Colostrum harvesting

[hollyhd]

I'm 38+5 with my first baby. Over the last few weeks I've been leaking a bit of colostrum so I thought I'd give harvesting a go (was mentioned by the midwife a while ago). It's come really easily and I filled 20 syringes in a couple of days.

I was wondering, before I buy more syringes, is there any benefit to continuing to hand express daily? Will it increase my supply in a way that will make bf easier or will it just make me more leaky in the time before baby gets here? Does it help kick off labour sooner?

Baby is LGA so there is a possibility of c section if I go overdue but hoping to avoid this. Otherwise well - no diabetes etc.

All of those things! Freeze those syringes and take them to hospital with you. If you need a long sleep after labour/CS then DH/DP can use them to feed the baby.

With both my babies, I was so glad I had a ridiculously huge supply of colostrum in the freezer.

It meant that during the second nights, when the baby was up and hungry and fussy but my milk hadn't yet come in, I could give them all the feed they needed, and even have a sleep whilst DH took over.

Thanks! I was under the impression that colostrum harvesting was for sick babies/mums but sounds great if it can help me get a bit more sleep while I'm recovering.

Hello

Yes I expressed during the end of both my pregnancies and was please to have a stash of milk for my partner to top my babies up if needed!

I am a midwife and I am trying to design a research study about colostrum harvesting. I am looking for a few volunteers to simply ask about their experiences and to ask what areas surrounding colostrum harvesting would be good to investigate in my research study.

If any of you would be willing to have a chat with me it would be much appreciated! My email is [email protected].