Colostrum and the First 48 Hours-Going For the Gold!
What exactly is colostrum?
- About the 16th week of pregnancy your body starts producing thick, sticky yellowish milk (it is packed full of beta-carotene which gives it the 'gold' color).
- This special milk, called colostrum, is anti-body rich and exactly what your baby needs for the first 2-3 days of life.
- During this time your baby's entire system is in recovery from birth and in transition to life in the outside world.
- At birth your baby's stomach is about the size of a shooter marble and is not designed to get too much milk.
- Colostrum is produced in teaspoonfuls--the perfect amount for the tiny tummy.
- Colostrum cleans out the digestive system and rids the baby of the thick tarry meconium (baby's 1st bowel movements)-this helps keep the baby from getting jaundiced.
- Colostrum causes baby to bring up excretions.
- Colostrum calms the nausea that babies seem to have in those first few days.
- Colostrum makes baby feel good, which is why on day 2 (24-48 hours old) she/he will not want to let go of the breast!
- Your chest and breasts are the only place where your baby feels good in these critical days. Everytime your baby breastfeeds her body releases endorphins for pain relief.
Keep your baby skin to skin with you and let her feed everytime she wants. Beware of visitors because you can easily miss feeding cues while others are holding and passing around your baby. Keep your baby on your chest and you will not miss a single cue. Everyone can admire her while she is there.
Many babies in the hospital are sleepy. If your baby will not latch or breastfeed, how do you get all of your wonderful liquid gold from your breast to your baby's belly?
Hand expressing and Spoon feeding!
Hand expressing colostrum into a tiny spoon (plastic spoons from home or the hospital kitchen work great) accomplishes many things:
1. It teaches you hand expression from the beginning-an important skill for all mothers to know.
2. It convinces you that you indeed have milk (when many say that they do not have milk, only colostrum, BUT colostrum IS milk, special milk for that special period in the baby's life).
3. It feeds your baby and builds your milk supply.
How Much Should I Feed My Baby?
If your baby is not 'drinking' at the breast because she is sleepy or tired, offer 5 small spoons of colostrum or as many as you can express (not filled to overflowing) from each breast about every 2 hours during the day. If you stick to that, you will find a totally different baby the next day. Your baby will be more awake and alert and breastfeed much better.
Check out this article on colostrum.