Colostrum
A few minutes after the birth of the baby, you can start breastfeeding.
The first food your breasts produce is colostrum, a yellow, sticky
liquid that contains everything your baby needs to transition to life outside
of your body.
While all babies benefit from colostrum, premature babies who consume
colostrum from their mother's breasts have "significantly better health
outcomes" than those who do not.
Colostrum has many benefits for your newborn:
- Helps your child to strengthen the immune system (contains antibodies and white blood cells).
- Creates a strong coating on your baby's stomach and intestines to keep germs from causing illness.
- Acts as a laxative, helping the baby pass meconium (the first dark stool).
- Helps prevent jaundice and eliminate harmful waste. Learn more about breastfeeding and jaundice.
- Gives your child's brain, eyes and heart the right combination of nutrients for growth.
- Contains high levels of protein, salts, fats and vitamins for complete nutrition.
- Complete nutrition that is easy for your child's stomach to digest. This is the perfect food for your newborn.
- Helps prevent hypoglycemia in newborns.
How much do you need?
It is normal to eat only 1-4 teaspoons of colostrum per day. Your baby's
stomach may be the size of a balloon, although it is getting bigger every day.
The amount of colostrum you produce is ideal for your baby. Remember to
breastfeed your baby as often as he wants to stimulate milk production.
When to stop producing colostrum?
Your body will exclusively produce colostrum for about 2-5 days after
birth. After that, "transitional milk" comes into play - a mixture of
colostrum and more mature milk.
By the time the transitional milk is expressed, your newborn's stomach has begun to stretch and can now take in more milk at a time.