Haakaa Ladybug (Mini2)

You will be the talk of the hospital if you start collecting colostrum while still pregnant and bring some to the hospital with you.We knew going in that there was a chance our baby would need to spend some time in the NICU based on a potential heart condition they found at my 20 week anatomy scan (fortunately he didn’t need to). So I started hand expressing into these amazing little things at 38.5 weeks pregnant (baby happened to come right on due date). It’s also a good idea just in case baby doesn’t latch right away. I will do this for every pregnancy and likely start earlier (with doctors approval). The lactation consultants at the hospital thought these collectors were the coolest thing ever and were so impressed with me which provided a nice boost of confidence as a first time mom haha.Anyway, this was honestly such a fun way to feel a little closer to baby towards the end of pregnancy when you’re so anxious to meet baby!! It was a two person job for me. I expressed while my husband held the collector and caught every drop (I suggest taking the lid off and catching drops rather than trying to use the suction tip to catch them). We did it morning and night. I kept adding to one collector until it was full and stored it in the fridge in between sessions. Once it was full we wrote on some painters tape we had in the house (date(s) of collection for that particular collector, my name and birthday - that’s for if you plan to bring collectors to hospital and store in hospital fridge) and wrapped it around the collector and then put it in the freezer.Even though my baby didn’t go into the nicu and latched on right away, we still used some in the hospital. My husband fed the baby right from them which was a nice way for him to bond. In hind sight, we probably won’t feed baby #2 with them (unless needed) next time so that we can instead save the colostrum in the freezer since I’ve heard it’s helpful if the baby is ever sick. Especially since feeding him with these means I wasn’t feeding him from the breast and the first few days are all about establishing that supply (but the LCs were apparently ok with it so… idk). They also just provided really nice peace of mind (again, as first time parents) because night 3, our first night not in the hospital, we were worried that baby hadn’t been getting enough to eat since he hadn’t pooped in 18 hours so we gave him some of the colostrum we had in the freezer at home. Not sure this was necessary but we were panicking and it calmed our nerves a little to be able to see he was getting milk.Okay this was a novel. Bottom line … get these. Ask your OB when you can start collecting and do it. Watch a few YouTube videos to learn how to do it. You won’t really know how many you’ll need until you start collecting and see what kind of milk supply you have. Oh and separate but related… I highly recommend you find an LC through your insurance!! The hospital should have some on staff but you’ll likely still want advice when you leave the hospital. The hospital told me to find one in network through lactationnetwork.com.

I did not have much luck with hand expression at 37 weeks but when my OB gave me the greenlight to start pumping at 38 weeks I was able to use these to collect the colostrum I produced. Very small amounts at first, but I've gotten better at both producing and collecting in these tubes. I've already ordered a second set so I can keep collecting until baby comes.

Very nice product and well packaged.

The product is fine, but I would strongly not recommend these for colostrum collection. You get such small drops out that it’s pretty much impossible to capture them in these little silicone tubes. Also the binding cloth that comes with it just gets fuzz everywhere. Tiny 1ml syringes are really the only thing that works for collecting colostrum.

I’m honestly very confused looking at the success stories with these things. They didn’t work for me at all. The hospital gave me a spoon for colostrum and it worked better for me. I just wasn’t producing enough to use the collectors and would lose more liquid gold trying to get it in there (especially because it’s pretty thick at first!) . Most the time I was just putting it right in my babies mouth anyways. So just seemed like a waste to me.

Was not as easy to use as other products I found

Was such a blessing to be able to collect & store colostrum with these prior to giving birth, must have item!