Expressing the milk

Pumping should begin from the day when milk began to flow from the breast and continue until the child begins to gain weight evenly. It is very important to express the remaining milk if the baby sucks badly or sluggishly, or if milk from the breast comes with difficulty, and also when the lactating woman does not have enough. Each drop of expressed milk helps to increase its quantity the next day and facilitates breastfeeding.

Most infants do not need expressed milk, so without prescribing a doctor

, it should not be given to a baby. If the nursing mother conscientiously and regularly expresses the milk, the baby sucks day after day, then usually after 6-8 weeks it can be stopped.

Expressing provides regular and complete emptying of the mammary glands and if for any reason you can not breastfeed a baby, for example, when premature and debilitated children are unable to suck or if from breastfeeding one must temporarily abstain because of illnessa child or a mother, etc.

To express milk should be also in the case when the lactating mother has a lot of it, since this procedure in this case helps to prevent stagnation, otherwise the mammary glands will form painful knots. This is especially true for women with heavy milk secretion. So, they have painful knots usually formed on the 3-4th day after childbirth, when milk begins to flow from the breast under pressure, although this does not mean that it should be immediately expressed. The mammary gland is sensitive, but if the mother regularly feeds the baby with the breast, a painful swelling usually disappears without any treatment for 1-2 days. If it persists longer, it is a sign of milk stagnation and it is necessary to start to decant it. If, after a lapse of time, the painful knots remain after feeding, milk must necessarily be expressed, otherwise inflammation of the mammary gland( mastitis) may occur. By the way, we have already talked about chest pain during feeding, especially during the first days after childbirth, it passes very quickly. But you can not confuse these feelings with the pain caused by the stagnation of milk.

To express milk should also be in the case of inflammation of the breast, which begins with an increase, and then suppuration of painful knots. We also talked about the causes of this inflammation, but it is worth repeating that it is often caused by non-compliance with hygiene rules or stagnation of milk. The disease is accompanied by fever and chills.

Breastfeeding mother should know and remember that expressing milk is an important condition for the prevention and treatment of inflammation of the breast.

At the first suspicions of inflammation of the breast, you need to see a doctor to prevent the development of the disease at the very beginning. In addition to medication, the doctor can prescribe compresses, bed rest is necessary. The nipple and the area around it must be kept dry, otherwise cracks may form. Inflammated mammary gland should be bandaged.

For successful and rapid cure, it is necessary to continue breastfeeding and to express milk regularly. You can feed and breastfeed, but if pus or blood is excreted from it, the feeding should be stopped, and the milk from it should be decanted.

When to express milk? It is best to produce right after feeding from the

breast, to which you applied the baby. If he sucked from both, then first you need to express the milk from the one that the baby took first. Each decantation of milk should last at least 20-25 minutes, and it can not be stopped, even if during the first few minutes milk comes only by drop, because a more abundant discharge sometimes starts in 10-15 minutes.

How long should I express the milk? It always depends on the reason for decanting. If it is carried out in order to increase the amount of milk, it lasts no more than 6-8 weeks. During this time, the baby becomes more strong and can already suck off all the milk. For a longer time, it is necessary to express the milk in the event that the baby is born prematurely or with any birth defect of development, if the baby is very weak or sick. In all these cases, milk should be decanted until the child is so strong that it will be able to suck well. If the baby for any reason( for example, because of illness) sucks worse or if the mother has temporarily decreased the amount of milk, you need to express it until the baby starts to suck again. When a nursing woman works and reimburses one breastfed milk, then it should be continued until the baby is weaned.

If the mother has more milk than the baby needs, and stasis causes the formation of painful knots, one must only express so much that

is relieved, because excessive pumping only increases the secretion of milk, which is already abundant.

Expressing is shown and if the mother has a leakage of milk, for example, while the baby sucks one breast, from the other at the same time milk is allocated, and sometimes in the first weeks milk from both glands can stand out in the gap between the feedings. If you do pumping regularly, the leakage usually stops after a few weeks.

Now, let's go directly to the pumping technique. To do this, you can choose a convenient method for yourself from the methods described below. It should be remembered that this procedure must begin with the implementation of one rule: you need to wash your hands thoroughly.

Expressing by hand. One chest breast should be put on the palm and slightly massaged all areas. Supporting from below with four fingers of the mammary gland, press on it with your thumb in the direction from the edge to the nipple, slightly pulling the chest forward. Do not touch the nipple so as not to damage it. To completely empty the chest, the thumb and index finger should be moved clockwise. Milk is first delivered dropwise, and then a trickle. When expressing, you can not press on the gland strongly, to the pain. The mammary gland has four main channels, and therefore milk usually comes from the nipple with four streams at the same time.

It is very important that the pumping is performed at a uniform pace, rhythmic movements, as if sucking a child.

Many women express milk with one hand, and in the other hand hold a bottle or glass. In some cases, it is better to express the milk with both hands, and put the glass on the tray at the level of the nipple. If the milk is collected in a bottle, then it needs to insert a funnel.

You can use for this procedure and a glass breast pump, the models of which are now in stores a wide variety. They can be both mechanical and electrical, the choice is yours.

However, with the help of a breast pump it is possible to express only the bulk of the milk, it is possible to empty the breast completely, only by squeezing the leftover milk manually.

There is another simple way of expressing milk, the so-called "warm bottle" method. Some mothers prefer it, as practice shows that it is less traumatic and convenient, if pumping by hand or with the help of a breast pump is for some reason painful.

So, you need to take a bottle with a wide neck and pour hot water into it, then let the glass warm up to the temperature of the water in the dishes. Then the water should be poured, the neck of the bottle quickly cooled and applied to the halo of the

ska so that the bottle tightly closed. Thus, a vacuum will arise in it, because of which the mammary gland will begin to be emptied into the bottle. This procedure of expression can be repeated several times, pouring expressed milk in a clean bottle. I would like to add that there are also special anatomical bottles on the market, which are convenient for expressing milk in this way, and for storing it.

Regarding the storage of expressed milk, each portion of it must be collected in a separate container and kept for some time in a sealed container at room temperature.

When the milk cools down, it can be put in the refrigerator, but it is stored for no more than 10 hours. These recommendations will preserve the medicinal properties of breast milk, so necessary for the sick or weak child, and the child whose mother works.