Making Liquid Gold

An actual miracle.

Bismillah:

You can start lactation before you give birth. Crazy right? Truly miraculous. Colostrum, aka liquid gold, begins to be produced in your body as early as your second trimester, subhanAllah. Maybe you’ve even noticed a few drops. Whether or not you visibly lactate during pregnancy is not an indicator of your future breastmilk supply, but it’s not entirely involuntary either.

 At ~37 weeks, with a green light from your midwife/OB, you can begin harvesting your own colostrum by hand expressing the thick milk into your chosen collection container and freezing for later use¹. Some do it in case baby is separated from them after birth for whatever reason and they want to have colostrum available instead of, or in combo with, formula for nurses to provide. Others do it because colostrum is only produced for a few days after giving birth, and by having some stored they can give it to baby if he gets ill in the first few months and needs an immunity boost (this really sold my husband on the idea). Harvesting can also trigger labor during the final weeks². I did it for those things. 

I chose the Haakaa Colostrum Collector syringes. This yield was after 2 weeks of consistent attempts, slowly building up from 0.2 mL’s, to 4 mL’s, to 10 mL’s.

But I also did it because I wanted to feel that motherly feeling that comes with lactation. The warm fuzzy that comes from realizing only I can do this for my baby. An oxytocin boost as I visualize myself holding a warm bundle of milk burps and cuddles. 

I didn’t end up needing to use them in hospital alhamdulilah, and I only used a few syringes for illness in the following months. Mostly, they sat in the freezer as a reassuring back up until they expired, then I watered my rose bush with them (so I guess the roses are my children now too³). 

But given the chance, I would totally do it again!

If you’ve never heard of harvesting colostrum, I’ll have some helpful links for you in the footnotes to check out!⁴ I reiterate: whether or not you harvest is not an indicator of future supply. It’s up to you! Hand expressing will look and feel weird at first, so I suggest harvesting when you’re alone, relaxed, after a warm shower or with warm towel compresses. Dont expect more than a few millimeters at any time. Stop if it hurts! Remember, the real lactation begins with baby.

Happy harvest!

All information provided is educational and should not replace the advice of your midwife/OB.

1. Colostrum is a type of breastmilk, meaning you can follow Breast Milk Storage Guidelines.

2. Consult your Midwife/OB before starting.

3. This is a joke, referring to the Islamic ruling that breastfeeding creates a kinship between the breastfeeding woman and the non-biological nursing infant (as well as the woman's biological nursing infants) prohibiting future marriages between "milk brothers and sisters."

4. You can read about harvesting here and watch a demo tutorial here (no revealing images in either link). Questions should be directed to a lactation counselor.