This post is part of the Breast-Kept Secrets: Breastfeeding Advice from One Mom to Another series. Go back and read all posts here.
When I first became a mother, I was devastated that my milk did not arrive by the time I left the hospital. In fact, it didn’t arrive until my baby was five days old!
What I didn’t understand was that my body was already producing colostrum–and colostrum was really all my baby needed during her first few days of life.
I recently read an article that broke my heart. It told of the millions of mothers around the world who discount their value of colostrum, the pre-milk, golden yellow liquid that breasts produce before milk arrives.
These mothers live in undeveloped countries and believe that colostrum has no value. Even more, they unknowingly sicken their children by giving them contaminated water because they believe their milk is not sufficient to quench their babies’ thirst.
As heartbreaking and shocking as this story sounds, I wonder just how many North American mothers feel the same way.
Image by ODHD
I cannot tell you the times I’ve heard from mothers: “I wanted to breastfeed, but my milk never came in.”
“Did you put your baby to breast to drink the colostrum?” I’ve asked.
“Well, no….”
If your baby doesn’t take in your colostrum, not only will they miss out on nutrients and antibodies no one can ever duplicate, but your milk may never come in.
Along with the hormones that your body releases upon delivery, your child’s sucking is what signals to the brain to produce milk.
So what is colostrum?
Some people call it liquid gold.
1. It provides the perfect nutrition specific to your baby’s needs.
2. It provides a massive amount of living cells that protect your baby against disease.
3. It provides the antibody IgA, which acts as a natural vaccine. (We don’t give vaccines at birth–but more on that in another post.)
4. It protects the baby’s gastrointestinal tract.
5. It provides protective white cells that destroy bad bacteria and viruses.
So, if you’re expecting a baby, please make sure they get all your liquid gold! Colostrum is truly your baby’s first superfood!
Did you feel like your colostrum was sufficient for your baby the first few days, or did you feel pressured to give him or her formula or to pump in order to get your milk to come in quicker?
*My sources–and links for further study:
La Leche League
Wikipedia
Kelly Mom
Pregnancy
If you liked this post, you may also like my posts on lactation cookies, Why? Breastfeed & The Best Advice Ever, Before Baby Arrives and The First Two Weeks and The Breast Crawl.
Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. Please seek medical advice from a healthcare professional. I am just a mom who likes to research!
Ashley
The nurses put a lot of pressure on me to give my son formula because he lost something like 8-9% of his birth weight. My sweet husband tried to fight them but I was an emotional hormonal wreck who had a rather difficult delivery and in my mind my baby was gonna die. So I listened to them and supplemented, we never did have an exclusive breastfeeding relationship which is something I desperately wanted and regret. Whenever the Lord blesses us with our second it will be different. I am better researched now than I was then, almost 4 years ago.
Erin
I think this happens a lot. 🙁 I pray your next experience is better!
Amy
I have had two kids, and this really made me think, i was pressured to bottle feed because my milk had not come in before i left the hospital. My best friend just had her child, and the hospital forced her to pump to the point her nipples were so sore that she could not breastfeed without bleeding. I am due in november and DETERMINED to breastfeed no matter what. I will hurt a nurse if i have to, haha. I even bought a onsie that says, “please don’t give me a bottle, i prefer dos boobies” 🙂
Erin
Congrats on the new baby!! I think sheer determination can be the biggest indicator of success! You go in there with confidence, girl!
sarah
I wasn’t pressured to pump or bottle feed with either of my children – I thought the hospital nurses were great, although the lactaction consultants left a little something to be desired.
My first had trouble latching, so the nurse brought in a nipple shield and bottle of sugar water the end of the second day. However, it was more of a “if the nipple shield doesn’t work, then we’ll have to consider something else.” The nipple shield did work, and supplementing was never mentioned again. (Side note: This was the nurse because it was the weekend and the hospital had no LCs on the weekend. We also had major issues weaning from the nipple shield, and only resolved that when I sought out a non-hospital-based LC).
My second latched on right away and we had no issues. Again, no help from the LC’s, but 1) I knew what I was doing better and 2) He was a larger baby and didn’t struggle to figure it out himself.
Erin
So glad you didn’t have that pressure!! I think every hospital is different. The staff at my last two births were amazing. I had no pressure either.
cindy
It is so sad that hospitals scared new parents into sugar water and pumping or formula. It is down-right negligent for L&D staff to not know the value of colostrum and to not encourage moms to keep trying, to relax, and that the baby nursing is what starts the milk production.
With our 4th, she lost quite a bit of weight, but was still healthy and not suffering or having any other issues. I had to get really vocal about not supplementing her with anything. I refused to let her go to the nursery and I accompanied her for her bloodwork, etc (in the middle of the night), b/c I didn’t believe that everyone was onboard with our choices. It was mentally draining to feel as if we had to defend ourselves and baby 24-7. I couldn’t wait to go home.
I really feel like nursing, which was the only option for thousands of years, is almost a lost art, that should have passed from woman to woman, mom to daughter, and like other parts of Titus 2, this needs to be shown to be normal, healthy, & God’s design. (yes, I do understand there are special circumstances where things are not working).
With our 1st baby, we had a wonderful lactation consultant, but I didn’t realize baby and I were working with a bad latch and she was really hungry. LC had us come back to hospital and pump some colostrum ( I couldn’t believe the color), and she had hubby dropper feed baby til she quieted. Then we worked to correct the latch situation. At no point did she say oh, it’s b/c your milk isn’t in. She encouraged us to keep trying, and the next day, the milk was in. If it hadn’t been for this one “really old school” LC I might not have tried with babies 2-4.
