Many women use their hands to express breast milk to reduce breast swelling, prevent milk leakage, and store breast milk for later use. For some women, expressing breast milk by hand is a more comfortable method of milking than with a breast pump. This process can be carried out anywhere without the need for special utensils or equipment. In addition, expressing breast milk by hand has also been shown to help the breasts produce more milk. Some women's breasts are more likely to produce milk through skin contact than with plastic breast pumps. Start by reading the steps to learn how to express breast milk by hand.
First, get ready to start
Hand washing. Wash your hands before attempting to milk by hand. If you wash your hands with cold water, warm your hands before touching your breasts. Cold hands take longer to express breast milk than warm hands. If this is your first time milking and you are confused, seek help from a nurse or even ask your partner to help you.
Wet a cloth with warm water and cover the breast with the cloth for two minutes. This helps to express breast milk. Although this is not a necessary step, it is certainly harmless to the process.
Give breast massage. If you want to further prepare your breasts for milking, you can gently massage them with your hands or a soft towel. Simply gently knead and massage the skin around both nipples to help the breasts relax and prepare for breast milk.
2. Express breast milk by hand
Sit up straight and lean forward. This pose will make it easier for you to express your breast milk and stay comfortable during the process. Standing or lying down won't get you to squeeze out as much breast milk.
Place your fingers above the breast's milk storage. Hands should be placed above or below the nipple in a "C" shape. Here's what you should do:
Place your thumb on the nipple. It should be at a position of 2.54 cm on the nipple.
Place your index and middle fingers 2.54 cm below the nipple and align them directly with your thumb.
Adjust the position of your fingers to make yourself comfortable and fit your breasts.
Avoid clutching your breasts in this position by holding your hands in a cup shape.
Apply force inward towards the chest wall. The force should be gentle and firm, not completely feeling like you're squeezing your breasts hard. Avoid tightening or stretching the areola skin, otherwise it will be more difficult to express breast milk. Press your thumb and index finger directly into the breast tissue, deep into the chest wall. Here are some other things you need to keep in mind:
Remember, press down instead of outward, rub your fingers instead of slide them.
Rub your thumb and index finger forward to roll to express breast milk from the ductus. The milk sinuses are visible under the areola and also under the nipple.
Keep your fingers together. Separating your fingers will make this process less efficient.
If the breasts are larger, use your fingers to straighten them before applying force.
Express breast milk. Thumb and indexing point to the breast (away from the body) and rub and roll. Push and squeeze the breasts with this rolling motion. As the saying goes, you should press, push, and relax. Once you're used to it, you should be able to rhythmically repeat these movements like feeding your baby's breast milk, making it easier for you to express your breast milk.
Every woman's breasts are different. It's up to you to find the best position and squeeze out the most breast milk.
You can also try repeating the movements of milking, massaging, re-milking and massaging.
Pack the expressed breast milk in a container. If you're simply milking just to make your breasts feel more comfortable, squeeze your milk onto a towel or do the process in the sink. If you want to save breast milk for later use, here are some things you can do:
Collect the expressed milk with a breast milk bag.
Milk is squeezed directly into the bottle for later use.
If necessary, use a funnel to direct your milk to the container of your choice.
Use a wide-mouth container for breast milk, such as a coffee cup or small jar. Once the cup is full, turn the milk into the storage container.
Repeat this process on the other breast. Change the position slightly on each breast to thoroughly express all breast milk. You can rotate back and forth between the two breast rooms to stimulate the production of more breast milk.