A lot of colostrum at 37 weeks? Photo

[Shahhhh]

Hi! I'm 37 weeks and have started expressing colostrum. I tried hand expressing and found it really tricky so decided to use my pump on a really low setting and managed to get this on my first pump. Is this a good sign that I'm going to have a good supply? I tend to leak a LOT especially at night so I'm hoping it's a good sign!

I’d be mindful using a pump as it may induce labour early. I struggled to get more than a few mls a time hand expressing colostrum and had a good supply, stock up on muslins!

I don't think you are supposed to pump for colostrum
I don't think it means you'll necessarily have a good supply. I couldn't get any colostrum when trying to express in pregnancy but have a very good supply

NHS advice is to only ever hand express before birth, do not use a pump.

The goal isn’t to get as much as possible, colostrum is thick & sticky, small quantities is totally normal and a newborn will actually only need a small quantity at a time to be full.

It’s also not a sign of anything. I had lots of colostrum, was leaking from 30ish weeks pregnant, but had issues with supply once baby was here. I have one friend who was never able to get a single drop while pregnant who had an amazing supply once baby was born and is still breastfeeding her 11 month old successfully.

Thank you for your replies :)

I read that expressing after 37 weeks was considered ok, I know nipple stimulation can rarely cause contractions but would I figured as baby could technically come at any point it wouldn't make much difference. I am a first time mum so I'm learning! Thank you all!

Definitely triggered contractions for me !

My friend started expressing at 38 weeks, baby came four days later and she was surprised because the anecdote is that first babies tend to be later rather than earlier. Her three friends at the nct group all did the same and had their babies shortly after they started expressing too.

My son came early (35 weeks) so I never had that decision. However once I started pumping (on the second day, every 3hrs) I did feel uterus contractions quite a lot in that first week of pumping. Obviously that’s after he was born/csection so it’s not the same as before and I don’t know if pumping helped them along sooner or I would have got them at that point anyway.

@Shahhhh Wow OP, that's loads! Amazing, but probably already more than you can actually use/would realistically need.... AFAIK 10mls is plenty usually. You can probably consider stopping now, as you really don't want to trigger labour this early (37 weeks is full term, but trust me from experience, you want a baby that is as strong, healthy and as close to "fully cooked" as possible, especially if trying to breastfeed...)

I would also strongly advise you seperate that into 1ml syringes as your newborn baby will not be able to have very much at each feed in the first few days, and you will want the ability to defrost only the amount needed.
If you froze or all together in one bag you would have to throw it all out after using the first ml or two. That would be a tragedy!

Could op not donate some of it for neonatal babies?

I hand expressed quite a lot of colostrum (think I had about 20 syringes!) before my DS was born. Turns out he had to go to NICU for 3 days after he was born, the midwives told me he would need to be formula fed during this time, until my partner brought in the syringes. The doctors were pleasantly surprised and DS ended up using all of the syringes up! On day 3 he took to breastfeeding like a pro.

People tell you to not bother collecting colostrum but it could come in handy!