colostrum collection

Well done! I was trying to explain to my husband though why is it important to harvest early? Is it because you think your baby might not be able to get from the breast what you can harvest and give him from the syringe? For example in the case of baby not latching properly? Or is it to avoid breastfeeding at times if it becomes too painful (so then you’ll have the saved colostrum from before delivery?

Your milk sometimes doesn’t come in right away after giving birth, and can take even longer with a C section so you can use the colostrum to feed baby until your milk comes in.

I had my baby yesterday after having hand express for two weeks..
It went rdally good.
The colostrum just started flowing more and more.. my baby fed all night and pooped 3 times already (I was a bit concerned, but doctors and nurses said that it was great and a sign that she is getting a lot of food).
She fed almost all night... 😱😱 from both breasts... and now has been sleeping for 3 hours already...
The nurses told me I could let her go even 4 hours since she got food all night. 🫠

true but my husband’s question was why harvest it ahead of time instead of feeding the baby at the breast and let them suck the colostrum? All I can think of was supplemental feeding - in case that’s needed at all

sometimes baby can have issues that prevent them from latching for the first little bit and having some colostrum already collected can prevent having to use formula. It can also be helpful for if your milk isn’t coming in as quickly so you can supplement with your colostrum instead of formula. Colostrum is also a great source of antibodies for baby and you can give them colostrum you’ve collected later down the line if they have a cold or illness of some sort.

I started trying to express 4 days ago once a day for about 5 minutes with my pump and got nothing the first 2 days, day 3 I got maybe .1 mL, and yesterday I pumped twice and got just under 3mL total! I’m being induced next week if he doesn’t come on his own so I’m hoping this will also help my body go into labor without Pitocin.

makes sense

i’m doing it more as a preventative measure. nothing against formula, but if anything goes wrong with me and i can’t feed him right away or if i am sedated i would rather him have his first few meals be colostrum. another reason why i really want to stock up on it is the benefits (aside from nutrients) that colostrum has. any topical infection be it on babies eyes, umbilical stump, or on my own nipples; a few drops of colostrum a day can help heal the inflammation:) it’s liquid gold, it can help a sick baby as well if they get sick a little later down the line

do you think expressing before birth helped with your supply?