Colostrum collection for gestational diabetes
Colostrum, the so-called colostrum, is the best food for your newborn baby. In the first few days after birth (and even a few weeks before) before the milk comes in, the female breast produces colostrum, which is perfectly balanced in its composition for newborns. It contains many nutrients and is also important for building up your child's immune system. At the beginning there are only a few drops, but this is usually enough for your child's still very small stomach.
Sometimes, however, the colostrum that is produced is still not enough, namely if you have gestational diabetes. It is then possible that your child may have low blood sugar after birth (known as hypoglycaemia). Then sometimes a feed is needed, preferably in the first half hour after birth. But during this time, some children are still very exhausted from the birth and find it difficult to feed at the breast. In this case, it is best to feed your baby with colostrum that you have collected yourself, as this also has a stabilising effect on the newborn's blood sugar.
Colostrum collection describes the collection of colostrum during pregnancy. This is a good method to better care for the newborn children of mothers with gestational diabetes and to protect them from hypoglycaemia.
For which expectant mothers is colostrum collection suitable or even recommended? There are 2 important indications for which it makes sense to collect colostrum during pregnancy. On the one hand, this is gestational diabetes, regardless of whether it is controlled with diet or insulin, and on the other hand syndromes in the child that make it difficult for the child to drink well, such as a cleft lip and palate or cardiac or neurological diseases that were already diagnosed during pregnancy. It also makes sense to learn how to produce colostrum during pregnancy if it is possible that the mother's milk production will not be sufficient or if there were difficulties with milk production during a previous breastfeeding period. It can also be useful for multiple pregnancies (i.e. twins or more children).
To collect colostrum, sit down comfortably, ensure good hand hygiene and start stroking the nipple. The colostrum can be collected or drawn off using special syringes (see handouts from the Swiss Breastfeeding Promotion Organisation) or containers designed for this purpose (e.g. available from Galaxus). The containers should be clean, sterile and free of harmful substances. The collected colostrum should ideally be labelled immediately (with the date, time and name so that there is no risk of confusion at the hospital) and frozen. When it is time for the birth, you or your partner can take the frozen colostrum containers with you in a cool bag and hand them over to the staff in the labour ward, who will keep them cool until they are needed.
It is important to know that if colostrum collection works well during pregnancy, it is not a guarantee that breastfeeding will work well, nor is it an indication that if you are unable to express colostrum that breastfeeding will be difficult. As long as this has been agreed with the gynaecologist, it is possible from 36+0, i.e. the 37th week of pregnancy. You should start collecting colostrum from the first week of pregnancy. As nipple stimulation can sometimes stimulate labour, you should discuss this with your gynaecologist if you always have strong contractions during or after expressing. In some cases, this effect may also be desirable.
Below are 2 links to the topic. On the one hand, there is the website of the Swiss Breastfeeding Promotion Organisation, which offers handouts on the topic of colostrum collection in 4 languages for downloading, and on the other hand, there is the video by global health media, which shows how to proceed with colostrum collection. Discuss this topic with your gynaecologist, breastfeeding counsellor or midwife.
