Breastfeeding - Expressing Breastmilk by Hand

It is easy to express breastmilk by hand. This simple skill can be very useful:

• You can express your milk and leave it with a family member or baby sitter to feed your baby while you're away.
• You can express breastmilk to maintain your milk supply after you return to work, or if your baby has to be hospitalized and cannot nurse for a while. By emptying your milks regularly, you'll send your body the signal to produce more milk. When your baby is able to nurse again, you'll be ready.
• If you have a premature baby, it is particularly important to give her or him your milk. Many premature babies cannot nurse, however. Expressing your milk lets you overcome this problem.
• You can express a little milk for engorgement relief. This will also make your breast softer so your baby can latch on more easily.
• If you are sick and worried about transmitting germs or harmful chemicals or radiation to your baby, you can express a little breastmilk and have it checked at the hospital. Chances are your milk is fine and you'll be able to breastfeed. Otherwise, you can continue expressing milk to keep up your milk supply until your milk is safe again.

As I have no personal experience with milk expression, I refer you to the web pages below for information on milk expression techniques:

• The Marmet technique (from Medela)
• Going back to work and expressing breastmilk (from La Leche League)
• See also: using a breastpump

Back to the breastfeeding main page

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