How to express breast milk by hand?

Nursing mothers have to resort to pumping for various reasons. And quite often the procedure is carried out by hand. How to express the mammary gland with the hands correctly and what nuances should be taken into account in this type of pumping?

• The procedure can be carried out in any place, as well as at any time convenient for the mother, as it does not require the availability of additional devices.
• Mom independently controls the pressure on her breasts.
• The method does not require additional financial expenses.
• The procedure is more pleasant for the breast than contact with the breast pump.

• Such pumping is quite long (takes about 20-30 minutes), so mom needs to be patient.
• Not all women can handle large amounts of milk.
• This method is considered non-sterile, many pediatricians do not recommend feeding the baby with hand-expressed milk.

Breast massage before decanting will allow milk to be pumped out faster. In addition, it is very useful for nursing moms.

The hand pumping technique is shown in the following figure.

Prepare a sterile container and wash your hands well, and also take a comfortable position. After that, place your hand on the chest so that the thumb is located above the nipple on top of the areola, and the other fingers are under the nipple. Gently press on the chest with fingertips. Pressure should occur from the base to the areola, and then to the nipple.

Let your movements be gliding, and your fingers do not come off the skin of your chest. First drops of milk will appear from the nipple, and then it will begin to flow in streams.

Extract milk from one gland for at least 5 minutes. When the milk has ceased to stand out from the chest, move your fingers to another position or begin to decant the second breast (you can return to the first one later).

Squeezing during lactostasis is aimed at alleviating the condition of the mother. First, the woman should knead the breasts for about 15 minutes. Movement must be neat and done in a circle. Breast should be rubbed with the tips of four fingers.

Breast massage is very useful for any nursing mom, do not forget about it.

You can also take a shower (stand under warm water), drink warm tea and massage your back in the thoracic spine.

Some mothers are helped by the use of the “warm bottle” method. For its use take a glass bottle with a volume of from one to three liters, the diameter of the neck of which is at least 4 centimeters. The glass is heated by dipping the bottle in hot water or pouring water inside, and then the neck of the tank is cooled. Apply the neck of the bottle to the oiled vaseline areola in such a way that the nipple gets inside it. In this case, the nipple will be drawn inside, and the milk will begin to flow into the bottle. When the stream of milk becomes weak, the nipple must be removed from the bottle.

Watch the following video of the Union of Pediatricians of Russia, where a specialized mammologist demonstrates breastfeeding techniques and talks about important nuances.

• Like breastfeeding, pumping requires patience and practice. Mom quickly develops the necessary skills and can soon get the amount of milk she needs from her breast.
• To make hand pumping easier, the mother needs to cause a rush of milk to the breast glands before the procedure. To do this, you can apply warm wet tissue to the breast, go to a warm shower, drink a warm drink 10 minutes before the procedure, massage the breast, think about the baby.
• It is easiest to express milk from one breast when the baby sucks the second, since the tide occurs simultaneously to both mammary glands.

If you feel pain while decanting, then you are doing something wrong. When the procedure of pumping hands does not work, it is best to contact a specialist who can help with breastfeeding.