Colostrum after birth (bottle feeding)

[likeacrow]

I'm going to be bottle feeding (definitely not breast feeding so no point in going down that road on this thread) but don't know whether to give the first bit of colostrum. I feel like I'll be expected to but will this then lead to being "encouraged" to carry on for 24 hours, then the first 3 days? I don't want to breastfeed so feel like this will be starting down a path I don't want to travel down.

Can I still do skin to skin without giving colostrum? Is it painful to express colostrum instead?
Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar position, how they dealt with it and what their experience was...?
I am well read up of health benefits of colostrum and breastfeeding so don't need advice on that.
Thanks

'Breastfeeding agenda'. Eh!?

I've swapped back and forth between breast and bottle with my tongue tied babies, and they were fine with it. I followed advice in this article regarding baby-led bottle feeding nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/

which I think is good advice for anyone bottle feeding a baby. It helped my babies enormously.

If you breastfeed for a few days, you can easily switch to bottle after. If I were you, that is definitely what I would do.

I am a big believer in breastfeeding, but only where it suits you and the baby. It is your decision. That said I like your idea of giving colostrum if you don't mind. It is meant to be one of the best parts of breast feeding for the baby and giving it lots of antibodies.

If you can stomach doing it (and I don't know why you aren't breast feeding, but assume you are willing since you asked the question) I totally would. It is easier just to feed it directly if you can as expressing colostrum is hard. But if you would prefer expressing is fine.

I don't think they are more or less likely to pressure you about bf if you do it. They will to encourage you, but just be strong about what you want. They can't force you.

Congratulations and good luck.

I hand expressed colostrum for all 3 DC (intended to breastfeed but none of them would latch on at first).

The midwives provided little syringes, and showed me how to hand express and how to use the syringe to suck up the colostrum. It wasn't painful, but it can be tricky to get the hang of hand expressing, and it was time consuming - it took quite a long time to even express 1ml of colostrum at first, but the midwives said the colostrum was full of nutrients so even a tiny bit was good for baby. As pp said, using a breast pump isn't great for colostrum, because the volumes are so tiny and can get "lost" in a breast pump and bottle.

Also, any colostrum you do manage to express can be kept in the fridge for a while, so the hand expressing is something you can do in advance of feeds. The midwives in the postnatal ward were happy to keep my expressed colostrum in the ward fridge until it was needed for baby's feeds.

Re. skin to skin - that's something that will be calming and beneficial to a baby regardless of how it's fed.

And if you do decide to breastfeed the first few days, don't worry about baby rejecting the bottle. It takes longer than that for them to get used to the breast - if you were intending to breastfeed, the advice would be to keep them away from bottles altogether for the first few weeks to stop them getting used to bottles and rejecting the breast. So I think it's unlikely a couple of days breastfeeding at first would interfere with getting bottle feeding established.

I breast-fed DS1 exclusively, but with DS2 on day 3 he ended up jaundiced so I had to introduce bottle top ups as he was under the lamps and could only be out for a limited time. I then combination fed for 4 months until he started rejecting the breast (as bottles are easier for them to get milk from). So I wouldn't worry about baby preferring breast - for DS2 it was the opposite! He never had problems going between the two, although sometimes I had to start the let down first as he would sometimes get frustrated.

You can always give five mins on the breast and then top up with formula x

The OP has clearly said she isn't breastfeeding so when people keep suggesting it, it is just plain rude and pushy.

Socks-the OP said she wanted to give colostrum but was asking about expressing it or giving it straight from the breast. OP then asked if she breastfed the colostrum would baby reject a bottle.
I don't think anyone has suggested the OP breastfeeds long term, people are saying that breastfeeding the colustrum is usually easier than expressing it which is what OP asked.

Both my DC have had first feeds from breast and then switched to bottles no problem (around day 2 or 3, can't remember exactly). And yes skin to skin without feeding is perfectly fine and should be encouraged

I had twins and cos they often arrive early we were given a pack of tiny syringes and encouraged to hand express from 35ish weeks and freeze it. Is that an option? The midwives can give them to you.

Mine were mix fed from day 5 (my milk hadn't come in so lost 15% body weight and were dehydrated by the time they stopped pushing the bf schtick) and had no problem taking the bottle.

They had those ready mix formula bottles in the hospital. It I've heard not all hospitals supply them, so if you're going to feed aptamil or cow and gate you could get a couple of boxes in.

And a perfect prep at home... bloody amazing

I gave both my boys colostrum in hospital, DS2 was too sleeping to latch so the midwife helped show me to hand express into a syringe and then give him that. I also fed them bottle of formula at the same time. Nobody batted an eyelid tbh and they took to bottles fine. It's nobodys business but your own how you feed your baby.

Sorry that didn't really make sense, trying hold a wriggling baby at the same time, you get the idea!

Skin to skin definitely worth doing irrespective of how you choose to feed your baby. I was shown how to hand express colostrum into a little cup and gave this via syringe. I mix fed for 4 weeks before DS decided he preferred the bottle and refused to breastfeed again. I'd hoped to BF but it didn't work out and I didn't beat myself up about it. Also no one else did. People say shit on here that they will never say in real life, no one is going to have a go at your for your totally valid parenting choice!

