My midwife says she recommends all her Mums hand express and freeze colostrum from 38 weeks as a 'just in case' measure. She's had a few bubs that have struggled to latch at first, had low blood-sugars etc and the hospital has pushed for formula supplementing, even when Mum was reluctant and needed more time for her milk to come in. She said that since she's started to recommend this that all her bubs have left hospital without this being an issue as Mum has had a good frozen stash to supp with.

Whilst nipple stimulation might trigger Brixton Hicks, it'll only hurry things along /start labour if your body's actually ready anyway. If it actually triggered labour in it's own right, well there'd be a heck of a lot of women at 39/40/41 weeks determinedly playing with their boobs right now!