New mama’s: If you think nursing is for you – please read read read before baby arrives. A lot of L&D staff do get it, and want to help. There are others who still think that man-made is better. Be prepared.
Erin
I agree…it is so sad! I think a lot of L & D nurses today just aren’t educated when it comes to lactation. I feel so passionate about it and want to help educate moms! So many give up early because they think they can’t do it or don’t have milk! So sad! Women have been doing this creation!
Chris
I tried to nurse my son, but my milk never came in enough. I did pump what I produced, but it was never enough for him. I had to mix my milk with formula. My Mom belonged to the La Leche League when my sisters & I were nursing so it wasn’t from lack of trying on my part. Some woman’s milk just doesn’t come in from no fault of their own.
Erin
I am so sorry you had a rough experience! 🙁 I don’t want anyone to feel condemned here for not breastfeeding. I had a friend who had a scenario very similar to yours. She even tried using the drugs adoptive mothers take to lactate–to no avail! 🙁
shauna
My baby dropped 11% and was dehydrated. I didn’t want to do formula but she was very hungry that last day. So I pumped and did supplement . thankfully I only had to do that one day and everything I pumped we used so it didn’t go to waste!!! My nurses and LC were helpful cause they knew I didn’t want the formula. So glad my milk finally came in that night and she was in better spirits and still got ALL the colostrum from me!
Erin
It sounds like you had a great support team. So glad your baby still got all that good colostrum!
Amber
My little girl is now 8 and a half months old. me and my husband choose to have her at home with a midwife. She had trouble latching on for the 1st week & lost a lot of weight. It scared us and my midwife but she kept telling me “Amber, dont give up shes fine shes drinking what your pumping and you always try thats what counts, she will get it.” Every time it was time to feed her i would try for about 5-10 min to get her to latch then I would pump and feed her, at a week old she finally latched on and hasn’t looked back since. I am a working mom and she has never gotten nipple confusion and sometimes wont take a bottle if she knows its time for me to be home.
Heather Miles
My baby girl had not quite developed her sucking reflex yet. I tried for 24 hours or so, but she would not suck. Her latch was fantastic. My nurses were very pro-breastfeeding and never encouraged a bottle or formula. Instead, I pumped the liquid gold and fed my daughter with a cup/spoon. I would put her to the breast before each feeding, just in case she caught on. After about 68 hours, she finally started sucking and nursing properly. My milk came in 24 hours after she caught on to nursing. We are going strong for over 3 months now! My daughter lost over 10 percent of her weight while in the hospital. I was so blessed with nurses and a doctor that were just as determined as I was to breastfeed!
Janelle
I started leaking around 25 weeks and ended up having preeclampsia and delivering at 30 weeks so my son was in the NICU for a while. The day after I had him and I was able to start hobbling around an LC came in to encourage me to pump and take that colostrum to the NICU. Thank goodness we were in a baby friendly hospital because it would have been really easy to not pump for him. I actually started pumping before I even met my son. While I was working up the courage to go meet him my husband borrowed a book from the NICU and read to me what I should expect him to look like and he read to me how important breastmilk was for a preemie. That was 2 years ago and our nursing relationship is still going strong! Not a drop of formula touched his lips 🙂
Ciera
I just had my first born Aug. 7th, 2013, I had done a ton of research before his birth or conception as I had at one time been interested in becoming a midwife; I was armed to the teeth against anything my doctors deemed “a necessary intervention”. When my lil one came into this world unlike what we were led to believe he did not sleep at all during his first night. I was up all night with him nursing and crying. I felt so much emotional pull and exhaustion as I had already been up for 32 hours without food or water in labor…
the night nurse did nothing to help, all she did was come in take my vitals, check the baby, and instruct me that since he was nursing “too much” I obviously wasn’t giving him enough milk; therefore my only option was to supplement. Never mind that I had never nursed before and was unsure of myself and the position I was in. Thank God I can be so stubborn, I flat out told her no and that he was perfectly fine. In the morning we spoke to a perfectly wonderful LC and she comforted me by showing me how big his stomach was and nursing so much as long as he was having dirty diapers; she said one was enough and was so surprised to hear he had gone through 5! Both #1 and #2!
Needless to say hospitals can be very discouraging to emotionally raw and exhausted mothers. It pays to do your own research and ask your own questions….
and to be very STUBBORN! 😀
Nichole
I had my first child a day before my 20th birthday and I was determined to breastfeed. I was fortunate that my hospital offered a lactation consultant and I had no issues. I just had my second child and he went right to the breast. I only had one nurse try to butt in. I guess I was a lucky one
Carlise
I loved this article. It is a reminder of what I did right! lol. My son is now 8 years old, but we are currently trying for another. ANywho. the moment Noah was born as soon as he was weighed rubbed clean and vitals checked and they handed him to me all bundled, he was looking to eat… I should have known this would be a trend. Any who, the first 45 min of his life he began to feed on the “liquid gold” and did until we came home 3 days later (I had issues where I had to stay in), my milk came in the day we came home from the hospital. I truly think this was the best for him. When we conceive our next, and i plan on breast feeding again right after delivery. I feel a great blog post for me coming on. Have a wonderfully blessed Day!
Erin
Thank you, Carlise! Best wishes on TTC!
Ruth Meaney
We hand expressed colostrum and syringe fed our daughter for the first 3 days as she was super sleepy and would fall asleep straight away at the boob. She didn’t latch properly until day 4 with the help of nipple shields. We breasted for 2 years 🙂