Antenatal Expressing of Colostrum - My Experience of Colostrum Harvesting

Welcome to my 31 week blog on expressing colostrum during pregnancy. So instead of writing loads, this week I decided to do a summary video of my thoughts and experiences from when I started expressing colostrum at week 27 of pregnancy  to date.  In the video I don't talk about techniques for expressing colostrum, colostrum FAQs or top tips etc as there's lots of other very informative videos already online, so no need to cover it off again! You can watch my video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/6Qt3hH-BZ1U My Colostrum Harvesting Diary at Week 31 of Pregnancy - Week commencing 19th January 2021 My last day of expressing was 17th January 2021.  19th January  - Hand expressed 5.7ml of colostrum. About 10mins per side in the evening. 20th & 21st January  - I did not feel the need to express. 22nd January  - Hand expressed 7.4ml of colostrum. About 10mins per side. This evening, I had a short 5 min break between 2x expressing sessions, both 5 mins each. As I don't let do

My Colostrum Harvesting Diary at Week 30 of Pregnancy - Week commencing 12th January 2021 My last day of expressing was 10th January 2021.  12th January  - I did not feel the need to express. 13th January  - Hand expressed 6ml of colostrum in the evening. About 10mins each side. I did feel as though I could have expressed a little more but I did not as I only wanted to relieve the discomfort, not to stock up. 14th January  - I did not feel the need to express. 15th January  - Hand expressed 2.5ml of colostrum in the evening. About 5 mins per side. 16th January  - Hand expressed 6.4ml of colostrum in the evening. About 10 mins per side. I had eaten alot over the past two days - snacking on chocolates and oaty cereal bars mostly which is why I think I've expressed so much in one go 😂 17th January  - Hand expressed 6.4ml of colostrum again this evening at about 10mins per side.  18th January  - I did not feel the need to express. Total expressed for the week: 21.3ml

Well, it's week 29 of my pregnancy and I've been harvesting colostrum to relieve breast discomfort for about 2 weeks. I feel the rate of antenatal expressing of colostrum has been more stable this week as I have mostly expressed every other day. This is due to getting over eating so much at Christmas! I also talk about some of the physical changes I've started to experience when hand expressing colostrum - but these are all normal for me as I have experienced them with my first pregnancy when I did not need to express colostrum before birth. After conducting what feels like a tonne of not very satisfactory online research in previous weeks, talking to my local midwives and breastfeeding experts (including other mums!) on forums, I feel a lot more confident in my decision to continue to hand express as and when I need at this stage in my pregnancy. And yes, this week's main image 'believe in yourself' may seem a bit cliché, however that is how I am fe

Hi, thanks for reading my second blog on hand expressing colostrum (colostrum harvesting) at 28 weeks of my pregnancy. If you've just landed on this page and are wondering why I'm expressing colostrum this early on in pregnancy then please read my week 27 blog . In a nutshell it is to relieve discomfort in my breasts, which for me, indicates that they need emptying. I go into a lot more detail about this and my personal background in my week 27 blog: Starting My Journey - Why I'm expressing colostrum at 27 weeks pregnant . So, before I begin my week 28 update blog, I do need to make you aware that expressing colostrum this early on in pregnancy is often seen as a very controversial subject area. And if you are looking to express colostrum, please talk to a medical professional first: I'm just a mum second time round sharing my experience with everyone as there's a lack of information on expressing colostrum this early on in pregnancy. I have been okayed

Hi everyone thanks for visiting my blog. I just wanted to document my journey on expressing colostrum before birth otherwise known as antenatal expressing from 27 weeks pregnant. This is a very controversial subject area, so I've found out online recently, but is growing in popularity according to my local midwives. However, when I have come to research this, there is a distinct lack of information in support of expressing colostrum at this stage of my pregnancy or about people's experiences generally, which is part of the reason why I wanted to record my experience here. What is Colostrum? Colostrum is a thick sticky liquid that mum's make from about 16-20 weeks of pregnancy which becomes baby's first feed when they are born. It is usually cream, yellowish or even orange in colour - this varies in all women. Colostrum has a high fat content and contains lots of other beneficial vitamins and minerals that baby needs for growth, and of course lots of antibodi