Colostrum Harvesting Fail :(

[LemonLight]

Hi all, I'm hoping to get some advice on colostrum harvesting.

I'm 36+3 weeks pregnant and my midwife gave me a harvesting kit at 36w and told me to start trying.

I've watched what feels like millions of videos, read what feels like every article and after practicing twice a day since Friday I'm still having zero success and it's really getting me down now. I've tried a warm bath, shower, warm flannel, all different techniques. At best (not always), my nips have gotten a little shiny looking as if they're a bit more moist than they were before but so far not a single droplet.

I would love to be able to breast feed if possible and I kind of expected at least after a few days of trying I'd have some success, but no. Has anyone got any advice or are willing to share their positive/negative experience with colostrum harvesting?

It's my first pregnancy and it was IVF, I had really low ovarian reserve and AMH for my age (<35y), could that be why I can't do it?

And a harvesting kit is a simple 1ml syringe that hospitals use everyday. Nothing to do with harvesting kit manufacturers, which Boots and others sells at an extortionate price!

I couldn't get anything either...it hasn't affected my breast feeding at all! If you struggle after birth the midwives will support you to feed and help her colostrum if you can't get baby to have any.
Please don't worry, you will be fine and have the support should you need it before going home 🥰

Honestly I can’t see why you’re being asked to do this so please give yourself a break! I didn’t do this (youngest isn’t yet two and it wasn’t mentioned) EBF both kids for over a year, no issues with supply at all.

Never harvested. Never expressed. Fed 10+dc perfectly fine including a prem dc born at 35 weeks.. Stop making your last weeks even more stressful!!

This is a crazy thing for your maternity unit to be suggesting that all women who want to breastfeed try. It's completely unnecessary, time-consuming, and potentially stressful and anxiety inducing. You really don't need to do this.

I never did this and never tried (and wasn't told to). BF for over a year.
I would highly recommend the book "The womanly art of breastfeeding" by La Leche League and spend your time reading that instead. Despite the title it is very practical and a real help including during those middle of the night feeding sessions when you feel like you're not doing a good enough job and your baby isn't getting enough milk. Read it beforehand so you get an idea what to expect.

Hi there I am a midwife working on the labour ward. I used to volunteer in a breastfeeding support group. I would say colostrum harvesting is a brilliant back up plan in case there are labour complications (for example baby is born but placenta doesn't come and the woman needs to be transferred to theatre for 1 hour to deliver the placenta - or similar). Saying this not every woman can produce colostrum antenatally so don't panic if you can't. I would say stimulating your breasts 3 times a day for 5- 10 minutes on each side is plenty before birth (it would have to be more frequent after birth unless your baby is feeding well- a lot of them are sleepy in the first 24-36 hours). When you are expressing start with gentle massage. Make sure you are pressing on the breast and not on the nipple. In my experience pads of thumb and forefinger work best. Press together and inwards building up a rhythm. Rotate your fingers around the nipple. Don't hurt yourself. Little and often is better than running a marathon every now and again. Again don't get stressed out if nothing is coming out. I read someone suggested to use a manual pump- I would say it's not going to help. Finally no woman makes milk in the first 3 days- it's biological impossibility. Lots of skin to skin, unlimited access to the breast, help with positioning and attachment and regular hand expressing (unless Baby is feeding regularly at the breast) and you should be fine. Last week I supported a 48 years old first time mum (IVF pregnancy) - she was exclusively breastfeeding on discharge from hospital. Global Health Media have really good videos on breastfeeding, well worth watching. I hope it helps

I did this with both my pregnancies - and then was so busy once the babies arrived I just forgot all about it! The little syringes of colostrum just sat in the fridge on the ward and I forgot to either give them to the babies or take them home! I wouldn’t worry too much about it - it’s quite a recent thing. Definitely not worth making your breasts sore for.

So have I and not only never heard about it as standard practice but it would also go against any common sense

1. negative for maternal MH because it’s unlikely to work before birth

2. your nipples will be sore even before breastfeeding

3. can you give the expressed colostrum to your baby? Probably not in reality because it will be in your freezer and getting it to and keeping it in the hospital will be a hassle. If everything goes well with breastfeeding I doubt you’ll jeopardise it by giving expressed milk. If baby is in NICU you’ll express fresh. And if you have problems expressing after birth, well you definitely won’t successfully express anything before….

4)There’s a reason there are posters here with diabetes saying they were asked to try expressing early - it can help trigger labour earlier.

If this is indeed a new NHS policy, then it was probably produced by the same bright minds who brought us « you can only get an urgent GP appointment if your symptoms appeared within the last 24h » that someone mentioned on a thread this weekend.

Harvesting colostrum wasn't a thing when I had mine (youngest is 11). I successfully breastfed both after difficult pregnancies, c sections and awful recoveries. First got his colostrum straight from the boob and second got hers with post birth expressed colostrum via an NG tube.

