cultures where they don't feed colostrum

[vermilion]

I read about some cultures not feeding a newborn colostrum as it's 'dirty', so they wait for the milk to come in.

What do they do with the colostrum? Is it all reabsorbed? When does breastfeeding begin? Does it matter that the supply hasn't been got going from the very beginning?

Thi is true, vermilion, but as breastfeeding education and support increases its scope, these practices are dying out.

The babies are not unfed - they get given a range of other (not ideal) foods.

I suppose the colostrum does come out with the milk when the milk comes in - not sure about this.

Breastfeeding begins on about day 3, as I understand it.

In cultures where formula is not widely used or afforded, it probably makes very little difference to long term breastfeeding - if mothers have no alternative then they just breastfeed.

But we know from other research that getting breastfeeding going early and well does impact on later breastfeeding and may affect supply, not to mention the well-being of the baby.

Thanks tiktok
Isn't it harder to get bf going, though?

Interesting.

Which cultures?

Various around the world - some in S America, Africa, Indian subcontinent and Far East as well. I've read it's also an Islamic thing but I think it's more cultural than religious.

You'd think it would be harder to get bf going, vermillion, but in cultures where no one expects to ff, where the mother and the baby stay tucked up close together 24/7....it seems not to have this effect.

Here's a fairly old paper about this.

That study is 1990. Since then, healthworkers all over the world have become more proactive in educating mothers of the risks of non-breastmilk early feeds, and letting them know that colostrum is far from harmful. There are several studies in the breastfeeding literature which detail campaigns that help with this.

I'd never heard of this until I was in hospital having DS and struggling after my section and one of the midwives told me about it by way of encouraging me not to give up hope. I was fascinated.

Interestingly when I worked in Australia a lot of Aboriginal women wouldn't BF until their milk was in as there was a taboo about feeding colostrum. They would give formula but I don't know what happened in the past - presumably the baby was wet-nursed until the mother's milk came in.

I'm 41 and when I was born (In Belfast)I was fed water for the first 3 days and my mother was told to express her colostrum which was put in a bottle and my mother watched it go off while I started sucking my fingers. My mother was distressed but did what she was told in hospital

why doesnt your milk come in on day 1?

I just presume that the colostrum is exactly the right stuff for a newborn and I fed my babies constantly from the birth and they didn't cry and the meconium moved through really swiftly.

just to make up for my poor mothers experience! And mine of course....I sucked my fingers until I was 12!

i didn't get ds to bf till day 5 and nobody told me about expressing colostrum. my milk came in day 4.

i always just assumed he never got any colostrum, that it had been sort of washed away by the great milky tide. but thinking about it actually it must still have been there but just rather diluted. good i am happy now.

Colostrum is perfect for the newborn - cows produce it too and it is highly valued by dairy farmers.

You can assume if nature arranged it for colostrum to be there first, then the baby needs it first

It helps get the baby's bowels moving. Its concentrated antibodies protect the newborn as he/she comes into contact with pathogens for the first time. And it is in relatively small volumes, to gently help the baby's system become acclimatised to a new way of metablising food.

Why is cows' colostrum highly prized by dairy farmers? What do they do with it?

Does anyone else NOT know when their milk came in? I haven't the foggiest

Nor me!

i am never going to forget when and how various things happened with bf because it was so very awful and important to me. [doomy] but really it was.

I didn't know either and can't really see what the fuss is about.

I realised my milk had come in when my boobs were four times their normal size and much higher! They were like Jordan's boobs for a day or two.

Useless fact of the day - traditional Yorkshire curd tart should be made with beastings, or cows' colostrum.

Elasticwoman - not sure if you are joking or not....what would you think happens to the colostrum? The cow gives it to her calf.

I found this site which outlines its importance:

www.thecattlesite.com/articles/1318/colostrumthe-first-line-of-defense

Someone who knows more about dairy farming than me might know what happens on the occasions when the calf is immediately taken away for slaughter or rearing elsewhere.

Maybe that's when they take the colostrum for brrrrrrmmmm's curd tart

"Along the same lines, we live among cattle ranchers, and they'll tell you flat out that any calf who doesn't get its mother's colostrum in the first day of life (for whatever reason) will be "no good -- weak and sickly, won't grow properly," even if it goes on to nurse well after that first day. I haven't ever asked any of these old crusty cowboys how they feel about this in the case of human babies. 'Twould be interesting. . . "

here

there is also a really good explanation of how colostrum works in cattle as a part of a larger one on FF in an ABM magazine.

'one' should be 'article'

I shared a room with an Asian woman when DS2 was born and the nurses were trying in vain to encourage her to breastfeed, but she was surrounded by extended family and they made it clear she would formula feed until the milk came in. I asked one of the nurses about it when I got the chance and she explained that they saw a lot of superstition around colostrum with the Chinese community. Isn't it funny - so enlightened about some things like herbs and acupuncture and so behind on this matter.