# Colostrum harvesting



## HappyHelen (Mar 10, 2014)

Hello

I have been lurking in here reading all the pregnancy posts for a while but not posting.  I am type 1 and I am now 32 weeks pregnant with my second. All going well apart from awful sickness the last few weeks. Had no morning sickness so far in either pregnancy so this is challenging. 

Anyway, I have some questions for those who are or have done colostrum harvesting. I am thinking about doing this for this baby. I didn't breast feed at all with my first (my blood sugars post baby were too up and down and I was worried about hypos) but would like to try this time. So my questions are:

Does colostrum harvesting cause blood sugars to drop whilst doing it eg like breast feeding does?

Does it help your milk arrive earlier after your baby is born?

How much should I expect to get if I do try the harvesting?

Thanks in advance for any help

Helen


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## LeeLee (Mar 10, 2014)

Hello Helen, welcome to the forum.  I can't answer your questions, but just want to say congratulations!


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## Cleo (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi Happy Helen
 I can't actually help with any of your questions as my hospital doesn't encourage us to do it, but wanted to say welcome and congratulations with the pregnancy ! Hope you're not feeling too sick ! 
Cleo x


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## Jambat (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi Helen, welcome!

I'm a FTM, so would be very interested to see any answers on this too


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## tabbicles (Mar 11, 2014)

I did this! A breast feeding advisor showed me how to do it and suck it into a syringe thing (no needles involved). I literally only got about 1cm max in each one and I froze them as was doing it for a couple of weeks before. Ended up with about 6 or 7. Apparently this was more than enough and I started breast feeding the best I could after the first day. Will def do it again  can't remember it affecting my blood sugars and more than pregnancy and labour does.


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## AlisonF (Mar 11, 2014)

I did it. I didn't notice any impact on BGs. I don't think it has any major impact on milk arrival either. I had Eva on weds am and my milk arrived sat pm.

The volume you get is miniscule, but remember a newborn's stomachis only slightly larger than a pea so it doesn't take much to fill them.

I had Eva by elective csection. Her BG wasn't low at birth but we decided to give her a syringe of colostrum anyway so she wasn't hungry waiting for me to be stitched up. She had that and then fed beautifully when she was given to me about 40 mins later. Id really recommend it


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