Another word for Colostrum is “liquid gold.” Colostrum is the nutrient-rich first milk produced by a mother’s breasts during pregnancy and immediately after birth. This thick, yellowish fluid is packed with essential nutrients, antibodies, and growth factors crucial for a newborn’s health and development. Collecting colostrum can be incredibly beneficial for both the baby and the mother. Here’s a quick but detailed guide on why it’s important, and how to collect and store it safely.

Why Colostrum Matters

Immune Boost: Colostrum is loaded with immunoglobulins, particularly IgA, which help protect the baby from infections and build their immune system.
Digestive Health: It acts as a laxative, helping the baby pass their first stools (meconium) and easing the transition to regular feeding.
Nutritional Support: Colostrum provides a concentrated dose of proteins, vitamins, and minerals that are easier for newborns to digest than mature milk.
Bonding and Comfort: Early feeding with colostrum fosters mother-baby bonding and provides comfort to the newborn. Low Supply at the beginning of nursing. Those first couple of days after baby comes can feel a little stressful. Trying to get baby to latch and worrying when your milk supply will come in. It can be nice to have a stash of colostrum on hand so you can provide baby with it while trying to figure out breastfeeding.

When to Collect Colostrum

Timing – During Pregnancy: It’s generally safe to start expressing colostrum around 36 weeks of pregnancy. Check with your healthcare provider before starting this process.

After Birth: Immediately after birth, you can begin to express and feed colostrum to your baby or store it for later use.

How to Collect Colostrum

Manual Expression: Use clean hands and a sterile container. This method is gentle and doesn’t require special tools.

1. Take your hand in the shape of a C. Place your thumb above your nipple and your fingers below it.

2. Press and compress- Press your fingers and thumb back toward your chest, then gently squeeze them together then release. Back, squeeze, release, repeat!

3. Switch breasts once the milk stops flowing from one breast, move on to the other.

Breast Pump: A breast pump can help too! Ensure all equipment is sterilized. Make sure to consult with your care provider about using a pump to collect colostrum while pregnant. Here are my recommendations for a pump

• Mom Cozy – Hands free breast pump
• Spectra – Hospital grade pump
• Haakka – Silicone Hand pump (its a must)

Colostrum collector: You can collect it with a syringe or you can use these colostrum collectors I am a HUGE fan of these!

Storage:

Container: Use sterile, BPA-free containers or breast milk storage bags OR keep them in the colostrum collectors Refrigeration: Store colostrum in the refrigerator (up to 4 days) or freeze it (for up to 6 months). Label each container with the date and time of expression.
Thawing: Thaw frozen colostrum in the refrigerator or under cool running water. Never use a microwave.
Safety Tips
Hygiene: Always wash your hands before expressing or handling colostrum. Ensure all equipment is clean and sterilized.
Comfort: Express colostrum in a comfortable, relaxed environment to avoid stress, which can impact milk flow.

Make Sure You

Regularly check with your healthcare provider to ensure the colostrum collection process aligns with your specific health needs and circumstances.Collecting colostrum is a proactive step in ensuring your baby receives the best start in life. By understanding its importance and following safe collection practices, you can provide your newborn with a strong foundation for health and development. Always consult with healthcare professionals to tailor the process to your unique situation and ensure the best outcomes for both you and your baby.

Leave a comment if you have any questions! Hope this post helped!! Head to my other posts to learn more!

Hey Mama! Location councilor here! Breastfeeding is a wild ride. Some babies may get the hang of it quickly and some babies take longer to figure it out. And that’s okay! That being said every baby is different! Your first baby might be a great nurser and your second might really struggle latching. It can be hard to prepare for breastfeeding. Let me help easy your burden. People are always trying to shove products in your face of things you should get and it can feel overwhelming. I want to make it simple for you. There are only 5 products I think you need! These are products to heal your body when it needs healing and to help you successfully breastfeed.

Here they are-

1. The Haakaa
2. Lanolin Cream
3. Dry Breastfeeding pads (reusable or Disposable)
4. Gel Pads
5. Nursing Pillow
6. Silverttes

Let me explain why I think you need these things-

1. When you first start breastfeeding your breasts will feel sore and tender for a couple of days to a couple of weeks. This is normal! Your breasts are trying to adjust to babies needs. But at times your breast can become engorged. This typically happens on day 3-5 postpartum. It can be very painful and hard to nurse do to your breasts being engorged. Heres what you need to do – if you don’t plan on pumping then don’t right now. This is because you want your breasts to adjust to the amount of milk baby needs. If you pump and breastfeed this will tell your breast to make a ton of milk! If you want this that is great! But if you are just wanting to nurse and not pump- use the HAAKAA. This by far my favorite breastfeeding tool! The Hakka will help you pump breast milk out without stimulating your breast to produce more. But, that being said, if you use this for a full pumping session then yes it’ll stimulate your breast. But, if you use it to talk out some of the milk it will relieve the engorgement without stimulating the milk supply! Thats a win!

