# Colostrum



## Mistletoe (Holly) (Jan 1, 2007)

I keep reading things that say you may leak colostrum at my stage of pregnancy (33 weeks)

I don't seem to have had any leaking and I am worried that I won't produce enough milk to feed as my mother could not feed me - she did not have a drop of milk and was very disappointed. I was in SCBU for 1 week after I was born and in those days mothers had to look at babies through the window and were not allowed to touch - but even so, her milk should have come in. Having looked after some  ladies in ICU after birth and giving them cabergoline to stop milk production it seems milk usually arrives no matter what!

I suppose the only reassuring thing is that after my miscarriage I leaked little amounts of milk for 2 -3 weeks and my breasts only became rock hard, hot and red on the Saturday evening after the ERPC on the Thursday and I was quite early on for milk production at 17 weeks that time around.

Should I be concerned that I am not leaking colostrum, or is it normal to leak and I am going to have trouble feeding? Feeding is something I am desperate to try.

Thank you for your thoughts.


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## emilycaitlin (Mar 7, 2006)

Hi, 

Don't worry, most women don't leak at all in pregnancy. Once the placenta is delivered, the hormones start for milk production, and as your baby sucks, those hormones increase, so you may find the first day that you don't even get a drop, but this isn't a problem at all. The issue when you were born is that they may not have advised your mum to express regularly enough, and that, coupled with the stress of you being apart from her, will have affected her production. 

Hope this helps,

Emilycaitlin xx


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## Mistletoe (Holly) (Jan 1, 2007)

Thank you - you say all the right things


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