****Colostrum collection is considered safe at 38+ weeks of pregnancy in low risk mothers. ****
Doing this PROVEN & simple technique during pregnancy will provide your babee colostrum and only colostrum through your hospital stay while stimulating milk production.
Breastfeeding rates are lower than ever in the US with over 90% of births occurring in the hospital. That means YOU could possibly experience the break in the start of your journey, honey. Don't fall victim to the statistics. Your EARLY initiation of breastfeeding occurs within one hour of birth and continues into the next two hours, as it facilitates emotional bonding of the mother/caregiver and babee dyad and has a positive impact on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding.
What does your feeding plan look like? The initiation of breastfeeding is consistently broken by ill informed staff not protecting The Golden Hour(s). The initiation of breastfeeding or pumping is described as feeding your babee colostrum and only colostrum before hospital discharge and because of perceived weight loss in babees which is normal in healthy term births, supplementation will be offered to you, especially if you're are a Black mother whom are disproportionately offered formula 9x more often during their hospital stays.
Advocating for yourself starts with saying NO and practicing hand expression NOW to give you the confidence and control over feeding and learning how to feed your babee in the hospital. Learning your body NOW in pregnancy is imperative to building and keeping your milk supply and allowing your body to do what it was physiologically designed to do.
The BFF Kit uses the anatomy of your breasts to teach you the intricate manipulation of expressing milk correctly to prepare for breastfeeding. The benefits of hand expression prenatally for colostrum collection also provides a back up plan for any form of separation from your babee for medical complications during delivery that may delay the start of your milk supply. Sometimes there are situations where a babee may need additional milk feeds before milk volume has had a chance to naturally build within the first days of babee's life. For example, a babee born to a diabetic honey might be born with low blood sugar, and need food quickly to address this. Expressing and storing colostrum prenatally means the perfect food will be available if needed, and avoids having to use infant formula.
Feeling the regret of not learning this proven & guaranteed art of breastfeeding before your babee arrives is imminent if you don't act now, honey!
Are you prepared to say no to supplementation? Hand expression is a lost art that benefits you with the stimulation of milk production. Using a gentle massage technique, hand expression has been proven to increase your milk output by 48%. It’s all in the power of touch stimulating the hormones prolactin and oxytocin, the milk making and releasing hormone. Familiarizing yourself with your breasts and learning to hand express during pregnancy will build your maternal confidence in the early days that give your body the grace it deserves after birth to learn your babee too. Hand expression also teaches you how to efficiently drain your breasts to maintain your milk supply and actively increase your milk volume to your babee through breast compression. This ensures babee gets the nutrition needed while efficiently removing milk from the breast. Make more milk when you move more milk!
The results are jaw-dropping when honeys incorporate hand expression and see their milk output increase up to 50% when pumping.
1. Purchase The Breast Friend Kit to practice prenatally.
2. Practice expression 1-2 times a day for a few days a week.
3. Collect colostrum syringes provided and place back inside pouch and store in the freezer.
There are studies that suggest antenatal expression after completing 37 weeks of gestation significantly improves postpartum lactation by early establishment of plentiful milk secretion. Hand expression preps the breasts, milk ducts and mammary glands for breastfeeding while also giving you a boost of confidence in feeding your infant and maintaining milk production. Mothers reportedly stating that their milk volume increased significantly on day one and two opposed to the normal three day delay. When hand expression is taught prenatally many honeys I've worked with have experienced less stress on feeding when their babee arrives because they know how to remove the milk to one, feed their babee while manually building their milk supply. Studies also show a reduction on postpartum breastfeeding failures too when new mothers utilize hand expression in the early days.
Prenatal Hand Expression is completely safe IF...
You are a LOW RISK mothers starting at 37+ weeks. If you are cleared to have sesx more than likely you can hand express prenatally. The benefit of learning and utilizing hand expression prenatally is the colostrum you will collect. Collecting your colostrum during pregnancy has benefits for all women and their babees. However, it is especially beneficial for your babee if they are likely to have difficulties with feeding or maintaining their blood sugar levels during the first few days after birth. This may be because your babee: • is premature • is large or small for their gestational age • is a twin or triplet • has a cleft lip or palate • has Down’s syndrome or a heart condition • oral restrictions
Collecting your colostrum can also be beneficial for your babee if you: • are taking beta blockers to control high blood pressure • have developed pre-eclampsia during pregnancy • are diabetic or have developed diabetes during pregnancy • have polycystic ovary syndrome • have breast hypoplasia (a condition in which the breast doesn’t fully develop) or you have had breast surgery • have a raised body mass index (BMI) • plan to give birth by caesarean section
Fuel the next phase of breast milk sooner. Increase your milk supply up to 130% in the fourth trimester by learning now in your pregnancy.
Ok, so how do I hand express, honey?!
Always wash your hands before expressing. Applying a warm compress to your breast or expressing after a warm bath or shower can help the flow of colostrum. Get yourself comfortable. Perhaps seated and leaning slightly forward but find what works best for you. Start with a gentle breast massage, stroking from the back of your breast towards the nipple to encourage the let-down reflex. Put your thumb above the nipple and your first few fingers below the nipple. You will be cupping the breast in a ‘C’ shape. With your thumb and fingers, feel a few centimeters back from the nipple. Press back towards your chest, then compress (press your fingers together), and release.Repeat this process. You may not see any milk expressed the first few possibly 10 minutes but continue building a rhythm. Press, compress, release.
It may be useful to look click on the resources listed in The Hive for free videos of hand expression techniques. Here is a video of a beautiful demonstration here.
If you are in need of a bulk order of 50 or more please email click here to place your inquiry or jada@milkandhoneycoatl.com for an invoice to be sent out.
Do you own a perinatal care business, place your wholesale order today, honey!!
Resources and Citations
Effect of Antenatal Breast Milk Expression at Term Pregnancy to Improve Post Natal Lactational Performance
Evaluating antenatal breastmilk expression outcomes: a scoping review with Diabetes
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7971107/
(No Premature Labor Effect) Effect of Antenatal Expression of Breast Milk at Term in Reducing Breast Feeding Failures