Hand Expressing

Hand expression is a very useful technique. It’s a handy way to relieve engorged breasts (and a lot of the time more effective than a pump with engorgement). You can use it to stimulate milk production if you need to increase your supply, and to provide milk for your baby. You can also combine hand expressing with pumping.

Hand expression is also key in the early hours and days to set the tone for your milk supply. Early hand expression can increase your milk supply for later on.

Hand expression is easy to learn, does not require any special equipment, and gets easier with practice.

• Wash your hands.

• You can use any clean container you like to collect your milk, colostrum can be expressed into a small (5ml) container or even onto a teaspoon if you want to feed it to your baby immediately.

• Relax and get comfortable: your milk will flow more easily if you are warm and comfortable.

• It can be easier to get your milk flowing if your baby is nearby

• Take some deep breaths and drop your shoulders.

• Gently massage your breasts with your hands and fingertips to stimulate your milk ejection reflex (MER or ‘let-down’) – this is the key to effective expressing.

• Bending forward with your breasts suspended means gravity can help milk flow.

THINK “Press, Compress, Release”

• Hold your breast with your fingers and thumb cupped around your breast in a C shape, near but not touching your areola.
  Then:

• PRESS your fingers and thumb back towards your chest.

• COMPRESS your breast between your fingers and thumb, moving them slightly towards your nipple without lifting them from your breast.

• RELEASE without moving your hand from your breast.

• REPEAT, moving your hand to a different place around your breast after every few compressions or whenever milk flow stops, so that you compress all of your milk ducts. Releasing and repeating rhythmically helps to mimic the action of a baby breastfeeding.

• This may take some trial and error – experiment to find what works best for you.

• Remember, breast massage prior to hand expression can aid in let down. Massage your breast using small, circular motions.

• Allow time at first: the whole process may take 20 or 30 minutes, you can always stop and start again later if you need to. Frequent short sessions are usually more effective than infrequent, longer expressing sessions.

• Hand expression should feel comfortable. If it’s not adjust what you’re doing until it feels ok.

This video has an amazing demonstration of hand expressing and shows you just how effective it can be!