Hand expressing breast milk is so simple, free, and can be done anytime! All you need to hand express breast milk is a clean, dry, BPA-free container and you’re good to go! Keep reading for more on hand expressing breastfeeding, hand expression of milk, how to hand express breast milk, and hand expression of colostrum.
What’s Hand Expressing?
Hand expressing is a method of removing breast milk from the breasts using your hand and a collection container.
Why Hand Express Breast Milk?
The benefits of hand expressing breast milk include:
- Hand-expressed breastmilk has a higher fat content than milk expressed with a pump [1]
- Hand expressing breastmilk promotes continued breastfeeding [2]
- It’s the cleanest way to collect breastmilk [3]
- It’s easy, simple, free, and can be done anywhere and anytime! No electricity needed!
Times when hand expressing may be helpful include:
- When your breasts are full or engorged
- If you have a clogged duct
- Before and after pumping can help you “empty” your breasts even better!
- If you and your baby are ever separated (after birth, some cesarean births, if baby is in the NICU, you’re at work, etc.)
- If you don’t have power for your pump
- You would like to hand express instead of pumping when it’s needed! (P.S. pumping is generally only needed when you and your baby are apart and it’s a time when you would be feeding if you were together!)
Why Hand Express Colostrum?
Hand expressing colostrum can be beneficial if you had a cesarean or an induction.
After a cesarean birth…
If you had a cesarean, it often takes 1-2 days longer for your body to realize that your baby has been born since the process and hormones released was very different than a vaginal birth, especially compared to an unmedicated vaginal birth as the hormones reach their full capacities in an undisturbed process.
After a cesarean, when your baby breastfeeds, they will still get breast milk (colostrum at this time) but it might be a little less than what’s expected after a vaginal birth.
Hand expressing between your newborns feedings can give you a stash of colostrum to offer your baby between nursing at the breast if they are showing hunger cues.
Nevertheless, still keep your baby breastfeeding and suckling at your breast as much as they would like to as their suckling is the most effective way to tell your baby to make enough colostrum for these first few days and then transition to a fuller supply a few days later when your baby’s stomach is larger and their gastrointestinal system starts to pick up it’s pace and require a higher volume of breast milk daily.
After an induced labor…
If you had an induced labor, it was likely a pretty long labor with many interventions.
When you have an induced labor, you will likely receive a lot of IV fluids because IV fluids are required in the hospital when receiving induction medications and since induced labors last very long because your baby nor body was biologically ready to give birth, this leads to you receiving a lot of IV fluids.
Receiving a lot of IV fluids leads to edema which is swelling in your tissues; including your breast tissues.
Swelling or inflammation in your breast tissues is called breast engorgement.
So, the more IV fluids you receive during labor, the more breast engorgement you may experience.
How does this impact breastfeeding?
If you experience excessive breast engorgement from excess IV fluids, your baby will likely latch onto your breast very well at first.
However, after 24+ hours, the engorgement may set in from the fluids making it suddenly difficult for your baby to latch because your breast tissues are swollen with fluids (edema).
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What can help breast engorgement?
- Lymphatic massage
- Ice-cold compress
- Avoid over-stimulating
How to do each of these, learn about hunger and fullness cues, how to tell if your baby’s getting enough breast milk, returning to work, pumping 101, problem solving on all kinds of causes and solutions to nipple and/or breast pain, and SO much more are all found in The Balanced Breastfeeding Course!
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Click here to view all of the chapters and topics including in this course, plus, the reviews from mamas who have taken the course already!
How to Hand Express Breast Milk
First, wash your hands and have a clean, dry container to collect milk.
Next, start with a gentle massage, one breast at a time.
You may gently knead the sides of your breast with your knuckles, tap, and massage around, or roll your breast tissue with your fingers.
Place your index finger slightly below your areola with your thumb above.
Then press back towards your chest.
And compress your thumb and finger together and try to avoid gliding across your skin.
When the dripping stops, gently massage your breast again and reposition your fingers from being in line with your nipple to diagonally to either side.
Where to Hand Express Breast Milk?
As mentioned before, you can hand express breast milk any time and any place you’d like! You don’t even need electricity!
Simply, use a clean, dry, BPA-free container.
Tip: If you’re a beginner, it may be easier to use a wider container to get used to where your milk may spray.
Otherwise, even if you’re using a mason jar, bring it extra close into your breast to ensure all of your breast milk gets inside!
Check out Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond!
Can Hand Expressing Increase Milk Supply?
Hand expressing can increase your supply the same as a pump can.
In general, express breast milk at least every 3 hours by either breastfeeding, pumping, or hand expressing to keep your breast milk supply healthy and normal.
However often your baby nurses, is how often you should be removing milk.
Note: If your baby has started sleeping through the night, you do not need to wake up to pump or hand express while they are sleeping. I recommended avoiding this for your benefit of more sleep and a normal supply, unless you’re working with an IBCLC and have a careful plan on how this is going to benefit your breastfeeding relationship.
Otherwise, get the sleep you deserve and continue demanding enough milk from your body as your baby does/needs!
Will Hand Expressing Make Engorgement Worse?
If you are hand expressing in a normal, gentle manner only as a means to remove breast milk in place of a feeding then hand expression shouldn’t make engorgement worse.
Or, if you are using hand expression intermittently between feedings for your supply after a cesarean, be careful not to overdo it.
If you notice your breasts are becoming engorged follow B.A.I.T. to decrease the inflammation and prevent clogged ducts and mastitis [4].
B.A.I.T is the protocol for clogged ducts and mastitis, and engorgement is the symptom that can lead to these conditions, so it’s important to decrease the inflammation.
B: Breast rest
- No massage
- Don’t overfeed, overpump, or over hand express
- Down-regulate your production if needed. If you think you have an oversupply, use the hands-on, at-home techniques and learn more about oversupply from The Balanced Breastfeeding Course, or reach out to an IBCLC.
A: Advil (800 mg every 8 hours x 48 hours)
I: Ice (10 minutes every 30 minutes)
T: Tylenol (1,000 mg every 8 hours x 48 hours)
Can Hand Expressing Help Mastitis?
When a clogged duct is left untreated or not treated soon enough, it can become mastitis. This is most common to occur during the first 6-12 weeks of breastfeeding, but it can happen any time you are lactating.
Mastitis is characterized by feeling ill with flu-like symptoms and having a painful, hard, and reddened area on your breast.
Mastitis can either be infective or non-infective, but it always indicates an inflammatory process. Consider talking to your practitioner about nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID) medications such as Aspirin or Ibuprofen.
Hand expression may help mastitis as a more gentle way of removing milk from your breasts compared to breast pumps. But, always avoid deep massage of the breast as this can increase inflammation, edema in your breast tissues, and vascular injuries.
Otherwise, if hand expression isn’t any more comfortable to you, the best thing to do for mastitis is follow the B.A.I.T. protocol listed above.
Further, see your practitioner to discuss antibiotics for infective mastitis if there is no symptomatic improvement after 48 hours of first-line therapy (B.A.I.T.) [4].
Will Hand Expressing Induce Labor?
Learn everything you need to know about Nipple Stimulation for Labor Induction!
Questions or Comments on “How to Hand Express Breast Milk and Why You Should”?
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Talk soon, mama!
– Katelyn Lauren
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Sources
[1] Higher Fat Content in Breastmilk Expressed Manually: A Randomized Trial
[4] Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Clinical Protocol #36: The Mastitis Spectrum, Revised 2022.
DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info
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