Pregnancy #55

[Greenfly125]

I’ve bought syringes for it on Amazon and watched a load of TikTok’s but I’m also a bit confused about it. Those that have done it in this pregnancy or previous pregnancies do you have any top tips?? So far I just see to massage my boobs first

Just be really patient and make sure you allow loads of time! I collected about 5ml in an hour. I’ve found I need to squeeze closer to my nipple than I thought. And breast tissue goes right up into your armpit so make sure you’re massaging all of it.

Figuring out the syringe was the hardest bit for me. You drag the syringe plunger back and it sucks up the tiny drops of colostrum but you need to tap it down into the syringe so you can still pull back and collect more.

 

[I’mThankyou_]

I’ve bought syringes for it on Amazon and watched a load of TikTok’s but I’m also a bit confused about it. Those that have done it in this pregnancy or previous pregnancies do you have any top tips?? So far I just see to massage my boobs first

I found it easier to do after a warm bath, or placing a warm flannel on my breast. And slowly working from my armpit down to my nipple, firmly.
I couldn’t collect it in the syringe though, so I would collect it in a sterile pot or spoon and then use the syringe to suck it up so it was a little less fiddly!

 

[Jellycat369]

Is it weird I'm jealous of you ladies with your leaky boobs? Mine don't work All the pain but none of the gain!

After my sweep yesterday I had a little bit of spotting, which I'm sure was the result of being fingered by a stranger, but have had some more spotting today. Not fresh blood, definitely old brown blood and it seems to be more mucus-y than discharge-y. Am I being too optimistic thinking this might be the start of things? Is it more likely to just be from the sweep?

 

[Hamburglar]

Just be really patient and make sure you allow loads of time! I collected about 5ml in an hour. I’ve found I need to squeeze closer to my nipple than I thought. And breast tissue goes right up into your armpit so make sure you’re massaging all of it.

Figuring out the syringe was the hardest bit for me. You drag the syringe plunger back and it sucks up the tiny drops of colostrum but you need to tap it down into the syringe so you can still pull back and collect more.

This sounds like an activity Mr Burglar will be more than up for “helping” with

On a similar vein, does anyone have experience with nipple piercings?? Not sure when to take them out () and I don’t really fancy texting my midwife to ask

 

[Lucyxxxx]

Everyone's talking about breastfeeding meanwhile mine are sore and big but I don't produce breast milk lol. Like what's the point in them being sore an that if they aren't gonna do the job anyways?

 

[Jellycat369]

Same same @Lucyxxxx

 

[Lucyxxxx]

Same same @Lucyxxxx

With my others they barely grew and wasn't sore but this time I've got a right pair of knockers on me and so sore. What's the point when I can't use em anyways. Things like this make me think he is a she lol.

 

[littlepup]

I didn’t do the colostrum thing last time, I just felt a bit weird (like the perineal massage) but I sooooo wish I had.

Spoiler: TW: bad experience with feeding after birth

I had real issues with breast feeding with baby’s latch (tongue tie) and my supply and it meant I had to stay in (Covid so on my own mostly) because you can’t leave until baby is feeding well. I felt I was treated horrendously like given a breast pump and not told how to use it or how long, a nurse saying she’ll come back to help then going off shift and two hours later the next one saying ‘no, we don’t know anything about that, we don’t recommend doing that’ or being told ‘well if you can’t feed them you’ll just have to give them a bottle, we can’t do anything about it’ in a terse tone. It sent me into a bad space feeling like I couldn’t feed my baby and wasn’t getting any help.
When we did go home, after saying I’d top up with formula, I was under the cloud of havingto go back in if baby didn’t gain and being told baby would get jaundice etc.
They did gain and I fed for almost 3 years in the end but those early days were so hard

If I’d had the back up colostrum I’d have avoided so much worry about baby being fed. They need so little the first few day it can really help take the pressure off until milk comes in.

 

[raspberryjuice]

Thanks for all the colostrum help! I’m really hoping bf’ing will work for us so I’m going to try really hard with the colostrum harvesting as soon as I’m able.

This sounds like an activity Mr Burglar will be more than up for “helping” with

On a similar vein, does anyone have experience with nipple piercings?? Not sure when to take them out () and I don’t really fancy texting my midwife to ask

I took mine out right at the start because my boobs were so sore and swollen. The thought of catching the piercing on a bra or something which is always bad enough anyway but with the sore boob pain on top terrified me they healed over so quickly, there’s not even a mark there now. You’d never even know they’d been done unless you look really closely.

 

[I’mThankyou_]

Thanks for all the colostrum help! I’m really hoping bf’ing will work for us so I’m going to try really hard with the colostrum harvesting as soon as I’m able.


I took mine out right at the start because my boobs were so sore and swollen. The thought of catching the piercing on a bra or something which is always bad enough anyway but with the sore boob pain on top terrified me they healed over so quickly, there’s not even a mark there now. You’d never even know they’d been done unless you look really closely.

