Pre warning for this blog – it’s very honest and baby focused, but I’m so excited to share and help other Mumma’s to be.
So – when we first found out we were pregnant I started thinking of all the things I didn’t know. As I’m sure with loads of first time mummas I was a little anxious about how I was going to learn all the things that all the mums seem to know. Its amazing what you start to learn early on – what you’ll need for the baby etc, but it wasn’t till our birthing class that I heard and learnt about Colostrum. I had no idea what this actually was and hadn’t heard of it before. So for those still wondering – Colostrum is the first form of milk women produce from the mammary glands. It various from woman to woman – some women start producing it from the first trimester – however most start producing it from the third trimester and you may start to see remnants on your bra from about 34 weeks. It’s known as liquid gold as its packed with amazing properties that protect and nourish your baby in the first few days of its life. 
For the first few days after giving birth you with only produce colostrum before your regular breast milk comes in. Babies only need 1-1.5 teaspoons per feed in the first 24 hours as their bellies are still so small so it’s not like you need bottles and bottles of it.
During our birth class at 32 weeks, one of the girls in the class asked about expressing colostrum prior to the birth as she had heard of women doing it. The midwife taking the class had heard of this too and did say it was great to collect it if you were able. Now I love trying different things especially if its going to benefit my baby – so did some research and asked around other mummas I knew to see if they had done it, heard of it – or knew much about it and also asked my obstetrician. By the time I started asking around I was about 34 weeks pregnant and hadn’t even known or checked to see if I was getting anything leaking on to my bra. So one night chatting to my bestie (who has a baby boy) she asked if I had noticed any discharge like colouring on my bra – as I said no….and undid my bra – there it was – a tiny bit of white right where my nipple would’ve been on the bra. It was such a small amount I didn’t even think it would be possible to actually express any sort of liquid – so didn’t think anything more of it.
The next week I got chatting to another new mum at my Mum’s and Bub’s fitness class at Firm Butts Fitness who then asked me if I had expressed any colostrum yet. I loved that she brought it up – but mentioned there was only small amounts noticeable on my bra so wasn’t sure I was able to. She mentioned that I should try and actually massage my breast first to stimulate it and express the colostrum out and was telling me not only is it great as soon as the babies born but because of it’s properties it can be used for whenever the baby is sick down the track as well. I did more research and found that it can be frozen and stored up to 3 months – so if my bubba was to get sick, or a rash in the first 3 months giving her a few mils of colostrum would help. She had expressed prior to birth and raved about it. I loved the idea that something I can be doing now will be beneficial to our baby once she’s born. After grilling her for a few more details the next day I chatted to Chris about it and we decided to give it a go.
We got some syringes from the chemist, sat down together to try and hand express this liquid gold from my boobies. Chris was like a kid in a candy store to see if it actually worked – it was so great to have his support and help. After massaging my breast for a few minutes – Chris helping, all of a sudden droplets of liquid starting appearing on my nipple. YAY it was working and it was fascinating. Chris was helping expressing as I held a sterilised spoon underneath to catch the drops which we then syringed up. We did about 5 minutes each boobie – and got about 3mls total on the first try – I was stoked. 
We continued to do some research about storing it and how often to express – so popped the syringe in a zip lock bag with the date and my name on in and straight in the freezer ready for baby Duncan to arrive. The other great thing I started doing at 36 weeks was eating lactation cookies from Milk & Cookies by Jewel’s I’d been reading and following her on instagram my whole pregnancy and was so excited to start eating them. This must’ve helped as we’ve continued to hand express over the last 2 days and have built up a little collection. Then today – as I finished up both breasts – filling a whole 10ml syringe from last night and this morning – which I was so proud of- then, I slipped and spilt the whole lot. OMG I was devastated. It takes a lot of work and is a little uncomfortable hand expressing, so to see it all just drip away broke my heart. So after a little cry – I pulled myself together and felt grateful I was able to express this amazing stuff anyway – as a lot of women can’t – and Chris reminded me we still have over 3 weeks to go to get as much as possible. We will take a couple of syringes to the hospital so Chris can feed it to her if I’m sleeping – and then save the rest for when she’s home.
Now – I’m not an expert so please make sure you chat to your doctor or obstetrician in you have haven concerns regarding this. You can start having contractions during expressing so you should stop, but please get advice from your doctor.
If you’re all good to go though – DO IT. This liquid gold for your baby will help their immunity and has developmental factors as well. My obstetrician was so impressed we had managed to get some as well – and those cookies are definitely helping – so make sure you place your order with Jewel’s (double choc are my fave….and white chocolate macadamia )
Let me know if you have any questions as well – as this has been a very interesting learning curve- and us Mumma’s and mum’s to be need to help each other out as much as we can.
Love and Life
the Figure x
