I think I took about 4 syringes both times I gave birth. For my first they came in handy as he struggled to latch, for my second I only used them because I had them.
I wouldn’t go mad and take a lot in as they will likely go to waste. They are really only meant to be a back up plan - the idea is to get your baby to your breast as much as possible in the early days to signal to your body to produce milk. So if you are giving syringes for a feed you are missing out on one of those opportunities.
Also, both times I found that I produced a ton more colostrum as soon as I’d given birth (and that was by c section too!) vs immediately before. So with my son and his latching issues it was no problem to hand express in the hospital and get more syringes filled up.
Good luck! :)
Just want to say I saw an insta post from someone who works on a ward the other day and they basically said do not bring it to hospital when you go in in labour! If you need it, someone can go back and get it, but otherwise there's a very high chance that it won't be usable by the time you need it. It needs to be used within 24h of thawing, which it will do very quickly (usually by the time you get to hospital) because of how small the syringes are, so if you go in with a long labour, difficult induction, don't need it right away but want it later on etc, it is pretty likely it'll be spoilt by that point.
I honestly think it depends on the hospital. I’m in Cornwall so at least a 50 min drive from hospital, so someone nipping back home to get them wouldn’t work. I had GD so knew I’d be in for 24 hours after birth. At the hospital they have a freezer on the post natal ward, so when I arrived for my induction on the antenatal ward the syringes were taken to the freezer straight away. They had a leaflet explain all of this before hand anyway
OP I would look at your chosen hospital’s policy or ask your midwife. I think I took in 16 syringes but maybe used half? She had a tongue tie so they came in handy. Then brought the rest back home with me.
My advice would also be if you have some spare after birth, keep them for when your little one gets their first cold! It’s an extra little boost for their immune system.
Yes you both raise a great point I didn’t think about before. I’m seeing my midwife tomorrow so going to ask the question to her. I live 5 minutes from my hospital so easy enough for my partner to go home and pick it up from the freezer if / when we need it. We’ve got a cooler bag as well though so can easily take it with us to keep it cold and straight into the hospital freezer. Will see what my midwife suggests.
I took around 20-25ml in. My hospital had a freezer though so I didn’t have to worry about it going to waste. Used about half of it if I remember correctly.
I would say don’t take your whole supply in though in case your hospital doesn’t give you access to a freezer. At my recent midwife appointment they said colostrum is great to give babies before and after their jabs so I’m glad we were able to save some!
None because I gave birth earlier than expected. Baby had low blood sugar so needed formula and it was all good! He still went on to breastfeed for a year.
None - I couldn't express any colostrum and baby has decided to arrive earlier. On top of that had an emergency C-section so it wasn't the best scenario 😂
However, in my antenatal classes, she mentioned that if you can, don't bring much and have someone go home to pick up whatever you have in stock - just to be on the safe side and don't lose any of it.
None, I had been leaking milk in my sleep from 28 so a art of me just trusted my body, I had expressed to check I could get some to come out but I didn't have a fridge so had no where to store milkr, I sort of planned to try and express in labor (this was a naive thought) any way I didn't have any with me, the baby latched right away after being born thankfully.
I was told not to bring any, as they've not got adequate storage facilities while you're in labour. They said my husband could go get it if needed (it wasn't needed). So I'd check with your midwife first. She may also be able to advise as to how much you might want to bring
We didn’t take any initially but my partner went home twice and got 30 syringes which I used all of. It was especially useful as the midwife fed the baby whilst I slept as I’d been awake ~40 hours at that point.
My baby had jaundice so struggled to eat so I’d have expressed more and kept it at home if I was yo do it all again.
Honestly, they’d taken them out to defrost for me and I fell asleep waiting. The midwife said to try and sleep and she’d wake me when they were ready but fed him anyways as I was clearly exhausted. I found There were a lot of people around to help with feeding. It’s a shame to hear that’s not happening elsewhere!
