Should I be harvesting colostrum?

I’m 38+1 and always seeing posts on here and TikTok about harvesting from like 36/37 weeks? I briefly mentioned it to midwife weeks ago, who said some mums do it but it is not essential.. but didn’t really go into further detail. Perhaps I should have probed more? Just wondering what the benefits are for harvesting early before baby is born? Maybe I ignorantly assumed that I would naturally produce when baby arrives and that would be adequate. I have tried in the last couple of days but nothing yet - not stressed about it, but definitely curious on others opinions/reasons. Thank you 🤍

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I haven't been (am 38+5). Our antenatal class midwife was very much like, you can but you don't need to.. unless you can forsee an issue or know about one for when babies born. I have definitely been able to hand express a little so I think I'm happy enough knowing that, hasn't been mentioned by my midwife otherwise. But I believe it's completely up to you, your hormones should kick it all in when baby comes. X

I’ve only started today and I’m 40 weeks on Monday 😊 I wasn’t super set on it but then I started trying out of curiosity and when I realised I could be harvesting some, ordered a kit from Amazon x

I’m planning on trying to start tonight, however I tried a few times in my last pregnancy and wasn’t successful! Not everybody can produce before labour so no pressure! I do wish I’d been able to, as my daughter was born with a cleft (which hadn’t been spotted via ultrasound - of which we had multiple!) and we had a struggle to breastfeed at the beginning so it would’ve helped. The benefits are just having it ready for when baby arrives. As I mentioned, my daughter couldn’t latch and my supply was pants (which led to us formula feeding) so having syringes of colostrum to feed her in those first few days was what I would’ve liked ideally! It might’ve taken the pressure off us having to swap to formula immediately

I was advised by my midwife to start collecting from 37/38 weeks due to having gestational diabetes which means the baby may need some colostrum whilst im still producing sugars to help him after birth. X

Thank you ladies - very insightful ☺️. If managing to collect, do the hospitals have fridges/freezers we can use for storage ? (Or I guess it depends on the individual hospitals perhaps?)

I would. With my first, she struggled to latch for the first few days so we used the freezer stash I'd collected. It would have been quite difficult to express enough to keep up with what she needed as colostrum harvesting is slow going

I think it's not necessary but you can if you think you won't be able to feed baby. Most mothers have baby straight onto the breast which is fine as baby gets all the colostrum they need that way too

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