How and when to harvest colostrum?

[buffyverse]

Hi, new to breastfeeding here but I really want to try.

I'm 36+5 and have now got my c section date through. I want to collect some colostrum for the baby as I have GD and I know she could have low blood sugars so will need something as soon as.

I don't really know where to start though...
I've ordered some syringes and I have milk bags to store them in already. I also have a Medela harmony manual breast pump, would I be able to use this for colostrum or not ?

Any advice would be great, thanks

After 37 weeks it is fine.I didn't use pump as very little comes out and it's better to do it with hands.There are some good videos on Youtube

Apologies no advice but following as I am 35 weeks and hoping to harvest in a few weeks time- no idea where to start! Hope some pros come along

Thank you.
Anyone else have any tips ?

Me too 😆

Don’t be worried if you don’t get much, I hand expresses after birth for my daughter and was more successful.

@Hatscats I see alot of women online saying their boobs are leaking etc and mine don't, they didn't with my son either but my milk still came in I just didn't manage to bf! I really want to this time though for the health benefits for the baby so would like to get started with the colostrum

You can't really pump to harvest. Far better to hand express there are videos on you tube.

I think 37 weeks is the advice. If you are in the UK then you should have been asked by your midwife around 34 weeks if you are planning on trying to express colostrum and they will then give you a pack with everything you need.

For me it's all about being relaxed, particularly the first time. So for me that means, taking a bath, having some music on and not putting any pressure on myself if it doesn't work. It took me a bit of time with my first one to do it(although he was premature so I actually did it after he was born in hospital). Definitely best to do it with your hands and not a pump. Lots of videos online showing the details but for me it was all about trying to stay relaxed. It shouldn't be painful so don't squeeze too close to the nipple and don't stress if you only get a bit, you will still be producing when your baby is born until your milk comes in x

Hi @buffyverse I definitely recommend harvesting colostrum, I didn't with my first baby and ended up squeezing out droplets into a syringe all night when she was first born. With my second I was prepared and got 50 syringes by the time he came and it was so nice knowing that was in the freezer for back up if needed.

I never leaked at all and I still got loads but some people don't - it depends on the person.

Have a nice bath and get all relaxed, nice and warm, try a nice boob massage then make a C shape with your hand round your boob, then sort of smoothly press and squeeze towards your nipple. I always used to have to pause a few seconds when on the nipple or it didn't work, you have to do it slowly. When the colostrum first starts coming it's like a tiny bit of wet then starts to make a little bead on the end of your nipple. When you see that you quickly put the syringe nozzle to it and while still squeezing use your syringe to suck it up! Then repeat.

You get quite a lot of air in the syringe but if you hold it upright you can wait til the air bubbles come to the top and depress the plunger gently to get rid of the air.

When the syringe was full I'd put a label on with my name and DIS number so it wouldn't get lost if it ended up in a hospital fridge.

Once it starts flowing I used to be able to get a few syringes from each side a night. I wouldn't recommend pumping at this stage, I think it's too harsh on the nipple and always made me tense up.

Hand express and be prepared for it to take you a while for the first bit to come out.

I tried colostrum harvesting at 37+4 and waters broke at 37+5 so first tip would be to make sure your hospital bag is packed! Mine was not 🙈. There's a reason why nipple stimulation is supposed to bring on labour 😂

I got zero colostrum before labour. I hand expressed for 5days until my milk came in however (DD was in NICU) and then went on to combi feed for 9 months so not getting anything before labour is not a sign in relation to breastfeeding.

There are some good videos online. You need to be calm, relaxed, recommend to try in the bath or shower as the hot water helps the let down and you can use a drop of shower gel etc to help. You need to use the 'C' position with your finger and thumb, working from the outside in. At the start, i literally only got drops. I had DH hold the syringe next to the nipple and suck up the drops. Then date, time and put into a sandwich bag in the freezer.

I did get droplets forming with hand expression (C shape, rhythmic squeezes) but prefer using my manual Medela hand pump and would get around 2-3ml per session (about 10mins). I’ve frozen around 12mls this time, due in the next week or two. Good luck!