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Colostrum |
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Welcome to Miss Yurie Chang's Advice Column |
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All the information you wanted to know about expressing and storing colostrum for your baby |
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Email me by clicking on above |
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What is Colostrum? |
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Answer: Colostrum is the first milk your breasts produce during pregnancy. Most mothers don't even know it's there unless they leak a bit toward the end of the pregnancy. Your body starts making it about three months into pregnancy.
What colostrum lacks in volume it makes up for in power. Some people refer to colostrum as "high octane" milk. It's full of antibodies and immunoglobulins, which not only help protect newborns as they come into our world of bacteria and viruses, but also has a laxative effect that helps them expel the tarry first stools called meconium.
When you feed your baby colostrum, which may appear as clear fluid or be a deep golden color, it's as though you're giving him his first vaccination. Someone once estimated that if human colostrum could be commercially manufactured with all the same antibodies and immunoglobulins in it, it would cost somewhere around $800 an ounce. |
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I am pregnant. Do my breasts already have colostrum? How do i know? |
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Answer: If you are pregnant for 12 weeks or more, your breasts might already have colostrum. The tingling sensation and pain in the nipples are usually due to the breasts preparing to make milk.
Some girls will actually "leak" some colostrum. This will be initially colorless, but will dry to yellowish crusts around the nipples.
If you are not "leaking" colostrum, you could try to squeeze your breasts and nipples to check if there is any yet. Use the correct expressing technique shown in the video. |
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Why is it important to check if I have colostrum? |
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Answer: While the western medicine does not give much importance to colostrum, Oriental medicine does. The reasons are that correct colostrum production during pregnancy leads to higher colostrum production post partum. Regular colustrum expression during pregnancy will prevent blocked ducts and painful mastitis. Colostrum collection can also be done for long term use. |
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