Exclusivly pumping - Colostrum

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Hi all,

I plan on only pumping breastmilk for my baby rather than directly feeding from the breast.
Was wondering how this works at the hospital when baby is born? Ive tried harvesting colostrum but only seem to get about 0.1ml per day (im 38 weeks today).
Is it okay to give the aptamil ready made bottles from from from birth then switch to breastmilk when ive managed to pump enough? (I understand thatd id still need to mimick real feeding from birth with a pump to get the milk to come in)
Just a bit confused tbh

Colostrum's really valuable, though - and small amounts are normal. Why not just harvest as much as you can before birth and syringe feed it during the first few days? My first was so sleepy that I principally syringe fed him over the first few days until my mature milk came in. My second I had a small colostrum stash I'd harvested in advance which I syringe fed alongside feeding from the breast.

I'll be honest and say that even though I trained as a peer supporter for breastfeeding, I know nothing of 'harvesting colostrum' as it didn't really exist as a concept 18 years ago.

What I do know is that your body will only really kick into action producing colostrum with the hormones related to birthing, and the colostrum that you will produce is very small in volume anyway compared with the amount of milk that will follow.

Dry pumping without the sight or smell of your baby (even a photograph will help) is difficult as there is only manual manipulation to stimulate your let-down reflex. How much you can pump is not directly related to how much you can produce - some people successfully breastfeed but can't pump a single drop!

Popping baby on the boob just for the first couple of days would be a lot easier than pumping colostrum - I obviously don't know why you don't want to, but it is absolutely right for you if that is your choice. Bizarrely I'm quite squeamish about it even though I fed both of mine for over a year and support others doing it! Everyone draws the line somewhere.

Feeding formula right from is also absolutely fine if that is what you want to do - as long as you feed your baby and you are happy with how you are feeding your baby, everything will be grand.

It only gets difficult when hearing about people struggling to breastfeed which is almost always down to no support and poor advice, and being advised to switch to bottles when they didn't really want to.

You'll be fine, hope everything goes well.

You don't really have a "letdown" with colostrum in the same way, @ChangeEmailAddress - it just comes out in very small amounts when you squeeze. It's too sticky and too small in quantity for a pump - you hand express it into a syringe. I didn't have any stashed before the birth with baby #1, but after he was born I just kept on hand expressing into syringes (the ward midwives showed me) and getting it into him. I agree from the boob is easier (I was doing it because he was so sleepy he wasn't sucking properly) but I presume OP has her reasons for not wanting to feed direct from the breast which I won't second-guess.

Hey! You can definitely give formula as well. Good you're getting some colostrum already, that sounds like a normal amount. It increases quickly once the baby is born.

Just thought I'd mention that exclusively pumping is much more work than exclusively breastfeeding. I've done both. I know you might have your reasons for pumping though.

I couldn't breastfeed with all 3 of mine. I syringed colostrum and milk came in about day 3. Pumped for 6 months each time. It's not an easy path but I wanted to do it. I never harvested before birth, never heard of that. My supply was not good enough from about 4 weeks old, so I mix fed.

I'm not sure I fully understand your question but I think you'd be much better off hand expressing colostrum than pumping. Do you know how to do that? Imagine the milk ducts are straws that start high up under your arm pits and work your fingers down them, squeezing as you go.

That said, I think you'd be absolutely mad to not breastfeed colostrum if you can't express enough. Aptimal isn't a replacement. Have you even read the ingredients? My poor DD wasn't allowed colostrum because doctors thought she had a blockage in her bowel so she was fed glucose intravenously in a drip instead. Her gut was completely fucked up from day 1 and she will suffer with life threatening allergies the rest of her life. Admittedly she was also exposed to antibiotics which were probably the main culprit but I truly can't fathom why anyone would make the same choices I did, and risk the consequences, if their child's life wasn't at risk.

I exclusively pumped with my first for 8 weeks, my hospital had a pump I was able to use while I was there and then I continued at home. There are also hospital grade pumps you can hire these days. You absolutely can pump colostrum, the hospital were giving me small glass bottles to use and I was filling them 2/3 full from the first day. Exclusively pumping is absolutely exhausting though. My DD fed every 3 hours; took 45 minutes to feed her, an hour to pump and wash/sterilise etc, and the rest of the time trying to sleep/shower/eat/do chores. By 8 weeks I got mastitis and my supply dropped off so I had to stop.

my second and third I combi fed from the start. Pumped what I could but didn’t put so much pressure on myself to do every feed. I realised how much bonding I’d missed out on with my first. You end up feeling like a cow always on a machine. Absolutely worth pumping what you can so baby gets that good stuff but don’t put too much pressure on yourself, your baby will be absolutely fine on formula and you will never get those precious first weeks back

My ds was formula fed at birth as he was taken to scbu. He had low glucose so they just started him on it. I started pumping on day 2 and only got a small amount for the first day and then built it up. Pumped every 3hrs. Although a few weeks in I dropped the 10pm pump to sleep instead from 8.30pm-midnight. It was the only time I managed to sleep 3-4hrs along with one or two 30minutes naps at about 4am if ds would lie in the carrycot long enough.

Sorry for de-railing a little, but you can definitely pump colostrum - I did after a pretty shitty emcs with a big sleepy baby. I have allergy issues and was determined that I was going to do anything possible that might help prevent it, which included exclusively breastfeeding and the midwives were not helpful at all.

A lot of people planning to exclusively pump just give colostrum directly at the breast to start, as well as starting their pumping schedule.

Keep trying on the hand expression, there's a knack to it.

@muggart comments like that are what cause women to feel ashamed and guilty when they can't successfully breastfeed, of course in an ideal world all babies would be breastfed as there's no doubt it's the best option but comparing the health issues your DD unfortunately suffered to someone giving their baby formula is awful.

My post had nothing to do with women who can't successfully breastfeed. It was about someone who is already planning to potentially choose to give their child aptamil instead of colostrum, and it was told from the perspective of someone who was unable to give colostrum themself and has suffered for it. It's not kinder to obfuscate the truth in order to spare their feelings in the short term, imo.

I have breastfed two babies including hand expressing colostrum. 38 weeks pregnant with #3 and I can’t get any colostrum out right now. It is much easier to do it once baby is born. Make sure you start trying about an hour after birth and you may be able to keep up with baby’s needs without formula. Once mature milk comes in you can switch to a pump.

But your still passing judgement on someone for (possibly in the future) using formula even just for a short time?

If you don't have enough colostrum frozen when baby is born then you can give formula. But what you are producing post birth should be enough, the same way it would be if you were putting baby to breast directly. Don't forget newborns have tiny tummies - if you Google you'll find the sizes.
I pumped for 9.5 months with my first and now am EBF my second, but I harvested colostrum antenatally presuming I would be EP again.
My tips for producing more:
Warm flannel on breasts before. Gentle massage before and intermittently during hand expression. Watch or listen to something oxytocin inducing - that song that gives you goosebumps, a video of a loved one that makes you smile, feel good TV show you've seen before. I used it as an opportunity to practice hypnobirthing relaxation eg dim lighting, aromatherapy diffuser, comfy blankets.
Once I started producing 2ml or so a time, I used Medela hand pump instead of hand expressing.
I took 30ml with me in a cooler bag with ice packs and it was put into a freezer by the midwife. First time around nobody seemed to know where to find it later for ages so be very clear to ask where the freezer is! (Turned out to be in neonatal unit in our case).