce labour as im 40+2 now 😩

I wish I’d done this. I had a c section lost lots of blood and my collostrum just didn’t come in so I wish I’d been prepared! Good luck sound like you had a successful first go!!

Did this from 36weeks with DS and 34weeks with DD when told I'd be induced at 38weeks with her.

Traumatic birth with my son, he was fed defrosted colostrum straight from the syringes by his dad until I was well enough to establish BF. I'm surprised more women aren't encouraged to do this if they're keen to BF, I'd highly recommend it.

DD is 5 days old and came out much easier, so haven't needed the frozen stuff, but I'll keep it in the freezer for if/when either of them are poorly to try and give their immune system a boost.

Hi, another one here that would recommend using 1 or 2 ml syringes. You can hoover it up off the nipple as pp recommended and freeze the syringes in a sandwich bag marked with the date. Then feed baby straight from the syringe. I used to express twice a day. It was really helpful for getting him going with feeding, I would give him a syringe and it would give him the energy to then latch on and I don’t see why the same wouldn't apply with a bottle.

I only come across this through googling colostrum benefits and not breastfeeding - when I mentioned to my midwife I wanted to express colostrum she was really shocked! They are quick to ask how you want to feed when baby is here but miss our vital info like this! The benefits are so worth it that I wanted to at least try - I've just frozen my first 3ml 😊 I can't get hardly anything off this morning, so will wait until later to have another go!
I'm hoping to keep going in those first days babe is born as hopefully will produce more!

Oh and yes it is a bit sore at first it got easier (both less painful and more productive) very quickly for me though!

I found it came out easier when I was relaxed and warm, often after a shower. I'd do both sides twice in each sitting, then call it a day to avoid soreness. If it got too painful, I'd give myself a day off.

It was community midwives running a zumba class that put me onto it, and I've mentioned it to every pregnant lady I've met since. Like you, OP, I can't believe it's not more widely encouraged. Good luck with baby.

Also try not to squeeze really hard - I found if you make a C shape with your hand and sort of massage it out, from just outside the Areola - takes a little longer to get going but then it flows well and saves the nips

Yep. I expressed from 37 weeks and went up to 43 weeks with baby.

It was slow at first, but by the end I could fill 5ml syringe in a day. Had quite a good stash by the end and I did use it when DS had jaundice and needed energy to suckle. By weigh in, he had only lost 2% so it worked really well for us.

I don’t actually get on with hand pumps and I expressed using my electric pump and just sucked up the beads of colostrum with the syringes.