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...

Well, this week was an interesting one... Partly because I'm nearing to the end of my colostrum expressing journey but also my toddler and I were both in a car accident (so the picture above seemed most fitting)! Long story short, the person who drove into us on a dual carriageway also hit another vehicle, then they failed to stop. Physically, we are both ok and so is our unborn baby who has been checked out by the midwife however I do appreciate that things could have been very different...  So, guess what this week's blog topic will be about 😅 Not what anyone needs close to their due date or indeed at all! I am however, still pregnant at the time of writing this (39 weeks), so if expressing colostrum from 27 weeks pregnant and having a fairly high speed car accident at 38 weeks doesn't influence when my labour happens, then I think I'm definitely not at risk of the baby 'falling out' or having pre-term labour as some of the antenatal colostrum har...

Well, I'm 37 weeks' pregnant now and I've been expressing colostrum for a grand total of 10 weeks! I'm so pleased I continued to express and store my liquid gold for little one and I've not experienced any signs or symptoms of preterm labour in my low risk pregnancy. Perhaps I'm proving the doubters wrong... In any case, I'm not expressing to prove a point, rather I did it initially to relieve breast discomfort which I associated with the need to express colostrum antenatally. Storing it and having a stash was just a bonus but I hardly imagined I'd have as much as I have today... To date, I have expressed over 426ml of colostrum. So for this week's blog, I thought it'd be appropriate to provide you with my top 10 tips on expressing colostrum antenatally. Top 10 Tips on Antenatal Expressing of Colostrum 1. Always, always, always discuss with your midwife first  - As soon as you've reached the third trimester you can technically sta...

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...