Pumping Breast milk before birth

[Busyfool]

Hi, Wondered if anyone can help me?
I'm 39 +5 days so very close to baby arriving now although not had any early signs of labour yet & baby is still sat high.

I've heard nipple stimulation can get oxytocin levels up to potentially help labour start but this needs to be for a very long time to be effective!
I've not had any leaking colostrum milk through pregnancy- could I try to pump to both stimulate nipples & try to harvest colostrum ahead of baby arriving or is there any reason pumping when not leaking first will cause issues???
Thanks!

Hello,

I'm 38+2 and I've been hand expressing colostrum since 37 weeks into syringes and storing in the freezer.

I've had no leakage either before doing this or since.

I'm managing to get around 2ml per express and I'm doing it once or twice a day. For the first few days not a lot came out at all and now it seems much easier and more is coming out.

I've popped dates and times on each syringe and will take them into hospital with me when I go into labour. I'm hoping to breastfeed and taking these in for the first few feeds, which will also come in handy if I struggle to bf straight away.

My midwife has said it's perfectly safe to express from 37 weeks, wouldn't advise it sooner incase it triggers pre term labour

Hope this helps

It wouldn't cause any issues at this stage in your pregnancy but you are unlikely to get any colostrum to harvest using a pump. It's very very small amounts and so you need to do it by hand in to syringes or very small containers. Your midwife should be able to provide you with syringes and there is plenty of videos showing technique online. Just make sure you aren't just squeezing your nipple as that will make you sore and it won't work.

I did this when I was at full term as would have done anything to get labour going but it didnt work! Labour that is.

Theres no reason why you shouldnt do it at this stage.

Thanks everyone, worth a try I think. Will take a look at YouTube videos tonight 😊

I was advised to express colostrum for a few weeks before due to gestational diabetes. (Colostrum helps the babies to stabilise their blood sugar quickly so it's advised in case you have trouble feeding) I was very glad I had because it took us about 36 hours to get DS2 to latch on and he was able to have colostrum from syringes all of this time.

I expressed as I went over due and was at home alone and bored! My waters actually broke while I was expressing. I would get 5ml at a time so had a few syringes filled. We really needed them as ds wouldn’t latch as it eased some of my stress.