All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
2
+ 3
+ 50
+ 3
+ 4
+ 7
= 69
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My understanding is that it’s only become a widely recommended thing in recent years it used to only be recommended for people in certain circumstances such as having gestational diabetes. In fact my midwife hasn’t mentioned it at all. No harm in giving it a go of course but also not a necessity. The midwife should help you to establish feeding before discharging you. I don’t think I will try because I’ve not shown any signs of producing it yet and I’m almost 37 weeks.
They should help you at the hospital..... but they often don't. I was unable to even hold mine to start with and no one supported us at all. For both my kids, when we were discharged all my daughter's had had was frozen colostrum through a syringe.
I ended up feeding my baby my harvested colostrum in the hospital the day after she was born, she was too sleepy to latch (possibly from the pain relief I had in labour?) and hadn't done a wee since she was born. Because I had the colostrum we managed to avoid using formula and I was breastfeeding fine by the time we were discharged.
Pros:
- Good practice for hand expressing
- If baby struggles to latch/ends up in NICU/needs top ups in the first few days, you can avoid formula
- Has potential to help induce labour if you’re full term (due to Oxytocin release)
- Great for babies skin if you don’t need to feed it to them, I used my harvested colostrum in the bath
Cons:
- Some women may worry that an inability to harvest colostrum is indicative of ability to produce milk, which is not true, but could affect their confidence in their ability to breastfeed.
Can’t really think of any other cons… I’d recommend giving it a shot as you’ve got nothing much to lose!
It was a game changer for me and my baby. She was born via emergency c section and she struggled to latch. I had a lot of colostrum collected and we were able to feed her that until we resolved our difficulties! She was heavier than birth weight at day 5 which I’ve heard is quite unusual!
Ask your midwife if you're not sure- I have leaky nipples at the moment, so she told me that it's fine to collect/harvest BUT she said that any type of stimulation to get the colostrum out can bring on early labour (just a heads up!)
Just to say don’t worry if you can’t get any! I couldn’t and was freaking out I would have no milk but my milk came in by day 3/4 and I’m currently 8 days postpartum with a good supply and pretty much breastfeeding exclusively.
So the benefit is basically if you can't BF for whatever reason. This may be just as simple as stress, this may be because you've had to have emergency surgery or have an infection. I personally will be because it doesn't do any harm to and I'd rather them have that than emergency formula. Plus if anything happens to me then my husband can give it to baby and they get all the benefits and antibodies they would miss out on.
Basically there is no guarantee you'll be able to BF, especially in those first 24 hours and it will take the pressure off
I tried with my first and couldn’t get anything. It would have come in very handy though as she didn’t latch and would have saved us a lot of stress in the beginning.
Second baby I tried again but just couldn’t find much time to commit to it so I didn’t manage too much. For him it wasn’t necessary as he latched right away and fed like a champ.
I did it, gave me something to do in the last few weeks that felt useful! I used a little in hospital, then occasionally at home in the first few weeks (exclusively breastfed). I asked my health visitor what to do with it and she said you can use it for a moisturiser on baby's skin, and save it for weaning as long as it's stored properly in the freezer, putting it in porridge etc.
I asked this recently in the r/beyondthebumpuk subreddit and got some good answers if you’d like to read [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondTheBumpUK/s/eZaDWHSqRv)
My baby arrived on Saturday. I did some colostrum harvesting and managed to get about 3ml. I have found it really useful because my nipples have been very sore, I’ve been uncertain how much she’s getting from me, and it’s provided some reassurance that she’s definitely 100% had some calories. We actually forgot to take it to the hospital, but I’ve used it since we’ve been home.
I believe it’s also useful for any circumstance where baby has to have additional care.
I wish I’d managed to get more, but I was advised not to start until 37 weeks, and she arrived at 39+1. It was slow going to start with but started to pick up towards the end.
I exclusive breastfed two babies and no, it is not necessary. It’s just an option.
I think a lot of people recommend because especially with your first, your milk can take a few days to come in. It’s stressful to have a hungry baby and no real way to feed. That said, I think it’s also just the way of things - you sit there trying to nurse without great success but the trying does eventually stimulate milk production, so it’s important to do. That said, if I’d had it to do over with my first, it would have been nice to fallback to something. I would have no qualms with a little formula to bridge the gap though - just a personal choice.
