BREASTFEEDING

Expression of Breast Milk:
You can express breast milk either manually with your hands or with a breast pump. Pumping enables you to breast feeding by keeping your milk stimulating. If milk is not emptied regularly it send a message back to your body to stop producing milk

Manual Expression of Breast Milk:
Some women prefer manual expression because it can be done silently and does not require any instruments.

To express milk manually:

• Wash your hands clean with soap and water.

• Put a clean cup or a container under your breast.

• Massage your breast gently towards the nipples.

• Place your thumb about 2 to 3 inches back from tip of the nipple and your index finger below

• Start pressing from the base of the breast towards the areola (dark area around the nipple) between the thumb and the fingers with a rhythmic motion until the milk squrites out.

• Rotate your thumb and finger around the aerola to get milk from different positions.

• You should stop expressing milk when it ceases to come out as a jet or starts coming in drops.

• Transfer the milk to a clean covered container for storage link to storage of breast milk. Always label the container and put a date and time on it.

Breast Pumps:
Breast pumps are manual, battery-operated, or electric. You can find manual pumps in most pharmacies and baby stores.Your Gyaenecologist or Pediatrician is the right person to advise you regarding choice of method. E-com ads.

Hand pumps:
Some hand pumps have a handle to squeeze that creates a negative pressure and draws the milk into the bottle. These may have a soft, pliable flange that fits around the nipple and areola

Electric pumps:
Electric pumps stimulate the breast more effectively than manual expression or hand pumps though it is more expensive and kept in large hospitals/ milk banking centers. They are used mainly to keep breastfeeding going when a mother is not able to breastfeed for several days or more.

Storage of Expressed Milk:
Importance should be given for proper handling and safe storage of your expressed milk.

• Always wash your hands before handling your milk.

• For storing the milk use clean containers.

• Try using hard plastic cups or special heavy nursery bags, which can be used to feed your baby.

• Keep the milk expressed at different times in different containers. 

• Expressed milk should be stored in the refrigerator.

• Human milk should not be stored for more than 8 hours at room temperature.

• Store the milk in the sealed container in a refrigerator. Use this milk with in 24 hours if possible. Discard all  milk that has been refrigerated for more than 72 hours.

• If you will not be using the milk within 24 hours freeze it. Frozen milk is good for at least 1 month. (3 – 4 months if kept at 0 degrees) Make sure to label the milk with the date that you freeze it.

• Freeze 2 – 4 ounces of milk, as this is the average
  amount of single feeding. 

• Don’t add fresh milk to the already frozen one.

• Use the oldest milk first.

Reuse of Stored Milk:
The stored milk should be brought back to room temperature before feeding.

• You may thaw freezed milk in the refrigerator or by swirling the container in a bowl of warm water.

• Milk thawed in the refrigerator must be used within 24 hours.

• Breast milk does not need to be boiled.

• Don’t use microwave ovens to heat bottles because the heating is not evenly done. This uneven heating can damage the milk or scald your baby.

• Excessive heating can destroy the important proteins, vitamins and other contents of the milk.

• Don’t re-freeze your milk.

• Don’t save milk from used bottle for using at another feeding.

Next