Collecting colostrum

[jacksmamx]

Hi guys,

I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant with my second child.

I did breastfeed my 1st child and it took a lot for me to admit this but I didn't enjoy it, I was extremely tired, stressed and he had reflux which made it 100 times worse, in the end the doctors advised for him to be put on formula to help with his reflux, this is when I started to experience some relief and respite.

I have made the decision not to breastfeed this baby, although I know every child is different, I want to have an experience where the feeding can be shared and I can actually enjoy the first few weeks of this babies life. This is a big decision for me so please people don't make me feel bad about this because I already feel very guilty in the first place :(.

Anyway to my point, as my boobs are leaking already, I was thinking of collecting and freezing my colostrum to feed her in the first few days of her life as I still want her to get all that yummy goodness from the "liquid gold". What are peoples experiences and do you all have any advice for me?

Thanks xx

I assume it could work ok. If it is colostrum and not just milk from when you did BF? I'm not sure, my milk never seemed to go away after 14 months of BF but I never leaked when pregnant with next baby. Even if you just collect the colostrum once baby is born for first few days it will be good for them? I'm sure midwifes will help you. I had to collect it with 2nd as he was in neonatal, even when I got a drop or two the midwifes said it was fantastic and they need so little of it compared to formula. Babies are so different, my 1st was hard work but did become easier as time passed my 2nd was a dream even though he was tube fed at first! I was expecting sore nipples, mastitis as some point, but it never happened! Don't feel guilty, do what suits you and baby and enjoy! :-)

I’ve breastfed two babies (FF DS1 as he wouldn’t latch) and had two completely different experiences so I would keep an open mind if I was you. DS3 BF like an absolute dream from the offset.

I have harvest colostrum ‘just in case’ for DS2 and DS3 and use a medela hand pump as I have no patience for hand expressing - you can start from 36 weeks.

I bought some sterile syringes off Amazon.
Pump, syringe out the colostrum, write the date on the syringe packet & pop the syringe back in the packet. Then add to a tub in the freezer.

I managed over 100ml with DS2 but with DS3 just over 20ml (not sure why I couldn’t get as much but I wasn’t leaking either & just wasn’t happening despite 5 weeks of pumping!).

Then obviously when baby is here, when you get it out of the freezer, it’ll defrost really quickly because it’s such a small amount.

Good luck

You don’t want to collect until a week before you expect to deliver or minimum 36 weeks x

Google lactation consultant Kathryn Stagg. She has great videos on YouTube for this and articles on how and when (she has a breastfeedingtwina website that is still relevant to you) x