breastshells - do they only collect "foremilk" ?

[Caz10]

someone on here suggested trying breast shells as i was having trouble expressing...i was amazed to find i could get 1oz, and probably even more if i didn't spill it when taking them off! It only works 1st thing in the morning after dd has had a longer sleep, (and bizarrely only from one boob, but that's yet another worry). I put one on my leaky boob while dd feeds from the other one.

anyway, i notice that the milk is quite thin, and doesn't separate as much as expressed milk in the fridge. given that it's come from full boobs at the start of a feed, i think it is not very fatty? I was wondering whether if i were to collect this and use to give in a bottle it might not be a great feed for dd?

I used to run like a tap from the other side and collected it. Must be honest, it didn't seem to satisfy the baby when I gave them it compared to formula (but same as when fed straight from me) - I only managed 6 weeks both times.

My conclusion after that ramble is that it's probably the same as what the baby is taking. I have heard someone say that when feedign twins, the weaker one benefits from that arrangement as they get good milk with less effort...

Hopefully an expert on here will have a good answer as I am 7 months gone on number 3 so would be interested in the right answer to this!

I have just (literally, in the last half hour!) tried this for the first time, and was wondering about this too. Was also amazed at how much I got - half an oz from one side!! No wonder I was getting soaked when the breast pads slipped

No way of knowing what the fat content of breast shell collected milk is - if there has been a gap between feeds, then the milk that drips is likely to be less fatty, it's true, and as you say, Caz, the breast is fuller when you drip into the shield (and we know the fuller breast has cmparatively less fat in the milk).

If you collect it for a feed of EBM, then the worst that could happen would be she would need more of it to feel full.

Lots of mothers find one breast is 'better' than the other for expressing/feeding, and one breast may be leakier than the other, too, Caz - not something to worry about.