Can I still express milk 3 weeks postpartum.

[Hopeless07]

Hello, my due date is today but i gave birth 3 weeks ago. I am still leaking tear drops of what i believe to be colostrum white, clear and orange kind of colour liquid. I did express like 1ml over 10 mins 1 day ago but it was orange colour and i didnt know if this was normal, also would the milk im expressing be "old milk"...would I have to get rid of this or can it still be used to feed to baby.

Any advice would be brilliant.

Thanks

X

[Kata89]

Yes and do it. If you’re breastfeeding you can express when ever you want. If you’re not I’d suggest get what you can but it might bring in your milk. So if make a decision about what you want to actually do with feeding, then decide if it’s a good idea

Those bits of colostrum you can save for baby and give to them when ill or just to give their immune systems a boost to get going now.

[Hidden]

Short answer is, with some effort, you can increase your milk supply and breast feed/to express at 3 weeks post partum.

For a variety of reasons it was difficult for me to breastfeed when my boy was born 9 weeks ago. But I spoke to a Lactation consultant and was advised to do breast massage and hand express milk (see videos on YouTube) to encourage production. Also, using a breast pump by alternating 5mins on each breast x 2 (5mins right, 5mins left then repeat) will help trigger your body into producing milk too. This has worked for me.

Milk production is a supply and demand situation, the more you express/baby drinks the more your body is triggered to produce. It won’t happen over night, but if you do the above regularly (but not excessively each time or you’ll get sore) you’ll see an improvement over several days.

It sounds like you may still be producing colostrum (the orangey colour liquid). It’s full of good stuff so keep giving it to your baby. Do you offer the breast to your baby? Does she latch well? (I.e no pain for you?) She’s your best way of increasing your milk. Let her feed from you regularly, do lots of skin to skin contact with her as it promotes hormones in you that are helpful for milk production.

Lastly, drink plenty of water! It’s thirsty work making milk and being dehydrated will have an impact. Also, eating oats is good.

This website has loads of useful info: kellymom.com

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

P.S. you don’t have to worry about the milk being ‘old’, it does sit there going off like a bottle of milk...although the idea did make me smile 😊