Those of us working in the world of breastfeeding and lactation are well versed in the incredible properties of colostrum, that first, concentrated human milk sometimes referred to as liquid gold. There is much researched and documented evidence supporting the importance of colostrum in the first few days of life to coat and protect the infant’s bowel, promoting gut closure and blocking harmful pathogens whilst stimulating baby’s digestive peristalsis and laying the foundations for a healthy gut in which the all important microbiome can flourish and the immune system develop. There is also good evidence that colostrum helps to protect infants against serious infections, and its use in oral hygiene for preterm babies is standard practice in many neonatal and special care baby units.
A recent participant on the course completed a reflection for homework referring to buccal colostrum, a technique for using those first precious drops of breastmilk in a way that I hadn’t come across before. This practice ensures that preterm and poorly babies unable to feed orally can receive expressed colostrum applied by gently being stroked inside the baby’s cheek using a finger or swab, this action repeated every couple of hours. The colostrum is absorbed through the buccal mucosa and lymphoid tissue of the cheek lining and stimulates development of baby’s immature immune system, delivering concentrated antibodies and growth factors and promoting better health outcomes for baby, even without being swallowed and ingested in the stomach.
Just as importantly new parents can derive great comfort during a hugely emotional time, knowing that they are able to provide an exclusive treatment for their baby made entirely by their own body, their colostrum created responsively to the stage of gestation and baby’s recent birth, and produced to the very unique specifications of their own infant, a therapy no one else is able to provide. The knowledge that their preterm or poorly infant may also gain comfort from a taste of their mother, familiarised during their time spent in-utero, has the potential to provide emotional reassurance to new mums and parents during these very challenging times.
Buccal colostrum administration is regarded as an ultra safe, low-risk intervention with the unequivocal potential to lead to very best outcomes for baby.
Author Wendy Birtall
12 December 2025