Colostrum
Also called first milk, colostrum harvesting, colostrum collection
Colostrum is the first milk the breasts make, usually thick and golden yellow, in the first few days after birth. It changes into mature breast milk within about two to four days.
How it's said
That video was hugely helpful, and I've collected my first lot of colostrum!
When the baby is born, you have colostrum for them naturally the first few days anyway.
What on earth is colostrum "harvesting"?
Who says it
Where it came from
The word comes straight from Latin, and where the Latin came from is unknown. Old English dialects had their own word for a cow's colostrum: beestings.
The body starts making colostrum from about 16 weeks of pregnancy. Many NHS maternity units now teach parents to express and save some by hand before the birth, which their leaflets call antenatal colostrum collection or colostrum harvesting.