Feeling disheartened 😔

I’m starting to feel really down about not being able to collect any colostrum. I wasn’t expecting to get any first time but this is my 5th day of trying now with no luck. On Saturday I saw a glistening coming out of one nipple but other than that, nothing! I’ve tried in the bath, I’ve tried putting a hot water bottle on them, I’ve tried not putting any heat on them beforehand. I always massage each breast for 5 minutes before squeezing each breast twice for 3 minutes at a time. I keep seeing people saying they managed to get around 0.4ml first time. What am I doing wrong? 😮‍💨

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Me too! I’m in a similar spot ☹️

Play with the position of the squeeze, for me to get anything out I need to squeeze just behind the nipple, like 1-2cm behind and hold it. Any further back or resqueezing I would get nothing Now I have been getting some for a week it's getting a lot easier and resqueezing is starting to work too

@Sophie I’ve been trying different things constantly in the hope that something will work but I haven’t tried squeezing behind the nipple yet so I will give that a go tomorrow. Thank you!

@Janki It’s so frustrating isn’t it? I’m just not sure if I’m doing it wrong or something 🤷‍♀️

Yess it is! But stay positive and keep trying!!

I would also say that to begin with I did have to squeeze harder than I thought I would.. Not sure if things have loosened up now but I don't have to squeeze as hard (maybe just I have learnt better positioning for me) but I am definitely noticing the more I do it the more i get so don't give up. That glistening could turn into a droplet etc

I didn’t have any come out prior to delivery with my first, but he got plenty straight from the nipple when he arrived so don’t worry x

It’s completely normal not to get any til birth. I am not planning to try until then! No need to stress

I’ve not been able to get any either. Apparently totally normal. My sister said hers didn’t come through until after birth

I tried hand expressing for a few days, post bath but it wasn’t working for me at all. I was getting a bit down about it as I have PCOS and was told it could affect my colostrum and milk supply. I then read lots of women on here saying it had only worked for them with an electric pump. Tried with my pump and it’s worked really well. Started as very tiny amounts coming out but after 3 days I’ve now had enough to fill 2 5ml syringes.

@Steph I’ve heard you’re not supposed to use a pump though? 😬

Definitely worth speaking to midwife/gp first but as I’m 38 weeks and the baby is huge, I was happy to try it. I listened to a book on breastfeeding that said not to pump for colostrum but the reasons given were all practical rather than medical. They said because colostrum is thicker than milk, it would be more difficult to get it out of the pump and it would be frustrating to waste some. That hasn’t been my experience to date.

@Steph No way! I assumed it was because it could induce labour or something like that! I will definitely ask my midwife about it then. I tried again last night and I managed to get a tiny bit out of the other nipple but again it wasn’t enough to collect. I’m hoping that means that its increasing though the more I do it 🤷‍♀️

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