Antenatal Expressing of Colostrum - My Experience of Colostrum Harvesting

Welcome to my week 39 blog entry on antenatal expressing of colostrum. As a quick recap, I've been expressing since week 27 of pregnancy and storing colostrum since week 28 to mitigate breast discomfort. The discomfort felt like that full feeling you get when you're full of milk, although it's more concentrated in the centre of the breast like a marble. Following guidance from my midwife and the La Leche League , I have been expressing colostrum antenatally for 12 weeks and I have successfully circumnavigated the risk of pre-term labour.  Please note, however that the amount of colostrum I am expressing is far greater than that which is usually expected for someone just starting out, simply because I've been doing it a lot longer. I have a huge stash of colostrum in my freezer totalling over half a litre, so I know my little baby girl will have a plentiful supply if breast feeding gets off to a rocky start (as it did with my first one!) It has still been challenging loo

Welcome to my 36 week colostrum harvesting blog update. This week I'm doing a video update as there isn't a huge amount else to write about other than the fact that I am still pregnant and I have been expressing my colostrum since week 27 of pregnancy and storing it since week 28.  It's important to note that I still do not have any signs of preterm labour (a major concern for some women who may not be having a low risk pregnancy), which is why expressing colostrum antenatally from an early stage in pregnancy in the third trimester is very controversial. I have been following advice from the La Leche League and ideally I wanted to be expressing twice a day from week 36, however due to to other commitments I have not been able to do this so I have kept to my once a day routine in the evening.  This week of my pregnancy has been very busy. I have wrapped up at work and I'm very pleased to be starting my maternity leave. I've also been nesting quite a lot and wanting

It's now week 35 of my pregnancy and colostrum harvesting has been going really well since week 28. I have been storing and saving my colostrum and I have a freezer drawer that is absolutely packed full of 1ml syringes! I'm very pleased with this amount and did not expect to have so much colostrum expressed at this stage. It has been a busy couple of weeks so this blog entry, much like my last blog, is just a recap of my colostrum harvesting diary. I've been doing a lot at work handing things over to a lady covering my maternity leave, which starts in a couple of weeks, and balancing that with looking after a little toddler.  Again, I've been feeling quite tired this week and I'm starting to feel massive 🤣 All my pregnancy symptoms have been normal. There's been no cramping or any signs of preterm labour whatsoever, so I've been very fortunate! But yes, I have expressed every single day in the evenings which has helped build a good supply for my

This week I'm writing my colostrum harvesting 34 weeks pregnant entry much later than planned. I've had a very busy couple of weeks where I've been handing over at work to a lovely lady who is covering my maternity leave and also I've been very busy nesting and organising stuff around the house in preparation for baby and generally my own sanity! Overall, everything has been fine. I've been feeling ok; a little tired hear and there obviously, because I'm getting much bigger and it's coming towards the end of my pregnancy, which is a very normal set of feelings to experience.  The colostrum I'm expressing has increased quite a lot in volume which is due to my diet. I've recently been more interested in eating sugary and fatty things like chocolates, hobnob biscuits, slices of bread with Nutella, oat biscuit bars and raiding the sweetie tin frequently!  I've also had a few tired days. One day I wasn't able to express and just wanted to slee

So, I'm 32 weeks pregnant now with my second baby and I've been expressing colostrum roughly every other day since week 27 to relieve breast discomfort and to provide a small stash for my baby which will greatly help with breastfeeding and minimising baby's weight loss in the first few weeks. It's been going really well so far and I've experienced no issues or any signs or pre-term labour, which is a risk for some women.  From this point in my pregnancy, I've decided to express once a day as I'm now a bit closer to my due date and want to gradually start to increase colostrum production, however I must emphasize that I'll be taking a very gradual approach , so as not to induce any signs or symptoms of preterm labour. At week 36, most medical sources online say you can start expressing colostrum 2-3 times a day which is what I plan to do when I reach that stage in my pregnancy. At 32 weeks pregnant, I'll continue to hand express instead of

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