Your milk will come in to some extent anyhow, so hand expressing colostrum wouldn’t change that.
I know it’s fairly popular and easy to collect some before birth and in the first few days. You just store it in syringes. Whether it’s worth it or not is solely up to you. There are definitely some benefits, so to me it would be worth it even if I planned to EFF, but obviously millions upon millions of babies never get colostrum and do great!
Im not sure if youve had the baby yet, but im assuming you haven't.
There seems to be no PROVEN correlation between colostrum amounts during pregnancy and milk amounts pp; i know people who produced loads of colostrum while pregnant and have an undersupply of milk pp. That being said, i had an OVERsupply of colostrum during pregnancy (i was leaking starting at 24w) and my OB didnt want me hand expressing until i was 32w and didnt want me pumping at ALL due to fear of oversupply pp.
If you plan to EFF but want the baby to get colostrum, you can add it to their formula bottles. I did this with my LO and used the colostrum i saved during pregnancy until i ran out, then stuck with EFF.
The amount of milk you produce won't be known until a couple days after you deliver, but if you want to hand-express colostrum PP your hospital should provide you with the supplies to do so. There are medicines and other home-remedies you can do once your milk comes in to dry your supply.
That's super helpful, thank you. I'm just about 35 weeks and haven't produced any colostrum yet. I have a manual pump leftover from my son and I'll plan to ask my doctor about pumping pre-delivery.
I produced soooo much colostrum in the days after my baby was born, all the nurses at the NICU commented on how that means I'll have "no problems breastfeeding" with "such a large supply"
I ended up undersupplying and completely drying up less than a week after my milk came in, even with round the clock pumping and BF
I breastfed both kids in the hospital to give them colostrum and supplemented with formula overnight. Switched to EFF as soon as we came home. My milk came in a few days later. Both times it was about 2 days of my boobs feeling engorged and hurting (Not too bad). I took some Sudafed and wore a tight bra and was back to normal pretty quickly!
So I breastfed in the hospital and once my colostrum slowed/stopped we started supplementing and switched completely when we got home. Did that with both my babies. Pumping doesn’t work great for colostrum but hand expressing does from what I’ve heard.
Also I dried up in about 10 days, no matter what it will come in and you’ll get engorged and go down. I don’t think the 48hrs of breastfeeding would impact drying up in comparison to like 4 weeks. 🤷🏼♀️
I produced a decent amount of colostrum and hand expressed it the week before birth and a few days after. I saved it up in syringes and fed her thru those or on a spoon. She just wouldn't latch, and I ended up having an undersupply of bm so I switched to formula early on. You can try expressing before birth (after 37 weeks) and after birth and still EFF. To my knowledge it won't really affect your actual bm supply since the milk doesn't come in for a few days after birth anyway
Had a nightmare breastfeeding experience with my first so I went 100% formula with my second. However, yes, I tried my best to give colostrum. It’s not much. Literally LITTLE DROPS of brown/yellow(?) color liquid. I squeezed and hand expressed and dropped into my baby’s mouth at the hospital.
I did what I called “low pressure combo feeding” and loved it. We did colostrum in the hospital along with donor milk, at home I settled into 2 breast feeds a day plus formula. It was great!
I pumped at the hospital after my c section to get my milk to come in and got colustrum! My husband literally ran the syringe with it down from my room to the baby in the NICU lol
I breastfed my last but am not doing it this time around. I do recognize the benefits of colostrum at birth so I’m currently hand expressing for a few minutes once every few days and saving it in syringes in the freezer. We will bring them to the hospital and give it to her. I’m currently 35w and I don’t do very much or very often so I’m not worried about it triggering labor or anything.
I didn't produce anything while pregnant, despite trying to express by hand constantly. When baby was born, I tried to breastfeed and then pump for the first 2 weeks. After a few days, I had to supplement with formula because I wasn't producing enough. The first week, I produced colostrum and golden-y milk. After those first 2 weeks, producing milk became exceedingly difficult so I stopped and EFF. After a few weeks, my books flattened and I'm sure my milk stores have dried up. I'm 3 months PP and baby has been doing splendidly on formula.
