Hand expression and breast pumps
Purpose. A manual pump and breast pump extract milk for the baby if he does not want or can not suck the breast, although the mother has enough milk. A small prematurely born child may be too weak to suck;it can not even be removed from the incubator. It can be fed with mother's milk from a bottle or with a pipette. If the mother is in the hospital or if the child is not allowed to let her in for some reason, her milk can be collected and given to him in a bottle( or destroyed) until she can feed again.
If it is desirable to get a lot of milk or keep the breast capacity to produce it, the chest is emptied at regular intervals. If only a part of the milk is sucked to relieve the pain in the chest, when the child is taken away from it, then it is done as needed, and until there is relief.
It is best to learn this from an experienced nanny, while still in the hospital. It's a good idea to get an instruction, even if you do not think you'll have to use it. At home, you can be taught by an incoming nurse. The mother can learn and herself, although this will take a little more time. In any case, at first you will get badly, and it will take several attempts before you learn. Do not give up.
Milk is produced in the tissues of the breast, along thin channels it is directed to the center of the breast and is stored in 15-20 small cavities, or sinuses, which are located directly behind the areola - the dark ring surrounding the nipple. With manual decantation, milk is squeezed out of these cavities, each of which is connected to the nipple by a small duct.
If you want to express a small amount of milk, for example, to facilitate swelling in the area of the areola, you can collect it in a cup. If you intend to use milk for feeding the baby immediately after decanting, wash the dish with soap, rinse and wipe with a clean towel. After decanting, pour the milk into the feeding bottle and put on the nipple;bottle and pacifier also need to be washed with soap and rinsed after previous use. If the milk needs to be stored for several hours, for example if you take it to the hospital once a day for a premature baby, then it should be as sterile as possible. You either express the milk in a sterile dish and then pour it into a sterile bottle with a pacifier( all sterilized with boiling for five minutes) or use a washed cup, bottle, lid and nipple and sterilize after you have poured milk into a bottle.
Pumping the with your fingers. In the most common way of manually expressing the sinuses are periodically squeezed by the thumb and forefinger. First of all, of course, you need to wash your hands with soap. To get to the sinuses located under the surface of the chest, you need to attach the tips of the thumb and index finger from opposite sides of the areola( where the dark skin is replaced usually painted).Press your fingers until they face the ribs. In this position, start rhythmically pressing. Usually, the left breast is compressed with the right hand, while the cup for the expressed milk is held in the left hand.
The main thing is to push as deep as possible around the edges of the areola. The nipple itself does not need to be squeezed and fingered. You can squeeze out more and more milk every time, if you press not only inward, but simultaneously and towards the nipple, completing the movement of expression.
After a while, the fingers can be moved clockwise, so that all the sinuses are affected. If your fingers are tired( and they will get tired at first), change them in places or move them back and forth.
Express the fingers with and cups. Another method, less common, but no less effective, if applied skillfully, is to squeeze the areola between the finger and the edge of the cup with inclined sides( it is difficult to place the chest in a cup with straight sides).If you want to keep milk for a few hours, you need to sterilize the cup.
First, wash your hands with soap and water. Firmly press the edge of the cup to the edge of the areola of the left breast from below, then tilt the cup upward, holding it with your left hand. Place the right thumb of the upper end of the areola. Now the areola is clamped between the rim of the cup and the thumb of your right hand. Strongly push the thumb first inside, into the cup, then down, to the nipple. This will squeeze milk from the sinuses into the ducts leading to the nipple. When pressing against the nipple, do not slip your finger over the dark skin of the areola: the finger remains on the same area of the skin. Do not necessarily squeeze the nipple or even just touch it.
After a little practice, you will learn how to squeeze out milk with a continuous trickle. The first days you will tire your finger, but it will pass. If you empty a full chest, it takes 20 minutes - or more, if you're just learning. If you express after feeding, to completely drain the chest, this will take only a few minutes. When the chest is full, the milk comes out in a trickle. When partially empty, drops. Stop decanting when milk stops appearing. Naturally, if you wait for about 10 minutes, a new milk will appear, but you do not need to strain it again.
Breast pumps. There are three types of breast pumps. The simplest, most common and cheap ones are made from glass with a rubber pear that provides sucking. More efficient, but less accessible water-type pumps. One part of this suction is attached to a conventional water tap. If you alternately open and close the tap, this ensures the sucking of milk. Finally, there are electric suctions that can be rented at the hospital or at a health care store.
The pad consists of a rubber nipple and a glass cone, which is put on the chest. When a child sucks a rubber nipple, the air in the cone is diluted and it draws in the areola and squeezes out the milk. The gasket is used temporarily to protect the damaged nipple. This is not very effective, because milk is harder to squeeze out of the sinuses. The child has to suck very vigorously to get enough milk.(Do not use old-fashioned leaden nipples, because they can cause poisoning.)