Expressing before birth - advice needed

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Hi,

I've been told I'll need a c-section at 36 weeks (at the latest) as my baby isn't growing properly. I'm terrified of not having any breastmilk for my baby's first feed because a) 36 weeks is still pretty early and b) I had a c-section at 33 weeks first time round and I didn't have any colostrum or milk till I was told to use a breast pump a day or so later. My friend (who is a newly qualified midwife) has advised hand expressing from 34 weeks and storing my milk but a lot of experts online seem against this.

If anyone knows how I can avoid breastfeeding problems in this scenario I'd be really grateful to hear. (Ps I think I'm a little anxious about this as my first baby was prem and a c-section, and we had so many problems breastfeeding, that in my mind the two are linked.)

i used my breast pump when i was 12 days overdue as someone told me it would start labour..... or might do......it didnt but maybe you want to be careful or at least think about that. not sure where i heard it but somewhere on the tinterweb!!!!

I'm really sorry to hear your pregnancy is having issues and hope it all works out well for you.

I know nipple stimulation is linked to starting labour but think it has to be many hours a day to work...recall this from nct class but maybe a properly informed person out there can tell you!

A midwife told me to hand express later in pregnancy to encourage collotsrum production. I did (mainly for novelty value...first baby!) and sure enough i seemed to have enough and my milk seemed to come in quite quickly (my straw poll, not reliable) . Though i mostly think this is cause i put my baby to the breast at every opportunity i had... We both needed time to learn (ideally before he was completely hank marvin). I don't know if that's any use,esp in case of premie, but it may help establish supply..? Don't know about storage.

Hope someone more useful comes along soon! sorry!

Don't panic, the fact that you have breastfed or had a milk supply before will definately help. Your body has done it before.
My first baby was born at 36 weeks and we had no probs with feeding so it's not always a prob.
Sorry to hear you having a tough time hopefully everything will work out just fine.

A v good friend had a prem at 30 wks the first time and persevered with breastfeeding after he was allowed home and despite the negativity from the hospital staff, went on to exclusively feed her first.

Her second she went into labour at 35 weeks and she once again succeeded with exclusively feeding again, this time with never a drop of formula.

It is very very possible to have a baby feed effectively from even earlier than this especially if you get information on biological nurturing (google the name Susan Colson as well) and using Kangaroo Care. also called kangaroo mother care.

As for expressing colostrum before birth, it is entirely possible and it has me wondering which 'online experts' are against this.

Obviously I don't know much about why you are being told you may 'have to' have a c/s at 36 wks but have you had a second opinion on this? Have they actually diagnosed a problem of IUGR or are they going by scans alone?

You sound very worried and I don't want to add to your stress so feel free to ignore my questions about your baby's growth. There are lots of people on the pregnancy and childbirth threads who you can share your concerns about intrauterine growth (if you have them) so posting there may also be beneficial.

I don't know if there are issues with it to be honest, as I wouldn't be an expert, but I'm just thinking that maybe you could get some milk from a milk bank if you do find that you have problems after the birth. My milk didn't come in for 5 days which was when I started expressing. It then took a further 2 weeks for him to breast feed and he continued until age 2.4 years

i don't know that you need to express in advance

ds was born 34+6 after spontaneous labour

expressed colostrum for him post birth and then milk once it came in (he took a while to latch)

i am sure i have heard that the removal of the placenta is the cue to your body to begin lactation so you should be ok

at 36 weeks you may find that he latches on straight away anyway, it is v close to term

good luck, hope this helps

I was expressing colostrum from from 30 weeks maybe longer. From 37 weeks I was hand expressing into a spoon and sucking up with a syringe and freezing in 5ml batches. Makes you look like a heroin addict with the golden brown liquid and paraphenalia! I did this because I had a breast reduction and wasn't even sure I could breastfeed, in the end dd ended up on nicu being tube fed after v. traumatic birth at 40+2, so I was very glad of my stash of colostrum and my milk came in within 3 days and we are still breastfeeding now despite a ridiculous amount of setbacks. So I do think hand expressing can get you off to the best breastfeeding start. Good luck!