For well babies, I catch the colostrum onto a clean plastic spoon. For sick babies, the mother's breast could be washed, her hands washed, and use hand expression to harvest the colostrum. A small size syringe could be used to draw up the drops or a sterile cotton tipped applicator could be used for very small quantities and quickly swabbed into the baby's mouth, cheekpads. I have also used sterile water, poured or injected down the breastshield tunnel and this thins the colostrum and allows it to pass thru the valve easier. Then the colostrum/sterile water mix can be more easily harvested. I understand this is not ideal and don't know what effect if any this has on colostrum/its bioactive properties etc. But with very tiny quantities of colostrum I have done this. Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN Mississippi, s.e. USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html