Colostrum

[Kate9423]

Did anyone not take their expressed colostrum into hospital?

I've got it all bagged up, frozen etc but the community midwife said not to take it in and just wait to be told if it needs to be brought in.

As my husband will clearly be with me throughout birth, when does it get brought it?!

Afterwards. You only really need it if baby struggles to latch. As long as you don't live ages away from the hospital you can send DH to go get it if it is needed. Or get a friend/ relative to bring it in.

I'm asking as I know of many people that have taken it in with them and it's stored in hospital.

Hence asking. 'Advice' isn't always 'obvious' to follow, but thanks.

I think they often ask you not to bring it because of storage space. Also it means tge colostrum has to follow you around which means chances are it would get lost.

If baby can't feed the midwives should help you express some colostrum there and then and the hospital will have syringes you can use to collect there if needed. Then if you still need the frozen ones from home then husband can go and get them along with anything else you need/want.

I've been asked to bring in colostrum by my hospital. My midwife gave me the syringes to fill. The main reason I've been asked is because I have gestational diabetes so they want the extra syringes for feeds in-between breast feeding for baby. We have to bring it in frozen aswell and was told these will defrost very quickly, which is maybe why you've been asked to not bring it in unless needed due to storage space ?
Nothing stops you from using it once home though, your partner can use it to feed baby if you are sleeping for example

I took mine in (frozen like PP) and they were happy to store it. They stuck it in the fridge so it thawed, but that’s fine if it stays chilled and is used within 24hrs. That’s when you’re most likely to need it anyway.

I had an allergic reaction to an antiemetic in recovery that meant I couldn’t breastfeed for a few hours, and there’s no way DP would’ve wanted to leave me or DD to go fetch it. I think DD really benefited from her dad being able to give it to her. Meant we didn’t need to use formula, which we also had a small amount of just in case.