Breasts leaking

[coffeewithmilk]

Hi,
I'm 28 weeks and my nipples have started leaking. The left one is leaking yellow/orange which I presume is colostrum. If I squeeze my boob quite a lot comes out.
Should I be trying to store this for when baby arrives ? I read about colostrum harvesting before delivery but I'm a bit clueless about it all.

Thank you

You can but you don't have to. It's really up to you. I did but found with all the craziness and because I was breastfeeding I never really used it. It can be good if baby has problems feeding but presuming baby is term and you get good support this shouldn't be an issue

I think (no expert) that its not advised to harvest colostrum until at least 37 weeks as it could potentially cause early labour?

But yes, if you wish to, collect after 37 weeks

I think it’s only if you have a planned c-section that you’re encouraged to try to express some colostrum in advance because there’s sometimes a delay in establishing breastfeeding with a c-section because you don’t get all the hormones of labour.

If you’re planning a natural labour I wouldn’t bother, especially this early. If you’re already producing some it means you’ll hopefully have no problem producing lots when the baby arrives.

Hi coffeewithmilk - I was reading about this in my pregnancy book last night!

It's recommended to harvest colostrum from 37 weeks, only up to a few minutes at a time, couple of times a day as it can cause contractions and bring about early labour.

I was thinking of doing it as it took a while for me and my first to get the hang of feeding and she wasn't latching properly, so having a supply of colostrum in those early days would have taken some of the pressure off me! So with my second, I think I'll freeze some ready :-) also good if you are planning a c-section as the milk will be there ready if you are exhausted and can't feed right away.

You don’t need to be doing anything with it, and certainly not yet.
However whenever hand expressing pre-birth comes up I always recommend it. I did a bit, didn’t use any of what I froze, but DD wouldn’t feed when she was first born. I’d been up for a couple of days, had haemorrhaged and was shaky and teary and exhausted and they asked me to hand express so they could syringe feed DD a little bit. The fact I’d already done it before made it so much easier, plus it meant I wasn’t stressed about not being able to do it properly, and was able to get quite a lot. It’s not difficult to do, but if you’ve had a long labour and are exhausted and then stressed because the baby won’t feed, it’s just easier if you’ve tried it a few times.

Thank you everyone for your replies 😊
Glad that it's a good sign this early on and hopefully I'll be able to breastfeed with minimal problems 🤞🏻