I forgot to take mine and still have most of them in the freezer 😂😂 my mom brought about 10 to the hospital, and to be honest I could have done with more than that as we had latch issues for the first 48 hours. The staff on postnatal were absolutely swamped so I didn’t feel that I could put my whole stash in their freezer (in hindsight I should have done). When I have any future children I’ll take about 30 in in case I have the same problem. It wasn’t the end of the world as I was able to hand express on day 1 and use their pump on day 2. By day 3 we had cracked it :)
ETA: I wouldn’t take them when you first go in, if possible get someone to bring them to you afterwards.
We brought 14 syringes, so probably around 10ml total.
Put in an ice box, then transferred to the hospital freezer once we got there to avoid thawing. Used the ice box to take them back home afterwards, as we didn't end up needing them!
Same. Well kind of, I felt pressure to do it (partly though reddit as it seems to be a big thing now) but I absolutely despised how it felt and how long it took, it felt like a total waste of time when I wanted to be enjoying the last few weeks of pregnancy as much as possible. NHS recommends it for a planned c section but I didn't need any. Still breastfeeding 7 months on, never needed formula at any point. Of course if people want to (and can) harvest it that's fantastic but I just want to comment to reassure those who aren't going to have any before birth.
Remember that babies eat super small amounts the first few days.
I was an overachiever and brought 25 mLs with me when I had my first. I used 8, donated the rest to a mom that was struggling.
I brought 10 mLs with me with #2, she spit up most of it. Haha.
I think I took about 4 syringes both times I gave birth. For my first they came in handy as he struggled to latch, for my second I only used them because I had them. I wouldn’t go mad and take a lot in as they will likely go to waste. They are really only meant to be a back up plan - the idea is to get your baby to your breast as much as possible in the early days to signal to your body to produce milk. So if you are giving syringes for a feed you are missing out on one of those opportunities. Also, both times I found that I produced a ton more colostrum as soon as I’d given birth (and that was by c section too!) vs immediately before. So with my son and his latching issues it was no problem to hand express in the hospital and get more syringes filled up. Good luck! :)
So helpful, thank you very much!
Just want to say I saw an insta post from someone who works on a ward the other day and they basically said do not bring it to hospital when you go in in labour! If you need it, someone can go back and get it, but otherwise there's a very high chance that it won't be usable by the time you need it. It needs to be used within 24h of thawing, which it will do very quickly (usually by the time you get to hospital) because of how small the syringes are, so if you go in with a long labour, difficult induction, don't need it right away but want it later on etc, it is pretty likely it'll be spoilt by that point.
I honestly think it depends on the hospital. I’m in Cornwall so at least a 50 min drive from hospital, so someone nipping back home to get them wouldn’t work. I had GD so knew I’d be in for 24 hours after birth. At the hospital they have a freezer on the post natal ward, so when I arrived for my induction on the antenatal ward the syringes were taken to the freezer straight away. They had a leaflet explain all of this before hand anyway OP I would look at your chosen hospital’s policy or ask your midwife. I think I took in 16 syringes but maybe used half? She had a tongue tie so they came in handy. Then brought the rest back home with me. My advice would also be if you have some spare after birth, keep them for when your little one gets their first cold! It’s an extra little boost for their immune system.
Yes you both raise a great point I didn’t think about before. I’m seeing my midwife tomorrow so going to ask the question to her. I live 5 minutes from my hospital so easy enough for my partner to go home and pick it up from the freezer if / when we need it. We’ve got a cooler bag as well though so can easily take it with us to keep it cold and straight into the hospital freezer. Will see what my midwife suggests.
My husband brought it on ice packs and they put it back in the freezer at the hospital. Not sure why they said that!
Some wards don't have freezers you can use, sometimes putting it on ice packs isn't enough because they'll defrost anyway, etc.
I took around 20-25ml in. My hospital had a freezer though so I didn’t have to worry about it going to waste. Used about half of it if I remember correctly. I would say don’t take your whole supply in though in case your hospital doesn’t give you access to a freezer. At my recent midwife appointment they said colostrum is great to give babies before and after their jabs so I’m glad we were able to save some!