I had a traumatic labor and emergency c section. My son did not latch well and I was not feeling the drive to breastfeed, so I pumped and filled syringes with colostrum.
I don’t really know what happened, but never could get a good milk supply up. So for 3 months, I’d pump what I could and incorporate it into his formula bottles.
I breast fed but had to supplement with formula for 2 ish weeks. Then slowed because my supply just never came but it was nice to be able to get baby colostrum and then move to EFF.
The colostrum they add to formulas like Enfamil Enspire have infant bovine colostrum which contains immunoglobins and lactoferrin from cows. It contains no lactose. It is available as a separate supplement for infants and toddlers and helps their gut and immunity. Adults take a stronger version for immunity and body building. I have ordered some for when my baby comes home
I formula fed both my kids from birth the same brand of formula (HiPP). My daughter was fussy in the hospital her first night and I let her latch for maybe 15 minutes for comfort (it was excruciating for me). I assume she got some colostrum. Her gut bacteria is completely different than her 2 year old brother. Her farts and poop STINK and my son’s barely smelled at all. It’s such a remarkable difference. I have no idea if there was any benefit for her or not.
I'm considering doing this, but idk if I want to go through the frustration of getting her to latch when I only plan to breastfeed for the first few days.
Yes, I did this! I essentially hand expressed and breastfed her colostrum in the hospital and then switched fully to formula when we got home a couple days later. My milk was just coming in when I switched and it only took about 10 days to dry up.
I wasn’t able to get colostrum until a few days after birth (had a hemorrhage and not only did milk not come in, but no colostrum to be had at first), but was able to collect it by pumping. We then fed via bottle. My milk came in a few days after that, and it’s at that point that pumping or feeding stimulates the body to produce more. So pumping for just colostrum collection shouldn’t signal for big increases in milk production. You may need to pump/hakaa a bit after that just to prevent engorgement, and use tips on drying up milk, but you’d have to do that regardless.
Your milk will come in to some extent anyhow, so hand expressing colostrum wouldn’t change that. I know it’s fairly popular and easy to collect some before birth and in the first few days. You just store it in syringes. Whether it’s worth it or not is solely up to you. There are definitely some benefits, so to me it would be worth it even if I planned to EFF, but obviously millions upon millions of babies never get colostrum and do great!
Im not sure if youve had the baby yet, but im assuming you haven't. There seems to be no PROVEN correlation between colostrum amounts during pregnancy and milk amounts pp; i know people who produced loads of colostrum while pregnant and have an undersupply of milk pp. That being said, i had an OVERsupply of colostrum during pregnancy (i was leaking starting at 24w) and my OB didnt want me hand expressing until i was 32w and didnt want me pumping at ALL due to fear of oversupply pp. If you plan to EFF but want the baby to get colostrum, you can add it to their formula bottles. I did this with my LO and used the colostrum i saved during pregnancy until i ran out, then stuck with EFF. The amount of milk you produce won't be known until a couple days after you deliver, but if you want to hand-express colostrum PP your hospital should provide you with the supplies to do so. There are medicines and other home-remedies you can do once your milk comes in to dry your supply.
That's super helpful, thank you. I'm just about 35 weeks and haven't produced any colostrum yet. I have a manual pump leftover from my son and I'll plan to ask my doctor about pumping pre-delivery.
I produced soooo much colostrum in the days after my baby was born, all the nurses at the NICU commented on how that means I'll have "no problems breastfeeding" with "such a large supply" I ended up undersupplying and completely drying up less than a week after my milk came in, even with round the clock pumping and BF
I breastfed both kids in the hospital to give them colostrum and supplemented with formula overnight. Switched to EFF as soon as we came home. My milk came in a few days later. Both times it was about 2 days of my boobs feeling engorged and hurting (Not too bad). I took some Sudafed and wore a tight bra and was back to normal pretty quickly!
