Debbie asked about when breast milk reverts to colostrum during pregnancy
and if it is a gradual transition. I think the process usually starts
around 20 weeks but it can happen earlier or later.

From my personal experience, I don't remember when I started transitioning,
but it was definitely gradual, as for several weeks when I expressed a few
drops after my older nursling was done (to prove to myself that I was
indeed still making milk and she wasn't just nursing dry!), I found that
the drops that I expressed were of different colours - some had turned
yellow, while others were still very much white mature milk. I found that
very interesting, that different parts of the same breast were at very
different stages of the transition.

With a healthy newborn that is nursing well I don't know of any reason why
you would need to limit the older nursling, unless Mom needs to do so for
her sanity! I always recommend to my friends who plan on tandem nursing
that they introduce some way to signal to the older nursling that it's time
to end a nursing session well before the new baby arrives, so Mom can keep
sessions shorter with the older child on her terms if she needs to without
tantrums or jealousy.

There is a wonderful book that I read while pregnant and now recommend to
all pregnant and nursing Moms I meet called "Adventures in Tandem Nursing:
Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond" by Hilary Flower (I have no
connection to the author or publisher - just love the book!) It's my
understanding that it's less expensive if you buy it through the LLL
website as opposed to on Amazon. I think it's a great resource for your
personal library.

Hilary Pollock
Recently ex-tandem nurser (my ODD just weaned last month!)

Date:    Thu, 11 Jul 2013 02:32:19 +1030
> From:    Debbie Dixon <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: reversion of breastmilk to colostrum during  pregnancy
>
> Hello
> Just wondering at what point does breastmilk revert back to colostrum
> during pregnancy (in the case of a mother who is breastfeeding an 18 month
> old & is 12 weeks pregnant)?  Is it a gradual transition throughout the
> pregnancy or does it happen closer to the time of birth of the new baby?
>  And how should the mother approach this as regards making sure the new
> baby receives the colostrum in the early days if the toddler is still
> feeding intermittently?
> Thank you for your information,Debbie Dixon IBCLCDubbo NSWAUSTRALIA
>              ***********************************************
>
>

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