Hand expression is using your hands to express milk from your breast.
It may seem like an intimidating task at first, but after you practice and learn your body, it can be helpful in many ways.
Some reasons to hand express include:
- Some women get engorged in situations where they can’t get to a pump or their baby. Just to get some relief, you can express out some milk (hopefully into a bottle). If not, into a sink or toilet.
- Some women have a slow letdown, and their baby gets frustrated trying to get the milk flowing. To get milk flowing before nursing, you can start hand expressing until the milk is flowing and then latch the baby on.
- Some women have a very heavy flow and let down, almost to the point where the baby will choke on the milk. Using hand expression, you can get the milk flowing to the point where the flow has slowed down some, and it is less forceful before latching the baby on.
- Some women find that even after they can’t get any more milk out with a pump after a pumping session, they can get a little more (some get a lot) if they hand express from each breast after pumping. This milk is also the highest in fat content.
Stanford has a great video about hand expression at:
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