Due to have premature delivery, struggling with monitoring and trying to express

[Beasie]

Hi everyone, im 28 weeks pregnant and have been told that there is a problem with my cord and the blood flow to the baby. This means that we are due to have to move to delivery very soon. They want to keep the baby in as long as they can, as long as the baby is getting blood flow to the heart. Im being monitored most days for any negative change. Im trying to monitor the baby movements as constantly as possible too as i know this might be the only sign of something changing for the worse. This feels like such a massive pressure and im finding that hard to cope with. Ive also been told to try to hand express some colostrum if i can. Ive tried a couple of times but i dont think it’s working. Ive watched videos and i think im doing what they show. They also say to be calm and relaxed, which is impossible at the moment for me. Im also worrying about how much im worrying and crying but i cant seem to help it. If anyone has any colostrum tips they could share, i would really appreciate it.

So I was never able to express colostrum- literally couldn’t even get a single drop out despite all the effort- massively stressed me out and was a complete wreck about it . Ended up being an over supplier, donating to breast milk banks and going for over three years!

please know that even if you can’t get even a drop out - things might change dramatically when baby is actually here.

Oh goodness, that's hard.

Are you at home, or in hospital?

It's harder to express without your baby actually here but you can do it. I work on a nnu and mums are encouraged to sit next to their baby's incubator or are given a photo to look at if they are too ill to be with their baby to help stimulate the flow.

So you could try some visualisation techniques and listening to classical music is supposed to help. Staying calm is really important but clearly easier said than done. Do you like baths? If that says "relaxation" to you then trying to express in the bath might help.

Basically thorough, you just need to start. It will take a bit of practice and you will probably get virtually nothing at the beginning but it will increase and anything you can give your baby will be a win.

Have they offered you had a tour of your neonatal unit? It's a great idea to visit before your baby is admitted. Although it's a hospital with lots of beeps and wires and tubes they are full of wonderful staff who will look after your family and it will take a lot of the fear out, if you can see it before your baby arrives.

Oh this sounds super hard OP, sending you a big hug!
I tried antenatal expressing at the end of my last pregnancy and even at 37 weeks and trying twice daily for a week I didn't manage to get anything pre delivery but I think it probably did help my milk come in more quickly once my little once was born, so please don't sweat if you keep trying and don't get any.
NICUs have access to donor milk which your baby can have, obviously colostrum has all the good stuff too but yours will come when it comes.

Thank you all so much, really appreciate the responses. I’ll try the bath for sure and see how that goes. I won’t be surprised if nothing comes but I hope it will as it’s basically the only thing I can do to try and help the baby at this point.

I’m at home still, not sure if that’s better or worse really. I think if you have reverse blood flow they automatically admit you but mine is not quite that bad yet although could change at any moment.

And yes thank you, we’ve been offered a tour of our local neonatal unit. I’m sort of debating whether it will make me feel better and more prepared or whether it will make me feel more distressed and I’m still not sure. They’ve mentioned the donor milk too though which is amazing, very kind of people to do this for these scenarios.

thanks again everybody

My eldest daughter was admitted to NICU and I was totally unprepared. I found it very distressing. I wish I had known what to expect in advance. So I think if you can go in advance, it will hugely help on the day to know what to expect.

I am another one who wasn't able to express any colostrum in advance, but on the NICU, there was an amazing breastfeeding coordinator who helped me get started. They will also be able to loan you breastpumps once your milk comes in and help baby latch when they are well enough. DD had donor milk for the first couple of days alongside my colostrum, then my breastmilk. So give it a try but don't stress if it doesn't happen for you, as they will help you once baby is here.

Normally you don't express colostrum before 36/37 weeks because it can bring on labour, but if your baby will be delivered early, I'm guessing this is why you've been told to start now? So just also keep an eye out for any early signs of labour.

Good luck. As pp have said, the NICU doctors and nurses are amazing and will talk you through everything that is happening. In my hospital, once my baby was in NICU, i was moved to a private room on the postnatal ward, which really helped, and they were able to set up a link to an app where photos of my baby were uploaded, so i could go home and shower once i was discharged, whilst still being able to see her. Wishing you and baby all the best.

Just writing to echo what other people have said, they are really good at supporting with pumping etc once your milk comes in and there is always the possibility of donor milk. Wishing you all the very best, it's such a stressful time.

I expressed about 0.1ml a time ahead of having my daughter and as soon as she was born I could immediately produce much more. For me the biggest advantage of starting to express before hand was having an idea of what to do to hand express. It did take a few goes to get any consistency and it meant that once my daughter did arrive I found hand expressing fairly intuitive. She was born at 38 weeks but my milk came in quickly and by 24h I was needing to hand express for comfort.

My dad was born at 28 weeks in the early 60s at 2lb3oz which at the time was the edge of life. My nan was told to go home and grieve for her son but he survived! He came home at 8 weeks /36week adjusted once we weighed 5lb8oz being fed on condensed milk! He's had no long lasting impact of being so premature the options he had available to him are nothing compared to nicus now!

Thanks everybody - very helpful to hear others’ stories and yes, assuming the units have moved on maybe from condensed milk :) I really appreciate hearing about what others have found helpful or would have found helpful in hindsight and the positive outcomes too. Thank you.

I asked about labour risk with hand expressing - they think at 28 weeks it’s unlikely and that the research suggesting a link between the two is not that robust, but not to try more than maybe a couple times a day for 3-5 minutes. Nothing yet but I think maybe a little glistening in the nipple and maybe a little crustiness, so perhaps will help it come easier and earlier after delivery or perhaps it could still start before. Really appreciate all the tips and thoughts on this too. This is the very first time I’ve ever posted in a forum about anything and it’s just so lovely that other people want to help and encourage each other in difficult times.

My DD was born via cs at 30 weeks, I was in hospital since 28weeks and told to try for colostrum. I managed to get a few very small syringes worth over the 2weeks and then when DD was born my milk came in quickly.

As it happened DD did not take any milk until she was at least a week old as she was fed with a long line directly into blood stream with electrolytes, sugars etc (I might have the long line info a bit wrong as it was 10 years ago now, my memory is faded) so I managed to bank lots of milk in that time ready for when she started using it.

Whatever happens it will be fine re feeding so don't let it stress you out and good luck!