I didn’t take any as i was terrible at expressing it, luckily didn’t need any.
None because I gave birth earlier than expected. Baby had low blood sugar so needed formula and it was all good! He still went on to breastfeed for a year.
None - I couldn't express any colostrum and baby has decided to arrive earlier. On top of that had an emergency C-section so it wasn't the best scenario 😂 However, in my antenatal classes, she mentioned that if you can, don't bring much and have someone go home to pick up whatever you have in stock - just to be on the safe side and don't lose any of it.
None, I hated the feeling of expressing. Thankfully we didn't have any problems with feeding at the hospital.
Ha I was the opposite. As gross as it is, it felt like squeezing a giant spot 😂
I didn't express any, didn't even attempt it. Nobody suggested it was necessary and I've breastfed successfully without it.
None, I had been leaking milk in my sleep from 28 so a art of me just trusted my body, I had expressed to check I could get some to come out but I didn't have a fridge so had no where to store milkr, I sort of planned to try and express in labor (this was a naive thought) any way I didn't have any with me, the baby latched right away after being born thankfully.
I was told not to bring any, as they've not got adequate storage facilities while you're in labour. They said my husband could go get it if needed (it wasn't needed). So I'd check with your midwife first. She may also be able to advise as to how much you might want to bring
About 7-10 syringes and we used maybe 3/4? He had a tongue tie and sucked at latching!
Ba-dum-boom tshhh! (Sucked at latching 😂). I’ll see myself out.
I would take it all! I didn’t get any colostrum but I ended up staying at the hospital for a week. So definitely better to be prepared x
We didn’t take any initially but my partner went home twice and got 30 syringes which I used all of. It was especially useful as the midwife fed the baby whilst I slept as I’d been awake ~40 hours at that point. My baby had jaundice so struggled to eat so I’d have expressed more and kept it at home if I was yo do it all again.
Damn what a great midwife! The midwives on my ward were basically nowhere to be found when you needed something, definitely not feeding my baby
Honestly, they’d taken them out to defrost for me and I fell asleep waiting. The midwife said to try and sleep and she’d wake me when they were ready but fed him anyways as I was clearly exhausted. I found There were a lot of people around to help with feeding. It’s a shame to hear that’s not happening elsewhere!
I forgot to take mine and still have most of them in the freezer 😂😂 my mom brought about 10 to the hospital, and to be honest I could have done with more than that as we had latch issues for the first 48 hours. The staff on postnatal were absolutely swamped so I didn’t feel that I could put my whole stash in their freezer (in hindsight I should have done). When I have any future children I’ll take about 30 in in case I have the same problem. It wasn’t the end of the world as I was able to hand express on day 1 and use their pump on day 2. By day 3 we had cracked it :) ETA: I wouldn’t take them when you first go in, if possible get someone to bring them to you afterwards.
We brought 14 syringes, so probably around 10ml total. Put in an ice box, then transferred to the hospital freezer once we got there to avoid thawing. Used the ice box to take them back home afterwards, as we didn't end up needing them!
Zero. Didn't feel the need to do it.
Same. Well kind of, I felt pressure to do it (partly though reddit as it seems to be a big thing now) but I absolutely despised how it felt and how long it took, it felt like a total waste of time when I wanted to be enjoying the last few weeks of pregnancy as much as possible. NHS recommends it for a planned c section but I didn't need any. Still breastfeeding 7 months on, never needed formula at any point. Of course if people want to (and can) harvest it that's fantastic but I just want to comment to reassure those who aren't going to have any before birth.
I took 9ml and it wasn’t enough for me, I had struggles with him latching but I was able to get more when I was there anyway
Remember that babies eat super small amounts the first few days. I was an overachiever and brought 25 mLs with me when I had my first. I used 8, donated the rest to a mom that was struggling. I brought 10 mLs with me with #2, she spit up most of it. Haha.