Don’t be disheartened if your harvesting doesn’t go well/like you imagined, it truly has no bearing on your ability to breastfeed. It can be such a difficult thing to do whilst you’re still pregnant, but it can instantly change for some women once they’ve given birth.
I couldn’t get a drop before I delivered despite the fact I was leaking like a tap, but then once they were born it was a totally different story!

 

[eppingforestbambi]

Just been for my final blood test… next time I’ll be at the hospital will be 7am this Friday for my section. Bag is packed, everything is ready, just need to get some nice snacks tomorrow. Feels very exciting… like Xmas! Can’t wait to find out the gender, makes the whole experience so exciting not knowing.

I did the Colostorum harvesting things both times, mainly as my MW told me it helps kick off general milk production. It’s quite a slow process. I think the big issue with breast feeding is that MWs don’t explain it well enough… mothers expect to put a newborn to a boob and the milk will just magically
flow. And that isn’t the case for so many, especially when there is a tongue tie. I’ve had lots of friends who found it difficult.
At the end of the day - the most important thing is that the baby is fed! Be that BM or formula

 

[watermelon sugar]

I had my 4D scan earlier on, it was amazing! Definitely recommend it. I had an orange fizzy lucozade before I went in which was a big mistake because she was clearly on a sugar rush, she kept throwing shapes, the woman was like ‘this babies one of the most active I’ve ever seen’ I had to get up and start throwing some shapes myself to get her to keep still! We eventually got a proper good look at her face and she has the exact same nose as her big brother it was crazy to see. And nice big lips

 

[User767676]

On the subject of breastfeeding does anyone recommend any good books/ videos etc ? I definitely want to try it but I don’t want to be a human cow so would ideally want to do some sort of combi so that my partner can help

 

[anotheronebitesthedust.1]

On the subject of breastfeeding does anyone recommend any good books/ videos etc ? I definitely want to try it but I don’t want to be a human cow so would ideally want to do some sort of combi so that my partner can help

If you do want to combine expressing and BF , it’s best to not introduce expressing until baby is 6/8 weeks so it doesn’t interfere with supply and demand

 

[eppingforestbambi]

On the subject of breastfeeding does anyone recommend any good books/ videos etc ? I definitely want to try it but I don’t want to be a human cow so would ideally want to do some sort of combi so that my partner can help

The best tip anybody gave me was to place your finger behind the baby’s ear when they’re sucking, to check to see if their sucking muscle is moving - and that they’re not just nuzzling you and potentially hurting you

Let me see if I can find a video or something on it!

 

[Lioness1]

For colostrum harvesting, I followed the positive birth company on Instagram and there are always videos on their ask the midwife part showing how to do it properly, she explains how to pull back first before squeezing the nipple.

My first was bottle fed, I was a bit scared to breastfeed and got no help in hospital so just went straight to bottle. I think I’ll try breastfeeding this time but don’t have a clue! Also, worried that I had such an easy life with a bottle fed baby I’m scared of cluster feeding

 

[littlepup]

Look at different BF holds and the flipped technique. Also make sure baby is assessed for tongue tie.

If you do want to combine expressing and BF , it’s best to not introduce expressing until baby is 6/8 weeks so it doesn’t interfere with supply and demand

Not to disagree on the supply/demand issue but they also tell you not to introduce a bottle too early so as not to confuse bany. However I will be trying to express/formula just a 10-15ml or so for a bottle to get them used to it.
The 4-5 people I know who combi fed & introduced the bottle straight away and never had a problem, those who waited got bottle refusal when they did try.
Mine was fine with a bottle until we stopped for a month due to suspected CMPA and they refused when we tried again. It made things quite difficult so I’ll do my best to ensure this baby doesn’t refuse this time.

things - don’t feel pressured by women online posting massive bags of pumped milk. I could never get more than about 30ml or so pumping and that’s normal for sone but successfully managed to exclusively Breast feed after combi for the first month.

Nipple shields can help get through the painful days - I think mine cost about £4 for a pair.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, combi can work but at the start you want to try for the night feeds on the breast as your milk producing hormones are the highest then and those feeds will do more for establishing supply.

If you’re worrying about baby getting enough from the boob, weigh them and you’ll see they are gaining. Libraries have baby scales. You can’t over feed a breast fed baby but you can if you’re supplementing with formula, make sure you look for hunger cues to know if they really need it else it’ll all come back up

 

[Elle Woods]

Which next to me crib do people recommend? I thought we’d chosen the one we wanted but now I’m not so sure after seeing a couple of reviews. There’s so many options! And so many with good reviews I just don’t know what to go for!

 

[watermelon sugar]

Which next to me crib do people recommend? I thought we’d chosen the one we wanted but now I’m not so sure after seeing a couple of reviews. There’s so many options! And so many with good reviews I just don’t know what to go for!

We’ve got the chicco next 2 me dream

 

[raspberryjuice]

We’ve got a snuzpod. It’s still in the box so no idea what it’s like though, but it had good reviews when I was researching for one and came out top on a few top 10 type lists