Anyone else colostrum harvesting?

[PinkFing]

I don’t really know if I need to but I’m really set on making breastfeeding work. I’ve got the kit from my midwife and have already managed to get some but I don’t see how this will help me breastfeed.

Did it help any of you?

I think that unless there's a reason (e.g. gestational diabetes) there is absolutely no point in harvesting. The baby will get plenty from the breast when they're born and it's actually more beneficial for you to put baby on the breast to feed as it will encourage your milk to come in and they'll get lots of colostrum that way.

Some reasons why colostrum harvesting might be helpful aren't known until delivery or afterwards (e.g. small or large baby, infection, low blood sugars, tongue tie or other feeding difficulty),
So I think if you can get a few syringes before you deliver then it's never a bad idea and even with a completely healthy baby can help take the pressure off in the first couple of days whilst you wait for your milk to properly come in.
I will definitely be trying antenatal expressing when I get to 37 weeks too, I like the idea that it might help me avoid going overdue in pregnancy too! Would rather not ever see what 41 weeks pregnant feels like

This whole concept is bizarre to me. Why couldn't you just give it to them after tye birth? My first didn't latch so I expressed mine instead and gave it to him that way. Maybe I'm missing something...?

I’m a bit torn about it. I’m 33 weeks now and may consider it 37 weeks+ some people have said they thought it kicked off labour for them. But if I successfully get breastfeeding and am not apart from my baby then I won’t need it right?

It’s not advised before a certain point (basically full term) in case it brings on premature labour.

I can’t get my head around the logistics of doing it pre birth. What do you do with it when harvested - freeze it? And then do you take it to the hospital with you when in labour? What if you are in labour for days and it all defrosts and goes bad? Or if you leave it at home in the freezer, how does it help?

I hand expressed and syringe fed colostrum to both mine (they were prem) but I did it after birth, I can’t see how having some pre expressed would have helped.

@Confused521

This whole concept is bizarre to me. Why couldn't you just give it to them after tye birth? My first didn't latch so I expressed mine instead and gave it to him that way. Maybe I'm missing something...?

I did the same.

However I had expressed a bit before giving birth and I was quite glad I had. It would have been fine, but I was exhausted, shaky, I’d haemorrhaged, I was tearful and stressed, and when they presented me with a little pot to hand express into I was quite relieved I’d done it before so I knew what to do and that I could do it.

As I said, it would have been fine if I hadn’t, I would have managed. I just remember in the moment feeling glad I’d done it before so had some practice.

I think the idea is that you freeze it, leave it at home and get someone to bring it to you once baby is born. My first DC had a bad tongue tie and midwives have suggested it with my second pregnancy so that I can be sure that I have plenty for DC2 before my milk comes in (I didn't get very much first time around).

Personally I'm not planning on doing it as I'm having an ELCS this time and we're disagreeing about due dates (they reckon I'm due a good week after my dates say) so I'm already concerned about bringing on early labour before my CS date. If advised by healthcare professionals though I don't see why it's necessarily a problem.

• not early labour - just labour!

Labour wards have freezers that you can ask to store your milk in. When you go into hospital, take the syringes in a cool bag and ask them to pop it in the labour ward fridge/freezer as appropriate

I'm doing it. I don't know if it's necessary but (for me) there's no harm in doing it. It might just sit in the freezer and go to waste but if baby needs it we have it on hand.

You should check that your hospital has a freezer you can use. You would then store it in your freezer, take it in with you with a cool pack in there and pop it in their freezer. It defrosts quickly by being run under warm water or even rubbed in your hands.

I would do it. It gets you into the habitat of hand expressing and if you need it, you’ve got it. I did antenatal harvesting from 37 weeks. I only managed to get one syringe full but I developed my technique, found what worked to get the colostrum and what was painful (so what not to do). I ended up forgetting my syringe, which really upset me as I’d worked so hard to get it. I did need it too. I had a vagina birth and baby was taken away for any reason afterwards. However, I was sick throughout labour and by the time baby was here I just don’t think I had anything left. We tried breastfeeding straight away but I just couldn’t produce anything and I wasn’t able to until the next day when I’d eaten and drank everything I’d lost the previous day. I tried hand expressing after DD was born in the delivery suite but nothing was coming out. I had to ask the hospital to syringe feed her formula at 7 hours old as I still couldn’t produce anything and her blood sugars were falling. I managed to get breastfeeding going later that day after we’d both eaten something. I gave the colostrum in my freezer when I got home.

I would say that antenatal harvesting, or not, is not the reason that breastfeeding will or won’t be successful. I wasn’t producing enough and got readmitted for her losing too much weight. We had to top up with formula. I’m still breastfeeding but it’s not exclusive and it will never get back to exclusive breastfeeding. There’s a lot of guilt and I’m trying to work out what the balance is between getting enough rest, breastfeeding and making sure she’s fed.

I had an EMCS with my first. Had a tough start with breastfeeding as she had a bad tongue tie, but she did latch in recovery and we continued to BF until she was nearly 2. Harvesting colostrum had never been mentioned to me and we managed just fine without.

I’m now 36 weeks and likely having an elective cs this time. My MW has just given me the syringes and I’m going to give it a try in case we need it. Hopefully everything is straight forward and it’s a waste of time, but I know how much I loved BFing last time and really want it to work this time. I feel it’s something I can do to give us an advantage if there is an issue at birth that means I can’t try to feed straight away. It’s a high risk pregnancy and there’s also been some concerns over slow growth. Quite happy for labour to start at any time from next week to be honest as I’m so done with being pregnant .

Personally I think why not if it can be useful in some circumstances, but if I’m not very successful (I was rubbish at expressing with my first) I won’t be letting it stress me out and I know that it isn’t a pre-requisite for establishing breastfeeding.