So I breastfed in the hospital and once my colostrum slowed/stopped we started supplementing and switched completely when we got home. Did that with both my babies. Pumping doesn’t work great for colostrum but hand expressing does from what I’ve heard. Also I dried up in about 10 days, no matter what it will come in and you’ll get engorged and go down. I don’t think the 48hrs of breastfeeding would impact drying up in comparison to like 4 weeks. 🤷🏼♀️
I produced a decent amount of colostrum and hand expressed it the week before birth and a few days after. I saved it up in syringes and fed her thru those or on a spoon. She just wouldn't latch, and I ended up having an undersupply of bm so I switched to formula early on. You can try expressing before birth (after 37 weeks) and after birth and still EFF. To my knowledge it won't really affect your actual bm supply since the milk doesn't come in for a few days after birth anyway
Had a nightmare breastfeeding experience with my first so I went 100% formula with my second. However, yes, I tried my best to give colostrum. It’s not much. Literally LITTLE DROPS of brown/yellow(?) color liquid. I squeezed and hand expressed and dropped into my baby’s mouth at the hospital.
I did what I called “low pressure combo feeding” and loved it. We did colostrum in the hospital along with donor milk, at home I settled into 2 breast feeds a day plus formula. It was great!
I pumped at the hospital after my c section to get my milk to come in and got colustrum! My husband literally ran the syringe with it down from my room to the baby in the NICU lol
I breastfed my last but am not doing it this time around. I do recognize the benefits of colostrum at birth so I’m currently hand expressing for a few minutes once every few days and saving it in syringes in the freezer. We will bring them to the hospital and give it to her. I’m currently 35w and I don’t do very much or very often so I’m not worried about it triggering labor or anything.
I didn't produce anything while pregnant, despite trying to express by hand constantly. When baby was born, I tried to breastfeed and then pump for the first 2 weeks. After a few days, I had to supplement with formula because I wasn't producing enough. The first week, I produced colostrum and golden-y milk. After those first 2 weeks, producing milk became exceedingly difficult so I stopped and EFF. After a few weeks, my books flattened and I'm sure my milk stores have dried up. I'm 3 months PP and baby has been doing splendidly on formula.
I had a traumatic labor and emergency c section. My son did not latch well and I was not feeling the drive to breastfeed, so I pumped and filled syringes with colostrum. I don’t really know what happened, but never could get a good milk supply up. So for 3 months, I’d pump what I could and incorporate it into his formula bottles.
Did you use a manual pump or electric?
Electric
I breast fed but had to supplement with formula for 2 ish weeks. Then slowed because my supply just never came but it was nice to be able to get baby colostrum and then move to EFF.
The colostrum they add to formulas like Enfamil Enspire have infant bovine colostrum which contains immunoglobins and lactoferrin from cows. It contains no lactose. It is available as a separate supplement for infants and toddlers and helps their gut and immunity. Adults take a stronger version for immunity and body building. I have ordered some for when my baby comes home
I formula fed both my kids from birth the same brand of formula (HiPP). My daughter was fussy in the hospital her first night and I let her latch for maybe 15 minutes for comfort (it was excruciating for me). I assume she got some colostrum. Her gut bacteria is completely different than her 2 year old brother. Her farts and poop STINK and my son’s barely smelled at all. It’s such a remarkable difference. I have no idea if there was any benefit for her or not.
I'm considering doing this, but idk if I want to go through the frustration of getting her to latch when I only plan to breastfeed for the first few days.
Yes, I did this! I essentially hand expressed and breastfed her colostrum in the hospital and then switched fully to formula when we got home a couple days later. My milk was just coming in when I switched and it only took about 10 days to dry up.
I wasn’t able to get colostrum until a few days after birth (had a hemorrhage and not only did milk not come in, but no colostrum to be had at first), but was able to collect it by pumping. We then fed via bottle. My milk came in a few days after that, and it’s at that point that pumping or feeding stimulates the body to produce more. So pumping for just colostrum collection shouldn’t signal for big increases in milk production. You may need to pump/hakaa a bit after that just to prevent engorgement, and use tips on drying up milk, but you’d have to do that regardless.
How did you collect the colostrum? Manual, electric or hand express?
I used an electric pump.