Colostrum
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@Roberta I have two electric pumps only - one medela and one wearable. Can I do with those or do I risk bringing on labour?
There is mixed data on whether pumping brings on labour. There is really good data that says hand expression is really safe beyond 36 weeks (the DAME trial) so that's why it's not recommended to use a pump. I've tried expressing 4-5 times now and at the beginning it was about 0.2ml, last night I got 6ml. Remember it's not an indication of how successful breastfeeding will be, and it's just a nice to have not a must do 🩵
@Charley thank you Charley! It’s a bit daunting but I will keep going. How many times did you do a day until you got to that point?
It just takes persistence and technique, I started harvesting colostrum about a week ago and I was getting 0.1-0.2 for about 3 days. I was feeling really down about it but I was just stressing too much I gave it a day and just did some research and tried again the day after and I got 0.8ml and since then for the past few days I’ve been getting between 3-5ml each time!! Getting a bath and relaxing really does help and so does doing them both at the same time. Massage both of your boobs at the same time to promote milk flow and then cupping them with your fingers underneath and your thumbs on top and slowly squeeze them together and I’ve found lightly pinching when you get to just underneath the nipple really works good to actually get the colostrum out. I hope it goes well and don’t get disheartened! x
Try ger a manual one, it helps. Mine was around 10£
@Trudy-lea thank you so much 🙏
@Zeynep I don’t thinknit risk much bringing to labour but it might let you feeling more sore which is not ideal before your baby comes
@Zeynep I literally JUST had this conversation with my midwife an hour ago, she said that pumping can induce labour but also so can expressing colostrum by hand, but she always recommends by hand for it as it’s easier to control! Use a C shape with your hands to massage around and then suck the drops up with the syringes! X
I’ve been doing it a week and now get 0.2ml ☺️ which I’m pleased with xx
@Zeynep only once per day!
@Charley can we add up to the same syringe which is kept in the fridge up to 4-5 days?
@Zeynep if you haven’t had baby yet, then the colostrum needs to go in the freezer! X
@Niki how do you store while collecting bits by bits into the same syringe? Can I add to the same syringe for 4-5 days max before freezing?
@Zeynep I follow the same rules as breastmilk storage. So I hand express into a sterilised bottle and keep in the fridge for up to 6 days, (but it's only 3 max in reality) then collect into a breastmilk storage bag and freeze.
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@Charley okay makes sense. At this point I had so little, didn’t make sense to hand express into anything large enough unless a small plastic cup I guess. Okay so it’s fine to hand express into a refrigerated bit already
@Zeynep no technically you need to combine milks at the same temperature, so you can't add body temperature to refrigerated, you'd need two bottles, and let the freshly expressed cool down to fridge temp, and then add to previous.
@Sophie as I can’t fill up a full syringe yet - can’t I add more droplets into the previous syringe that’s been in the fridge for up to 4-5 days?
@Zeynep my midwife said I can store the syringe at the back of the fridge and top it up over 3-4 days Which I have done
@Niki that’s what I thought. So you add milk from your nipple straight into the refrigerated syringe or do you wait until the syringe becomes room temp? I am getting confused with different advice 😂
@Kyla wow I hope I get to this soon. Thank you Kyla. Is this at one go from both nipples or one?
@Zeynep from both. X However one seems to produce more than the other. I’ve now got about 6MLs in the freezer.
@Zeynep to be honest by the time I get anything the syringe has warmed up lol I get everything out and ready, have a wee, get a drink and then get comfy before starting lol
O have used a manual pump a Medela One. So I can have controle of thr pressure. So I use is and when the drops come I collect with the syringe. But before starting I always try do id after a warm shower and I massage the breasts during shower and a bit before starting to collect.