On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 11:01:53 -0700, Truffles
wrote:

I need some information of how safe it would be to pump colostrum before
giving birth and freezing it.

My biggest concern with this pregnancy is "low blood sugar" levels in
the baby at birth and how do I stop the hospital from supplementation.
I don't want to go through nipple confusion again with this one. This
is weighing terribly on my mind.

If I had a plan, I think I could stop worrying.

Brigitte,

I have wondered the same thing and think I would go ahead and pump
after the baby is at full term, unless I had reason to believe there
were other issues in the pregnancy. I don't mind encouraging things
to get moving a bit, and I have very little fear that I'd really end
up inducing labor, since we *tried* pumping to induce labor when my
waters broke with Margaret, and didn't get very far! I had
contractions, but nothing productive or sustained after I stopped
pumping.

The reason I'd pump is simple: Margaret wound up dehydrated, then
hospitalized for jaundice, and got a couple of bottles of formula
because I was SO swollen that she could not latch on and I could not
pump enough to flush her system. If we go for number two, I want to
have something better to offer him or her. I'd do as I did the first
time around: pump and rinse the horns with a dribble of sterile
glucose water to get every drip and drop of the collostrum. I'd
freeze in daily batches. Figure that even if I didnt' do it very
often, I could get a few feedings ahead, which is probably all I would
need.

I'll be curious to see what you end up doing and how it comes out.
Good luck!

Beth, mother of Margaret, 17 months and still nursing....