Colostrum harvesting - advice please

[Awoooga]

Hi!
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I’m struggling to find an answer to my query and someone here is bound to know!
I’ve got some syringes to harvest colostrum, but I’m getting very little every time so my question is - can I keep, say, 0.1/0.2ml in the syringe in the fridge, until I can fill it up a bit more before freezing? If so how long can it be refrigerated for before freezing please?
Or do I need to freeze immediately and start a new syringe every time? I’m sure this was covered in the antenatal class I went on but I can’t remember!
Thanks in advance.

Harvesting colostrum for what? I'm curious.

We only get a tiny bit of colostrum for the first few feeds until the milk comes in - when I say tiny it fills a new babies stomach which is the size of a blueberry so that's all the volume you'll get probably

Colostrum can be frozen for a few months, it can only be refrigerated for a few days. It takes a while for colostrum to build up. Get a little cup - like eyeshadow palette size. Put boiling water in it to sterilise it. Then put a warm flannel on your breast and squeeze your breasts as per guidance and YouTube videos. If you don't get much leave it and come back to it later in the day. Once you've collected some in the tub then syringe it up, put in a food bag, date it and freeze it. I froze tiny tiny blobs and by the end was filling most of the syringe a couple of days later. It takes time and perseverance. The midwives in the hospital were impressed I had taken colostrum in and I commented about how I wasn't going to bother giving the baby the tiny blob ones and they argued and said no definitely as the baby hardly needs anything and that will fill them up

The rules I was told for milk are
3 hour in cool bag
3 days in fridge
3 months in freezer

However you should cool the milk to the same temperature before combining. You could put all the syringes in the fridge, then fill one up from the others before freezing, but you would then need to re-sterilise the syringes before you used them again.

The good news is that in a few days you will probably be able to get more at a time, and maybe fill a whole syringe anyway.

Thank you all that’s very helpful 😊

I’m trying to harvest colostrum but can’t get anything! As dry as a bone!

It does take a while I think I only start getting some at week 38. The more you keep stimulating your nipples it will eventually come

I’d express directly in to the syringe, if you sit in front of the tv and reallt try and relax and continually massage your boobs / squeeze from behind the nipple it does eventually come, taking a long time to start

Both pregnancies I’ve taken 5-6 syringes full on to hospital and then not used them! What a waste!

Is it really worth doing? It wasn't a thing only a few years ago. Seems like a big faff for something you may well not need at all.

It's recommended now for anyone who wants to breastfeed, as if you have GD and the baby needs extra feeds to regulate blood sugars or if you have a section or anything else which delays your milk, then the baby has a stash of colostrum to see them through. It's basically to avoid supplementing with formula.

Yes it really is worth doing. Do some research before you spout ignorance. Here's a link for your benefit...

www.medela.co.uk/breastfeeding/mums-journey/colostrum

That link is about the massive benefits of colostrum. Of which I have no doubt. I'm doubting the knots women seem to be tieing themselves in to extract teeny amounts before their bodies arrive actually ready to produce it on the off chance they won't be able to feed effectively once the baby is actually born.

If it's coming easily I guess there's no harm in having a supply. Although it seems to me that in such tiny quantities it would defrost in the time it takes to get to the hospital and have to be thrown away anyway.

If it isn't coming easily I can't see there's enough benefit in stressing about it. Better off concentrating on learning how to latch and be insistent about getting help with that in hospital than faffing about with tiny syringes.

I would use one syringe for a day. So express 2 or three times a day and top up the same syringe then freeze it. The more you do, the more you'll get so you start using them up pretty quickly.

I did it for DC3 as DC 1 and 2 were badly tongue tied and establishing breast feeding was hard. It was a real saviour a couple of times so I'm really glad I did it.

Agree with @RNBrie . When expressing (once baby was born) I was told to add to the same bottle for 24 hrs so assume the same applies for colostrum. I was told 6/6/6 (6 hours out of the fridge, 6 days in fridge/ 6 months in freezer). I has GD and a section 3 weeks ago so expressed colostrum. I think I had 9 1ml syringes. Didn’t need it really but was a good back up.

Word of warning. I used an electric pump to produce colostrum when 39 weeks w DC1 (few times a day for a few minutes each time). Am fairly sure it sent me into very full- on labour very quickly ( think contractions every 1.5 minutes from the get go).

I managed to fill 8 syringes before I went into hospital and ended up using them all as DD struggled to feed and so she needed it. Worth doing if you can, personally I am very glad we had it as it got us through a tough time.

I also think the last lot of expressing made me go into labour as my waters broke that evening and DD was born less than 24 hours later.

Hey, rule of thumb for breastmilk is 6,6,6 - 6 hours at room temp, 6 days in the fridge, 6 months in the freezer. And then a year in deep freeze.

if you’re harvesting, collect and add to a syringe over a few days, then freeze. It’s perfectly ok to add milk from different sessions. I did mine over 3-4 days at a time, then froze. I managed 4ml in 2 weeks lol. And as soon as she was born, I hand expressed about 20ml in 5 mins 😂