2. Lanolin Cream is by far the best nipple cream that you can get at any store. It is hypoallergenic and amazing at healing cracked and bleeding nipples. How to use it- (I have a great explanatory video on tiktok if you need a visual.) After baby latches off leave the breastmilk on your nipple and let it air dry. Breastmilk is healing! Now add the lanolin cream- a good amount then add —-

3. A dry Breast pad on top of the cream! Then cover breast with a loose bra or a more fitted tank top to keep the pad from rubbing (ouch.) You can choose between reusable breast pads or disposable ones! This is all preference! If you have sensitive skin I would recommend these bamboo ones!

4. An alternative option to the cream and dry pads are gel pads! These are ultra healing if your nipples are in a ton of pain. They are a little more expensive but they get the job done! These gel pads provided cooling pain relief in a manner of minutes! You can use these ones up to 72 hours! Like the directions above- latch baby off, let milk air-dry on your breasts then apply the gel pad!

5. A nursing pillow can be your BREAST friend lol. It ca be hard to get baby to latch right when you don’t have the right support. These pillows hold baby up for you so you can adjust baby to the breast with ease. There are different brands of pillows. Here are my top 2 favories!

1. Breast friend

2. Frida pillow

3. Boppy Pillow

6. Silverttes. These are super great for your breast and environmentally conscious! These don’t heal your nipples as fast as the other remedies but they still work great!

If you want more direction for breastfeeding visit this blog post!

To breastfeed a baby, can sound daunting to some people. To others it may feel like it will be easy. But overall breastfeeding can be challenging. I want to help you be successful on your journey! These are 5 tips to help you successfully breastfeed.

1. Skin to Skin contact – (the keystone to breastfeed successfully)

Have you heard of the golden hour? This is when your baby is laid on your chest right after birth. I know this isn’t possible for every mama and that is okay! But if you can I really recommend it. Once you get to hold your baby place their bare skin on your bare skin. This produces oxytocin in both you and baby. Not only will this create a better bond but it will help stimulate your milk supply and help increase babies desire to feed. I suggest doing this as often as you can. Even when your baby is older! This will always help stimulate milk supply.

2. Let baby suckle immediately after birth

Bring them skin to skin and have their little face right next to your breast, bring your nipple onto their cheek/side of the mouth and watch to see what happens, your baby has a natural reflex that will cue to them to open their mouth to your nipple. Help place your nipple in their mouth. If your baby is in the NICU I highly recommend to start pumping with a hospital grade pump! If you don’t have one yet order one. The hospital carries some for you to use while you’re in the hospital. Just ask the nurse. You might not be able to breastfeed the baby right away if they are in the NICU but by pumping it will provide milk for them now and step success for later!

3. A good latch

Now, this is very important. What does a good latch look like? You want the babies mouth to cover your whole nipple and some of the areola. You want a deep latch. When the baby opens its mouth take your nipple and put as much if it into the babies mouth as you can. Here is a picture to show you what I mean.

If you have a shallow latch this can cause your nipple to rub in the babies mouth- this can cause a lot of pain and lots of sores. You want your nipple deep into the babies mouth. This will help you breastfeed effectively and without much pain.

4. Making sure you don’t get too engorged while breastfeeding.

Now engorgement just happens. It is your breasts way of telling the body to produce less milk. Around 5 days postpartum your milk supply will come in and your breasts will become engorged. It can be hard to latch a baby onto engorged breasts. Now, you want to relieve the engorgement pain without stimulating the breast to continue to produce this much. If you pump out the milk with a hospital grade pump you will continue to produce the same amount of milk or more. If you want to just feed baby on demand with the exact amount that your baby needs then, relieve your pain with a Hakka or hand expression. This will release the milk without simulating the breast to create more. I HIGHLY recommend the Hakka. Here is a link to buy it on amazon.

5. Feeding cues to breastfeed and watching the clock

When you are first breast feeding it is good to watch for hunger cues and to watch the clock. Baby hunger cues are the following- Open mouth turning to the side to try and suck on something, hand in mouth, putting anything in their mouth, starting to get fussy. These are all cues to breastfeed. While you are watching these cues also watch the clock. How long has it been? You want to offer a feeding every 2 hours for their first couple of weeks of life. If you let baby go for too long without a feeding hand they are really fussy now do this – skin to skin, cuddle them and offer a feeding. This usually helps them calm down to breastfeed.

My most important piece of advice!

Be patient and gentle with yourself. It takes lots of learning from you and baby. Tell yourself kind things like, I can do that, my breasts are capable, I can support by baby, my baby can learn how to breastfeed well!

If this is costing you your sanity ask yourself, is this working for me and my family? I do believe that fed is best! I believe a happy mom is a happy home. Please dont feel judgment by anyone. This is YOUR life and this is YOUR baby. You got this mama.

All of these tips will help you breastfeed. If you feel like you need more help please visit more blog post about breastfeeding here.