Harvesting colostrum

I think you can keep it in the fridge for like 12 or 24 hours before freezing not exactly sure but im on my third time and getting about a quarter of a syringe each time. Finding it pretty tedious 🥹

I got literal dribbles last night 😭 apparently you can harvest in the same syringe 3x in one day, keep it in the fridge in between. At the end of the day, label it and freeze it

Are you hand expressing? I found I get a lot more using my electric pump started at 36 weeks (I’m 38+4 now) and get about 1 to 2 ounces using my electric pump now x

@Katie I am also 38+4 today ☺️ yeh only trying hand expressing because the midwives told me to. Tbh, I only tried a few days ago, but as I have a section booked for Monday, figured I'd try a bit harder 😬 have you been getting normal milk already or still only colostrum

I’m getting a lot - 6ml a day. Taking about 1 hour to handexpress. This is my 2nd baby and found that you need to work on the expressing motion. I can feel the ducts where the colostrum (eventually milk) is coming from. I really massage them till the colostrum releases from the nipple. Also be sure to be massaging on the areola. I also find if dehydrated, nothing hardly comes! So keep drinking water. Hope this helps. And if you do t get much or anything, don’t stress over it! No one was harvesting colostrum 5 + years ago. And all those babies are thriving!

I did for my first baby but the hospital didn’t store it in the fridge properly because they “forgot due to short staff” so I would just say collect as much as you want there’s no minimum or limit just make sure you label the date and insist on staff storing it correctly xx

@Leah omg how rude! Did you bring it a cooler bag at all? That's what I am planning

I did but upon arrival I was asked if I’ve harvested and I said yes so they asked me to hand it over, which I did. I just trusted that they would store it appropriately. As you can imagine I was upset, all those hours spent now wasted. Luckily my daughter didn’t have a problem with breastfeeding so I could see the colostrum coming out of me so I was reassured she was getting plenty.

@Leah awful, but thankfully you had a good supply at birth. Lady from my antenatal group wasn't thst lucky :/

I've got 0 from hand expressing and using my hand pump. I caved last night and used my electric pump and got 0.8ml 🥳 I'm fully cleared to go into labour though and being induced on Boxing day due to GD so I really need some to take with me. I'm not suggesting anyone else do it, there's a reason why they say to only hand express for the majority of women

I know everyone is different. From my experience when I collected I barely was able to get maybe 0.5 ml each time and it wasn’t bright yellow it was quite watery looking. but after delivery you get a massive rush of oxytocin it came out with ease and was bright yellow and thick (sorry tmi)

Please don’t panic or feel like you’re not getting enough. When I saw the lactation consultant, she advised you only really need around 5ml. She also said that it takes time to do and try to massage for like a week before actually collecting the colostrum so that you don’t stress yourself out and can work out what works for you without pressuring yourself

@Dominique still just colostrum at the moment, I’ve been booked in Sunday for my induction! So close to meeting our babies now❤️ not sure if this is a normal thing but I also find I get a lot more at night time/ early hours if your up, I’ve done it in the mornings and not got half as much as what I get on a night time, don’t put pressure on yourself! And also after a bath / using a heating pad helps me x

@Katie amazing, I will try today again. The heating pads seemed to help last night Yes we are so close! Good luck to you too💖💖 and looking forward to the pictures haha