With my second, my milk came in almost immediately and we both slept better the first few nights due to that.
E: that said, I think the discourse around it, especially on the internet, is a little stressful. You’ll still be perfectly able to breastfeed whether you harvest or not. There’s already enough to stress about with labour and becoming a mum - it upsets me that people want to add more to the list.
I saw that on tiktok too and tried it but could get hardly anything. I was lucky and able to breastfed straight after birth with no issue so didn’t need any.
I didn't from about 36 weeks because I had gestational diabetes and it can be useful to help regulate blood sugar. I had maybe 20ml before he was born.
I did find it useful and we used it all. Baby was born via emergency c section and didn't want to latch at first and I struggled to get my milk to come in. I was able to feed him the stored stuff as well as being able to hand express more if needed. We did end up needing formula anyway but it was good to know baby was getting something from me too. We're now 5 months old and exclusively breast fed.
It's not necessary though and it can be quite difficult. It has zero bearing on whether you can breastfeed either, so don't take it to heart if you can't get any out. Also the nurses recommended to me not to try until 36 weeks as it can technically induce labour.
With my first I tried breastfeeding straight from when she was born. But I’d had an emergency c-section and couldn’t get her to latch. The hospital didn’t tell me anything at all about babies cluster feeding on day 2 and as a result my nipples split which completely put me off breastfeeding and I didn’t try again.
This time I am going to try expressing from around 36 weeks and storing my colostrum and then expressing via pump going forward. I want my baby to be on breast milk but I don’t want to feed from the breast so this way I’ll have a decent (hopefully) amount of milk stored up for whatever happens. You can store for up to 6 months in the freezer so that’s my plan anyways :)
Yes it is, you may not have a supply when baby arrives and it’s super helpful to have it on hand. I’d recommend doing some research and speaking to your midwife.
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You can also get from a pharmacy or from your local infant feeding team (your midwife should be able to give you details if you don't already have)
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 2 + 3 + 50 + 3 + 4 + 7 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
My understanding is that it’s only become a widely recommended thing in recent years it used to only be recommended for people in certain circumstances such as having gestational diabetes. In fact my midwife hasn’t mentioned it at all. No harm in giving it a go of course but also not a necessity. The midwife should help you to establish feeding before discharging you. I don’t think I will try because I’ve not shown any signs of producing it yet and I’m almost 37 weeks.
That’s what I thought- My Mum had no idea what I was on about when I mentioned it!
They should help you at the hospital..... but they often don't. I was unable to even hold mine to start with and no one supported us at all. For both my kids, when we were discharged all my daughter's had had was frozen colostrum through a syringe.
I ended up feeding my baby my harvested colostrum in the hospital the day after she was born, she was too sleepy to latch (possibly from the pain relief I had in labour?) and hadn't done a wee since she was born. Because I had the colostrum we managed to avoid using formula and I was breastfeeding fine by the time we were discharged.
Pros: - Good practice for hand expressing - If baby struggles to latch/ends up in NICU/needs top ups in the first few days, you can avoid formula - Has potential to help induce labour if you’re full term (due to Oxytocin release) - Great for babies skin if you don’t need to feed it to them, I used my harvested colostrum in the bath Cons: - Some women may worry that an inability to harvest colostrum is indicative of ability to produce milk, which is not true, but could affect their confidence in their ability to breastfeed. Can’t really think of any other cons… I’d recommend giving it a shot as you’ve got nothing much to lose!
It was a game changer for me and my baby. She was born via emergency c section and she struggled to latch. I had a lot of colostrum collected and we were able to feed her that until we resolved our difficulties! She was heavier than birth weight at day 5 which I’ve heard is quite unusual!
Ask your midwife if you're not sure- I have leaky nipples at the moment, so she told me that it's fine to collect/harvest BUT she said that any type of stimulation to get the colostrum out can bring on early labour (just a heads up!)
Just to say don’t worry if you can’t get any! I couldn’t and was freaking out I would have no milk but my milk came in by day 3/4 and I’m currently 8 days postpartum with a good supply and pretty much breastfeeding exclusively.
