How to Harvest Colostrum
Image from Haakaa
Harvesting colostrum before your baby arrives has many benefits!
If you’ve never heard of this helpful practice, we have a primer for you written by Beth Waters, IBCLC, Andaluz’s in-house lactation expert.
The Benefits of Colostrum Harvesting
by Beth Waters, IBCLC
What is colostrum?
Colostrum is a thick viscous fluid that is produced by the breast starting in pregnancy. It is the baby’s source of nourishment for the first 3 days after birth before mature milk begins to be produced.
The delivery of the placenta and drop in progesterone is what triggers mature milk. It can take 3-5 days for mature milk to come in after birth.
Colostrum coats the gut and seals it in preparation for digesting mature milk. It’s full of immuno-properties that help protect the baby from disease. Some nurses and midwives call it “liquid gold,” because it may have a yellow tint, but it can also be clear. Pregnant people can start expressing colostrum at 36 weeks and freeze this first milk.
Why should I collect colostrum during pregnancy?
There are so many benefits to hand expression of colostrum prenatally!
Expressing colostrum allows you to collect and store this important first food so it can be fed to your baby instead of formula if your baby struggles to latch or feed at the breast, or needs supplementation for any other reason in the first few days of life before your mature milk comes in.
Hand expression encourages your milk supply.
Expressing colostrum helps you get to know your breasts and learn hand expression before your baby is born.
Collecting colostrum increases your confidence in breast/chest feeding.
It may help facilitate conversations with your partner about breast/chest feeding and help them feel more supportive.
How do I harvest colostrum?
Image from Haakaa
In the last few weeks of your pregnancy, try to hand express two times per day. Expression time is about about 5-10 min per breast.
Colostrum can be collected in a small clean cup and transferred to a syringe for storage, or it can be collected directly into a colostrum storage container.
You can also purchase colostrum storage kits like this one.
Store colostrum in the freezer until you are in labor, then bring it with you to the birth center to have on hand for the immediate postpartum period.
For thorough step-by-step instructions on how to hand express, collect, and store colostrum, see this guide from UW Medicine.
You can also find a detailed video about hand expression here.
Are there any risks to collecting colostrum?
You may be concerned that nipple stimulation will cause pre-term labor. Recent studies have shown that collecting colostrum prenatally will NOT result in preterm birth for most people. If you are cleared to have sex at this stage of pregnancy, which results in a much larger release of oxytocin, then you are okay to stimulate your nipples during colostrum expression.
Beth is available for prenatal lactation consultations at Andaluz if you would like more information about hand expression and colostrum harvesting!
