Colostrum and bottle feeding.

[beccy1604]

Hello, I'm due my first baby in a few weeks, and I can't seem to get a straight answer from my midwife!!
I am going to try and harvest colostrum, but formula feed the baby.
I'm not sure how this works - when baby is born do I only give them colostrum or would I give them colostrum and milk? Will the colostrum be enough to fill them?
Has anyone done this before and know what you need to do?
Thanks in advance :)

I have no useful advice I'm afraid but I'll be following this thread with interest as I am planning on harvesting colostrum before our baby arrives and would love to read some other experiences as I've never done this before!
I'm 31 weeks pregnant and have been getting advice from the infant feeding team at the hospital at which I will be giving birth as I wish to breast-feed but have disabilities and health conditions which may present some issues with breast-feeding, plus I'm having a planned caesarean section. The team have been very helpful and supportive and we are going to try our best to make breast-feeding work but I'm aware that formula feeding may end up being the best solution. The infant feeding team recommended expressing colostrum a few weeks before I give birth so at least our baby will get that, I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to coach me on how to express it. I think it's worth you asking to be referred to your local infant feeding team ahead of giving birth if your midwife can't provide you with the advice or reassurance you need, our team have been excellent.

I tried to harvest colostrum but didn't manage even a drop - turns out the majority of women aren't able to harvest colostrum before the baby is born. If you're not going to latch baby on at all then I doubt you'll get much colostrum out even using a Haaka. If you're happy to BF for the first week or so once your milk comes in then you can collect it in the Haaka when baby is latched on to the other breast - them suckling will stimulate let down.
I ended up EBF and even then I collected so much colostrum from the breast baby wasn't feeding on at the time which DP would give her while I showered/slept/ate.

It sounds like a lot of hard work.

Why don't you just breastfeed? You can try to harvest colostrum but it won't be enough to fill baby up unless you can express plenty.

You can mix feed once bf is established.

You collect it in a syringe, you freeze it, take it to hospital and then give it to baby.

Or just breastfeed.

What is the purpose of harvesting colostrum before baby arrives? Why not just wait until they're here? Surely for millennia women have just fed their baby the colostrum after birth without having to harvest and store it before they've even arrived?

@BodyKeepingScore 1) saves you the effort when you're majorly tired and sleep deprived, 2) extremely helpful if you're separated from baby (we were separated for 6 hours and it meant the midwives didn't need to give a bottle, they fed him the colostrum), 3) as more women are choosing to give formula, we are realising how beneficial the colostrum is to the baby so women are encouraged to at the very least give colostrum

@Everlore I found this video helpful:

https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/baby-friendly-resources/breastfeeding-resources/hand-expression-video/

@Everlore I expressed with one hand and caught the drops with a syringe in the other hand. Alternatively, midwife recommended DH use the syring as it can be quite fiddly. You can also express into a cup and then draw that out with a syringe but you must sterilize the cup first. You can get colostrum syringes off amazon or the pharmacy.

Then label it with name and date and freeze it. I took 10 syringes to hospital and gave them to the midwives, they had a fridge for it. They helped DH give it to baby as I had a c section and complications so couldn't put baby on breast for 6 hours.

So a newborn baby drinks 1 to 2 ounces the colostrum syrines you get are usually just a few ml so I'd give milk along side it. Especially if your doing it just for the health benefits of colostrum

It's just for the health benefits, diagnosed with GD and they recommend colostrum soon after birth to help stabilise baby's sugars.