Expressing colostrum pre-birth

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With a heavy heart (she says defensively!) I have decided not to bf this one, due next week. Has anyone got experience of expressing colostrum before the baby is born? I'd love him to have the colostrum but don't want to put him on the boob at all so have got some syringes from the mw. Just dreading it a bit now that the time has come (certainly due to the terror of the last two times)...

Totally your choice and no judgeypants from me at all, but why have you decided not to feed at all?

I had a horrific time with my first. She was starving and I had such a bad infection I genuinely thought my nipple was going to fall off. Looking back she was deffo tongue tied. I can remember looking at my baby and thinking they were evil. I stopped feeding after 12 weeks and looking back I have no idea how I did it that long.

Number 2 started to hurt on day 2. I got passed around from pillar to post. Saw my health visitor, gp anyone that would listen. Spoke to the lady that snips them on the phone to be told
If I was still in hospital she would come to the ward and do it but because I was home I had to wait a fortnight. I rang her three times a day until she snipped him. She said it was a big posterior tongue tie. Feeding was easy after that. I fed him until he was 18 months.

Number 3 no problems at all.

Number 4 I was on to them. As soon as she was born I told anyone who would listen that she was tied. The midwives couldn't see it - to be honest I couldn't either but it hurt and I knew I had fed 2 successfully and so it shouldn't hurt. I refused to go home until it had been investigated properly. They eventually got the specialist lady in (I'm lucky my mat hospital has one) and she found it - again posterior so not really visible unless you know what you are looking for. She snipped my daughter on the ward - the relief was pretty immediate - I fed her for a year.

As for expressing before you give birth. Seriously you don't need to do that. I pumped with my first - it was bloody excruciating. If you are not going to feed, just don't feed, your baby will be fine. Surely expressing will make your milk come in anyhow? So you could just put baby to breast for a couple of days and stop when your milk comes in.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick and it might not be because of pain, but honestly it doesn't need to hurt.

Breastfeeding education is woeful in this country. 10 years on I still have scars on my nipples to prove it. Good luck whatever you decide.

And don't be defensive. This is such a personal thing - it is totally up to you.

Hi OP, I expressed colostrum before DS1 was born because it was being advocated at the time and I'm so glad I did as he was rushed straight into intensive care so I wasn't able to breastfeed him straight away. It took me a few goes to get the hang of it and getting it into the syringe was a bit fiddly but keep at it and you'll get there. Well worth it as you'll get peace of mind your baby is getting the colostrum from you. Best of luck!!

I expressed before birth.
I didn’t want to breastfeed. I had expressed for the first month with my others and did the same this time, just expressed colostrum beforehand too.
I actually used a pump to express, even though the midwife said it would be harder. I managed to express enough to fill about 12 of the tiny syringes and took them into hospital frozen. They stored them and then he had them along with formula until my milk came in a few days later, at which point I expressed for a month and mix fed.

Thanks for the replies - reassuring to hear I'm not alone in this mission.

Justinanother: As for why I'm not bfing - a pile of issues (not physical pain) - suffice to say this decision was made with help from my therapist...! I could talk about it for hours.
Your perseverance is amazing though - so well done!

You've made me question what I thought I knew though - won't the milk come in whether or not I express colostrum? Feeling a bit dense considering this is my third... clearly I need to do a bit more research before I line up those syringes (twelve?! Brilliant!)

Any other words of wisdom gratefully received.

Yes, your milk will come in regardless of whether you express colostrum or not!
I think you’re safe to start expressing colostrum from 37 weeks.
I will say though that lots of midwives at the hospital were confused as to why I’d expressed beforehand. They kept asking if I was diabetic as I think it’s common with people with diabetes as the colostrum helps their babies sugar levels.
Don’t think many people express colostrum otherwise to be honest. I’m glad I did though.

I was planning to bf DC2 (but that has been a struggle and no judgment from me at all about making a different decision) but l had gestational diabetes so wanted a ready supply of colostrum. I found hand expressing into a small sterile cup then syringing it up was simplest. I then froze all the syringes in a ziplock bag, which I labelled with my name, patient number and the date the colostrum was expressed. Made it easy for the midwives to know it was mine (as it was kept in their medicine fridge so needed to be clearly labelled). Good luck!

I did. It took a few days of practice before I got the hang of it but I did get there. I also expressed into a tiny sterilised pot or spoon then syringed it up before freezing in labelled bags. I did breastfeed but I felt better for knowing that I could just give him that as well so I knew he was getting something until I really got to grips with breastfeeding (a billion weeks later)

I watched a YouTube video on how to do it

If I have another baby I will have a c section and would consider expressing colostrum beforehand in case I am unwell afterwards or if I want to have strong pain relief like morphine. Not sure how common it is to express beforehand but lots of c section babies seemed to have feeding problems and needed feeding with syringes anyway from what I saw/overheard during my hospital stay first time around.

If you don't want your milk to come in at all I think you can get medicine to stop it to take after the baby is born. You could ask your GP maybe?

Yes, your milk will come in regardless of whether you express colostrum or not!

Not true. I exclusively formula fed from birth and my milk did not come through. Absolutely nothing changed. My breasts are exactly as they were before I got pregnant.

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