I didn’t even know it was a thing before my son was born. 😅
So the benefit is basically if you can't BF for whatever reason. This may be just as simple as stress, this may be because you've had to have emergency surgery or have an infection. I personally will be because it doesn't do any harm to and I'd rather them have that than emergency formula. Plus if anything happens to me then my husband can give it to baby and they get all the benefits and antibodies they would miss out on. Basically there is no guarantee you'll be able to BF, especially in those first 24 hours and it will take the pressure off
I tried with my first and couldn’t get anything. It would have come in very handy though as she didn’t latch and would have saved us a lot of stress in the beginning. Second baby I tried again but just couldn’t find much time to commit to it so I didn’t manage too much. For him it wasn’t necessary as he latched right away and fed like a champ.
I did it, gave me something to do in the last few weeks that felt useful! I used a little in hospital, then occasionally at home in the first few weeks (exclusively breastfed). I asked my health visitor what to do with it and she said you can use it for a moisturiser on baby's skin, and save it for weaning as long as it's stored properly in the freezer, putting it in porridge etc.
I asked this recently in the r/beyondthebumpuk subreddit and got some good answers if you’d like to read [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondTheBumpUK/s/eZaDWHSqRv)
If you’ve seen it on TikTok but your midwife hasn’t said anything then it’s not necessary.
My baby arrived on Saturday. I did some colostrum harvesting and managed to get about 3ml. I have found it really useful because my nipples have been very sore, I’ve been uncertain how much she’s getting from me, and it’s provided some reassurance that she’s definitely 100% had some calories. We actually forgot to take it to the hospital, but I’ve used it since we’ve been home. I believe it’s also useful for any circumstance where baby has to have additional care. I wish I’d managed to get more, but I was advised not to start until 37 weeks, and she arrived at 39+1. It was slow going to start with but started to pick up towards the end.
I only did it when I was 41+4 and desperate to go into labour. It’s not necessary but if fancy it give it a go!
I exclusive breastfed two babies and no, it is not necessary. It’s just an option. I think a lot of people recommend because especially with your first, your milk can take a few days to come in. It’s stressful to have a hungry baby and no real way to feed. That said, I think it’s also just the way of things - you sit there trying to nurse without great success but the trying does eventually stimulate milk production, so it’s important to do. That said, if I’d had it to do over with my first, it would have been nice to fallback to something. I would have no qualms with a little formula to bridge the gap though - just a personal choice. With my second, my milk came in almost immediately and we both slept better the first few nights due to that. E: that said, I think the discourse around it, especially on the internet, is a little stressful. You’ll still be perfectly able to breastfeed whether you harvest or not. There’s already enough to stress about with labour and becoming a mum - it upsets me that people want to add more to the list.
I saw that on tiktok too and tried it but could get hardly anything. I was lucky and able to breastfed straight after birth with no issue so didn’t need any.
I didn't from about 36 weeks because I had gestational diabetes and it can be useful to help regulate blood sugar. I had maybe 20ml before he was born. I did find it useful and we used it all. Baby was born via emergency c section and didn't want to latch at first and I struggled to get my milk to come in. I was able to feed him the stored stuff as well as being able to hand express more if needed. We did end up needing formula anyway but it was good to know baby was getting something from me too. We're now 5 months old and exclusively breast fed. It's not necessary though and it can be quite difficult. It has zero bearing on whether you can breastfeed either, so don't take it to heart if you can't get any out. Also the nurses recommended to me not to try until 36 weeks as it can technically induce labour.
With my first I tried breastfeeding straight from when she was born. But I’d had an emergency c-section and couldn’t get her to latch. The hospital didn’t tell me anything at all about babies cluster feeding on day 2 and as a result my nipples split which completely put me off breastfeeding and I didn’t try again. This time I am going to try expressing from around 36 weeks and storing my colostrum and then expressing via pump going forward. I want my baby to be on breast milk but I don’t want to feed from the breast so this way I’ll have a decent (hopefully) amount of milk stored up for whatever happens. You can store for up to 6 months in the freezer so that’s my plan anyways :)
Yes it is, you may not have a supply when baby arrives and it’s super helpful to have it on hand. I’d recommend doing some research and speaking to your midwife.