The Sterile Colostrum Collection Syringe is a single, pre-sterilised syringe for collecting and storing colostrum — the small, concentrated first milk your body makes before and just after birth. It's available in 1 ml, 3 ml, 5 ml and 10 ml, so you can match the size to how much you're expressing at a given stage.
Each syringe arrives pre-sterilised and sealed, with its own cap — so it's ready to use straight away, and can be capped and stored once you've collected. They're sold individually, which means you can buy as few or as many as you need rather than committing to a set.
Choosing a size
- 1 ml — the size most parents reach for when harvesting antenatally. Colostrum arrives in drops rather than millilitres, and a narrow barrel makes those first few drops much easier to draw up without losing any.
- 3 ml — a little more room per session, useful once you're expressing more than a few drops at a time and would rather store fewer, fuller syringes.
- 5 ml — suits later sessions and the days after birth, when volumes start to increase and a larger barrel means less swapping between syringes.
- 10 ml — the largest in the range, useful when you're expressing larger volumes or where a midwife or healthcare professional has advised giving a bigger amount by syringe.
If you're not sure where to start, most parents expressing before birth find the smaller sizes more practical, and move up as volumes increase.
Why parents collect colostrum before birth
Colostrum is produced in very small quantities, and expressing some in the last weeks of pregnancy means you have a stored supply ready to take to hospital with you. Some parents are advised to do this by their midwife or doctor — for instance where feeding may need extra support in the first hours — and others simply like having a little in reserve. Because the volumes are so small, a syringe collects and stores it far more practically than a bottle or bag, where drops are easily lost to the sides.
Antenatal expressing isn't right for every pregnancy, though, and it's a conversation to have with your midwife or doctor before you start rather than something to begin on your own.
How to use
- Wash your hands and make sure the syringe is capped and unopened until you're ready.
- Express by hand, collecting the colostrum as it beads, and draw it up into the syringe.
- Replace the cap, label the syringe with the date and time, and store it as advised by your midwife or hospital.
- Use a fresh syringe for each collection session.
Your midwife or lactation consultant is the best guide on technique, timing and how much to expect — these steps are an outline, not a substitute for that guidance.
Best For
The Sterile Colostrum Collection Syringe is a great option for parents who:
- Have been advised by a midwife, doctor or lactation consultant to harvest colostrum before birth
- Want a sterile, capped syringe that's ready to use without any preparation
- Would rather buy individually and build up the number they need
- Need a practical way to store very small volumes without losing drops
It may not be what you're after if you:
- Are expressing larger volumes and need storage bottles or breast milk bags instead
- Are still early in pregnancy, because there is a risk that expressing colostrum can lead to preterm labour.
Pandylane Pro Tip: Label each syringe with the date and time as you fill it, and keep them together in a sealed bag or container in the freezer. When it's time to go in, they travel to hospital in a cool bag with ice packs and go straight into the ward freezer or fridge on arrival — worth packing the cool bag alongside your hospital bag so it isn't the thing you forget at 3am.