Perfect prep is amazing. The hospital provided me with formula as I wasn't planning to use it but once we got home we used ready made stuff for a few weeks then powder once he was having more.

I really do believe that it's worth working out an acceptable way for you to give your baby the colostrum, whether that's expressing or BF for a short time.

I breastfed both of mine (still feeding the youngest) but just to say, I wouldn't worry too much about being 'forced' one way or the other, I got roughly 3 mins breastfeeding support at the hospital with my first born and zero with the second, and that was in a hospital that is extremely pro breastfeeding!

If you can, do try and give some colostrum, it is so unbelievably full of goodness.

Good luck!

I'm having an elective CS and found out all about this last week at the hospital midwife appt. - basically I was worried that my milk might take longer to come in (or not come in at all) after c-section and asked if there was anything I could do to prepare. I was really surprised, as the midwife then explained lots of women hand express colostrum as you're all describing (with hand, hand pump and syringes) and then bring it to hospital with them on the day of the section, presumably in case they or their baby are kept in surgery (or ICU) for longer and away from one another.

She also explained it all to make the point that you can self-express prior to going into labour, it doesn't have to be the birth hormones that's sets it off - which I didn't realise before.
I found all this really useful info, and presumably this might also reassure you that if you really don't want to BF, then using syringes to give the baby colostrum when it's born is also a good option and you can prepare in advance too, so there is no worry of pressure from midwives to BF after birth.

I'd ask to make an appt with one if the midwives now if I were you to talk you through how to do it - they will also send you home with lots of pots and syringes, and may even loan you a manual breast pump (though you can get them really quite cheaply online too).

Good luck! X

Oh and she said to us the pump to stimulate the nipple/boob to start producing.... then once colostrum comes out quickly symphon it off with the syringe not the pump (as others say above too) and store in freezer

Depends on your reasons, if it's "nipple phobia" (my Dsis wasn't letting a baby anywhere near them!) then hand express of just go straight to bottles it won't hurt baby.

If it's not wanting the commitment of BF longer term then I'd put baby to breast for a couple of days then swap. It's soooo much easier than expressing which I could never do. I BF and gave the odd formula bottle if I wanted baby free time.

I wouldn't think baby would refuse bottle it's normally that they refuse breast after bottle feeding as it's harder work.

FYI there is good science behind colostrum. In the UK Even dairy cows have to give the calves colostrum before they are moved off onto bottle milk by law as its a good thing.

But it isn't an absolute if you just don't want to!

Please give your baby your colostrum.

It really is no one's business if a mother does or does not breastfeed OR give baby colostrum.

Please can everyone just think NOT TYPE their opinions on that.

oP, for both my babies, they started off breastfed exclusively and neither had any problems moving to bottles (say 2-5 days later). I mixed fed but both babies would have been happy to exclusively formula feed.

It is really possible and v normal to had an intimate bonding skin-to-skin feeding relationship using formula and bottles.

Personally I would not waste time expressing colostrum and faffing with syringes in those early days. If you want to move onto bottles, many midwives are sympathetic if you just hold your ground.

Hand expressing might be a good thing to have a go at as it might help with engorgement to hand express some milk off when it comes in on day 3 or so.

If the act of breastfeeding after birth feels ok, just not long term, you could come up with a plan of colostrum initially, then mixed feeding, moving entirely to bottle after a couple of weeks or so. Would that work?

It all depends on the baby really you might find feeding uncomfortable and only want to do that first feed or none at all, you might find it not too bad and be happy to carry on giving the odd feed until your milk dries up.

I bottle fed from the moment my baby was born. No problems, no pressure from anyone to breastfeed, no professionals thought he would be ill as he didn't get colostrum, he isn't and has never been sick and certainly isn't small or deprived because of it.

Do what's best for you and your baby OP

if you feel you can then letting the baby latch if it wants to has benefits to you in terms of your uterus shrinking back to size and other elements of recovery.

if you can't do that, then as others said, colostrum is easily squeezed out into syringes, it's not really like 'pumping' milk, it's literally just squeezing out 5ml or so in tiny drops.

you will know when your 'milk comes in' as your breasts will swell up regardless of whether you've fed, expressed or nothing. At this point if you really don't want to breast feed you can not do it. Or you can do a bit of both for the first days and then move onto 100% bottle, it's quite hard to establish breast feeding in the early days, it's very unlikely to happen to you against your will.

Lots of women choose to give their baby(babies) their colostrum, then go onto exclusively FF once their milk comes in.

The most effective way to give baby your colostrum is to BF for the first 1-3 days.

Using a breast pump isn't really effective until your milk starts to come in around Day 3 (milk combining could be earlier or later).

Some women become distressed when hand expressing, as colostrum only comes out in tiny drops. So, if you decide to hand express please don't become disillusioned that you're not producing enough colostrum.

If you feel this is what you want to do, I suggest hand express the colostrum into a small syringe to give it to baby, and top baby up with a couple of ounces of FF.

Good luck with what you decide 😊

I think it's more likely that baby would 'get used' to bottle over breast but not the other way around. They have to work harder at the breast to draw the milk down.