Hours after giving birth, I sat in my hospital bed holding my newborn as a nurse massaged my breasts. Squeezing each one from top to bottom, she was searching for any hint of the “good stuff” or so-called “liquid gold.” At last, the tiniest drop of yellow-tinted liquid fell like a raindrop. “That’s it!” the nurse exclaimed, as another nurse hurried my newborn up to my nipple.
As a first-time mother, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t a teaspoon of liquid that could have easily been mistaken as yellow sweat. Sometimes called “first milk,” colostrum is the first form of milk produced by the mammary glands of all mammals immediately after the delivery of a newborn. For human newborns, it’s essentially a customized, nutrient-packed shot filled with white blood cells that produces antibodies to strengthen the baby’s immune system. It also creates a coating on the newborn’s stomach to prevent germs from leading to illness and infections.