Please don't get stressed about this.

I had an IVF pregnancy with low AMH and didn't harvest any before giving birth (but probably didn't try hard enough). I ended up with a c section and my milk took a while to come through but got there eventually. Ended up breastfeeding for approx 18 months.

The main thing that helped was a lactation consultant. So I would highly recommend one as they are amazing!

No, that’s not why people with diabetes are asked to harvest colostrum.

If baby is born with low blood sugar, then it needs to be fed regularly, and having pre-expressed colostrum allows you to feed and take the pressure off post natally. You simply freeze it, bring it to the hospital and they put it in the fridge on arrival, and it can be used for up to 24 hours.

Source - I had gestational diabetes.

My MW said not to start before 37ws (in case it induces labour)! Im planning to try at nearly 40w because I really dont want to be early and I just cant visualise milk coming out of my body yet!
(Already unable to eat cheese after breastfeeding class).
It’s only as an emergency backup anyway so could all be discarded.

Didn't manage a single drop of colostrum ever but successfully breastfed all 3 till around 16/17 months

I've breastfed for 5 years in total. Colostrum harvesting never came into it!!

I didn't manage to get a single drop of colostrum whilst I was pregnant. It would have been handy to have a little stash though tbh as my little one unexpectedly had to go into special care after he was born. I did get colostrum straight after I'd had him and I realised that I probably wasn't trying to do correctly. The midwife that helped me was very firm with her technique!

I have managed to breastfeed my son and he's now 20 months. I'm also pregnant and due second baby in the summer

The midwives managed to get a syringe of colostrum each time my newborn needed feeding (it was also the first thing my baby ate). Hopefully they will help you with this once you've given birth.

Hi there I am a labour ward midwife with an interest in infant feeding. I totally disagree with your points

1. The majority of mums (although not everyone) can express some colostrum prior to birth. Which is brilliant back up plan if mum loses a lot of blood at delivery, feel nauseas from the drugs given to contain the blood loss, needs to go to theatre for retained placenta etc - those things do happen, not to everyone but they do happen.

1. It's called breastfeeding because colostrum and milk is made in the breast not in the nipple. With the correct technique nipples don't go sore with either colostrum harvesting or breastfeeding

1. In our hospital half the mums turn up in labour with colostrum in the lunch boxes packed with ice. The colostrum could be kept in the fridge for up to 6 days. Every labour ward and postnatal ward have a milk fridge- some people bring their preferred brand of formula- it's stored in the same fridge.

4 . I can't remember our gestational diabetes policy at the top of my head. However I doubt if a bit of hand expressing would trigger labour- otherwise people would be trying it instead of other things.

This sounds like madness as a routine recommendation to me: setting women up to fail. its just another thing you’re supposed to do as a super mum superhuman person.

yes. Of course, if you’ve got loads of time and no other responsibilities, no job, and are miraculously unaffected by extreme tiredness toward the end of pregnancy… or you have GD or a medical reason. Otherwise, what is the logic? Breasts need stimulation to bring your milk in and baby needs to get the hang of extracting it. Most breastfed babies get colostrum directly from source if the mum is BF. If things go wrong I can see why a store might be helpful ie if your baby ends up in special care or you are incapacitated but otherwise …bananas.

Couldn't get out a single drop and exclusively breastfed for 15 months. He never had any formula.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. There were two reasons that I was hand expressing, both due to the gestational diabetes though. First was because (for a number of reasons including the GD), my consultant wanted to induce me at 38 weeks and I was trying to go into labour on my own. Nipple stimulation and hand expressing can help this.
Secondly because of my GD, my baby's blood sugar could have been low at birth. Having colostrum on hand would have taken the pressure off me to keep feeding and potentially avoid other intervention. As it was, I did go into labour at 38 weeks but didn't need the extra colostrum at all as his blood sugars were fine.

I'm really surprised at the statistics for the number of women bringing colostrum. I was under the impression it's only encouraged if there is likely to be a problem postnatally.

I never managed this and breastfed 3 children.

I’d strongly suspect the person saying half of mothers bring in colostrum, works in a very advantaged or very metropolitan elite area.

Christ almighty, do new mothers need any more pressure??!! I am very pro breastfeeding but this is really unnecessary in the majority of cases.

shame on the NHS for pushing this.

Just don't unless there's a medical reason you need to. No need for extra stress in your last few weeks of pregnancy.

(Also, the midwife above saying nipples shouldn't hurt if you're using the correct technique - ignore that too. Many women's nipples hurt like fuck while they and the baby are getting the hang of it. I wept with relief when the health visitor agreed with me that it's really bloody painful, instead of just telling me I must be doing it wrong. Still makes me cross 10 years later).