Colostrum

Ive had a couple of times I've leaked, around 25 weeks. I'm now 35 weeks and absolutely nothing! X

34 weeks and nothing x

Please don’t be deflated! I didn’t leak in my last pregnancy (or this one) and struggled to harvest colostrum. Only got beads out and couldn’t collect anything. I EBF for just over a year. It does not reflect anything about your supply. Your body is doing something for the first time. Hand expressing needs a lot of practice and pumps are tricky. Lots of women can’t pump much even after baby is here and again no indication on supply. Breastfeeding is much more than milk just coming out, you need oxytocin which is much more prominent when feeding baby direct and they are designed to extract milk in a way nothing else can. Colostrum harvesting can be useful & is powerful if baby is poorly, born early or other known medical issues. Otherwise it’s a nice to have but not essential. Baby gets it direct the first few days anyways and you might be able to freeze some then. Tips wise - hot water/bath/relaxing/candles. Anything that increases oxytocin. Looking at a baby grow.

36 weeks haven’t leaked, but when I am going for shower I try to stimulate, and I see some liquid come, as we need to wait until 37 weeks to collect I am waiting. Hand stimulation are very important/helpful

34 weeks and nothing x

@Nathalia the nhs recommends 36 weeks if you’d like to start sooner! ☺️

i’ve leaked so much throughout my pregnancy, like absolute puddles, but when it comes to hand expressing or collecting colostrum i find it really difficult and haven’t been able to get any which is really disheartening. colostrum is nice to have, but it isn’t necessary for baby by any means so i’d try not to feel too bad if you can’t get any, as baby will be feeding it for the first few days straight from you anyway! but all i can suggest is a warm bath and really massaging your breast before hand , as that’s what is recommended

38 weeks, no leaks. I haven’t tried collecting, and currently don’t plan to, I just feel like for me it’d be another thing on what feels like a never ending list of things to do. With my first I was able to breastfeed straight away and I’m really really hopeful it’ll be the same second time round. Hope your journey goes smoothly too xx

37 weeks and no leaking, I collected my first syringe last night and deffo took a while to get going. Don’t be disheartened, keep trying, watch some instructional videos to make sure you’ve got the technique right. Get a warm bath and try to relax, I popped a comedy on and just relaxed in bed whilst doing it.

How much you produce during pregnancy doesn't have any correlation with your supply after the birth. The birth itself and putting baby to the breast will stimulate your supply. In my first pregnancy I only leaked on my right side but not very much, I didn't harvest colostrum during pregnancy and I did feed from both breasts successfully. This pregnancy I haven't leaked at all but I'm actually still breastfeeding so am clearly producing some milk. Not everyone responds to pumping or hand expressing well even after their supply has come in but can still breastfeed directly fine. To help with expressing it is important that you relax, having a warm bath or shower can help for example to get the oxytocin flowing which then helps with expressing. But even if you can't get any that is ok.

According to my midwife, baby only likes colostrum for about 2 days and as it changes to milk in day3-4, he would prefer milk over colostrum so considering its only needed for 2 days ,i thought it was useless to worry about expressing or storing colostrum as we are going to start breastfeeding anyways as soon as baby is handed to us and trying to latch him onto breast those two days will pass

I posted something similar the other day. I’m 37 weeks and going to be induced tomorrow, was told to start collecting colostrum on Wednesday and haven’t been successful but so many other mothers have comforted me by saying their colostrum didn’t come before baby came and that they are having more luck with breastfeeding. One woman even told me that the body stimulates milk production once the placenta is out keep trying but don’t be deflated. I’ve tried hand expressing and using a pump, but nothing seems to work. I’ve kind of given up but only because I know I’m gonna be in the hospital from tomorrow.

Haven’t leaked at all but had a good go at hand expressing colostrum after I had had a hot shower….it was quite heavy on my arms and boobs but I did manage to get 0.2mls…..so I’m going to try little and often each day to see if it gets easier. Any amount you can get is beneficial! I’m 36 + 5. X