struggling to harvest colostrum, will I still be able to breastfeed?

[bananamuffin99]

Hey, as the title says I am struggling to express any colostrum, well I am getting a few drops but nothing more. I am due to have my baby next week by planned c section, so I had wanted to get at least a couple of 1ml syringes of colostrum but it's just not happening and making me feel a bit stressed tbh

I was just wondering if this will affect my ability to breastfeed when baby is here? DH says the fact I am producing something is a good sign and I shouldn't be so hard on myself. Did this happen to anyone else? Struggled to harvest colostrum but was able to breastfeed?

TIA x

I wasn’t able to prior to birth with either of mine, but DS was EBF to 15 months, and my nearly 6 week old is EBF too, after a c section. I don’t think it’s any indication of how success (or not) breastfeeding will be so please try not to worry!

I started trying to collect colostrum with my planned c section baby at 36weeks, gave up a week later as I wasn't producing any and it was really stressing me out making it more unlikely to produce!. After the c section she was put on my chest and took to it straight away 🤣. She pretty much stayed there for over a year!!

So please don't worry it won't help with the production, you are most likely will be able to after the birth.

I barely produced any colostrum even after birth. DS was a little poorly so was in th NICU anyway. One of his issues ended up being dehydration so he ended up having formula. He would breastfeed for 10 minutes then would get some formula. We ended up doing this for a few day's. My milk came in absolutely fine and now I'm lucky if I don't leak through all my clothes!! I honestly hated it at the time but now it seems so inconsequential. My son is healthy and happy and that's what counts.
So to answer your general question there's no reason you should have any issues once you give birth

Oh this makes me feel much better :) Thanks so much I feel a bit more confident now.

I've breastfed my children (have 5) and never being able to harvest any and I've tried each time, it's made no difference to my milk once they are born.

It works much better with a baby, your nipples know something’s not quite right.
I had a section and a premature baby with a lip tie. We had a slower than average start but we’re still going at two. (Not very often but it’s useful today as his molars are coming through and he’s thoroughly miserable.)
You’ll be fine.

Harvesting colostrum and pumping were both big fat fails for me. Successfully EBF my son. We just finished our journey at 18 months and I plan on breastfeeding my next one who is due in April.

Yeah no one’s body will make much u til the placenta detaches - that triggers the hormone change so struggling antenatally is normal and nothing to do with postnatal production.

The midwife tried with me when I was in hospital, nothing came out. My son breastfed for 2 years after that. Don’t worry.

You really don't need to be even attempting this, your baby will do it for you when they arrive, I didn't do this with either of mine and successfully breastfed both for almost my whole mat leave.

I had DS at 36weeks, he spent 4 days in NICU being tube fed with what seemed dribbles of colostrum I was producing for the first 48hrs then my milk cam in and I was expressing what felt like pints. By day four he’d had latched and we were away. He was BF until nearly 2 and i never regretted those first few stressful days.
I am currently sat in my car watching the 6ft+ 16yr old playing rugby. Relax and don’t stress, I pretty much had to wing it in the early days. Just wish they realised how much you do for them to give them the best start in life. Bloody teenagers!

Mines the same, I get get the drop out! But my technique is definitely lacking, sometimes it comes out and sometimes doesn’t! I’m not worrying too much, there’s some there, it’s just getting it out 😂

Never tried this, had two c sections, definitely took a few days before milk came in but they were getting colostrum at the start. So no, it never affected me, fed for years - getting the buggers to stop was more of a problem!

I breastfed both children into toddlerhood with no supply problems but never managed to harvest colostrum. DC2 was born by CS and I tried but it wasn’t happening. I insisted that the neonatal nurses in SCBU let him feed directly from me and this worked really well for us. It think it helped to bring my milk in sooner, too.

I leaked colostrum with my first. It came out at night, no way could I have harvested it. I went on to have no issues breast feeding and did so for 9 months tills till I was pregnant with number 2. No leaked colostrum in advance that 2nd time.

You don't need to worry!

Hand expressing is hard - babies are much better at getting it out and it comes easier when the baby is there. I could only express a decent amount of milk if my baby was feeding off the other boob at the time otherwise it wouldn't come out. I didn't ever leak colostrum and when I tried to get some out nothing much happened. I didn't have a C section but I had a traumatic birth and it took till day 4 for my milk to come in but my baby did fine on colostrum till then - she did feed a lot though - all night on the second night. I breastfed her till she was 3.5 years; exclusively for the first 6 months.

I tried harvesting before my DD came but had no luck. I wasn't able to give DD her first feed as I was so out of it as she was born by forceps very quickly. So DP fed her formula. Since then I have EBF and with some perseverance six weeks on and we're getting there.

Good luck and I'm sure it will make absolutely no difference to you also.

Super frustrated with colostrum collection, got the absolutely tiniest drop, so much smaller than the tiny syringe mouth, it is impossible to collect. Tried different days, long times, music, no music, low light, nothing works, always either NOTHING or so small its not good enough for the stupid syringe. Chucking all syringes away and it will be what it will be.

If there were a superlative for the word "frustrated", insert here. Otherwise, this is how I feel, and I know I'm not alone: @£@%%#^@####!££!£@%%@#%%###@))=>=_<÷]×<@^!!!!
Grrrr.😤😡

I'd never heard of this until a couple of years ago. Wasn't a thing even 5 years ago when I had my youngest. Seems to just get people massively stressed out.

For the small chance your baby might end up needing to be syringe fed I can't see it's worth the stress and effort. If all is well you can just feed the baby once the baby is here.

Never leaked anything before I had either of my babies. BF each of them until they were two, had plenty of milk all the time.

Seriously, don't put more pressure on yourself. Enjoy having your nipples left alone for a little while longer :)

This was never mentioned when I had my dc (now 8 and 5). I didn't even attempt it and had no problems breastfeeding. Expressing was uncomfortable enough, I can't imagine doing it before even having a baby to latch on to the nipple!

Don't worry, this is a nice to have rather than a necessity.

Ability to express (in general) has no bearing on your ability to breastfeed. I was useless at expressing but have breastfed three children past a year each.

It's great if you can get the syringes but if it's making you stressed please stop. It's only a recent thing that people have been suggesting it and thousands upon millions of babies have been born via c-section and breastfed successfully without it.

If you want to do something constructive, I recommend looking up the details of your nearest in-person breastfeeding support group/person and putting them somewhere easy to find. And when my milk came in slowly (day 5, which is typical for c-section) with DS2, I found it immensely useful and comforting to know about the technique of paced bottle feeding, so I'd recommend looking this up too.