Young mothers have many questions about pumping. When to do it, why, how and should you pump at all? Is it better to use a breast pump or is it better to express by hand? Let's figure it out together.
Why pump?
With normal lactation and competent organization of feeding the baby, there is no need for pumping. Mothers and grandmothers may strongly advise you to express the remaining milk after each feed, but these are just relics of the past. The recommendations of modern pediatricians and experts on hepatitis B are opposite: the baby normally sucks as much as he needs, and the same amount of milk is produced for the next feed. The mode of feeding on demand, which is now recommended for mothers, assumes that the baby will receive its portion of milk.
However, pumping becomes necessary in some situations:
- when the baby is weak and it is difficult for him to suck milk from the breast (it becomes necessary to feed the baby with expressed milk from a bottle);
- in case of lactostasis (milk stagnation) in a nursing mother;
- with insufficient production of breast milk, lactation crisis;
- with an excess of breast milk, the crumb begins to choke, so it cannot suckle;
- if the mother is taking medications that prohibit breastfeeding, but wants to resume lactation after completion of treatment;
- when mom needs to go somewhere else she goes to work;
- if you need a supply of breast milk.
When to pump?
- Expression makes the glands work harder and produce more milk. So you shouldn't abuse it.
- If the mother is going to go somewhere or go to work, it is recommended to start pumping in advance so that the mammary glands "get used" to the new regimen and the required volumes. If possible, at the time of separation from the baby, if there is a rush of milk, it is also useful to express to reduce the risk of milk stagnation.
- If you have excess milk, it is recommended to express a little before feeding. This will reduce the volume of liquid milk ("front"), so the baby will stop choking and will immediately pick up the breast.
- If you are worried about lactostasis, you need to express milk until the symptoms are relieved - pain and swelling are relieved. Then the mother should often apply the baby to her breast to prevent further stagnation of milk.
- In case of insufficient milk production, pumping should be strictly after feeding - this stimulates the work of the glands.
- When taking medication, pumping should be carried out in the usual feeding mode - at the moments when milk rushes.
- It is convenient to store milk when the baby misses a feed - for example, he sleeps longer than usual (should the baby be woken up for feeding?).
- If milk flows when parting with the baby, it is useful to express it to reduce the risk of developing lactostasis.
How to pump?
You can use breast pumps, which are manual and electric, or manually express your breast. The devices perfectly collect the "front" milk, but they do not always cope with the "back" milk. It is thicker, which makes it harder to pump.
The manual method is much more efficient. Place your thumb and forefinger on opposite edges of the areola, separate them from the skin and slide them inside the breast, stimulating the milk canals, not the nipple. With the other hand, you can knead the base of the chest in parallel. After several taps each time, move your fingers around the areola to cover all the lobules of the breast. Do not press hard, rub the skin. With the correct procedure, pain should not be felt.
When breast engorgement and hard nipples are painful when expressing, we recommend using the warm bottle method. You will need a bottle with a wide neck that easily wraps around the nipple and areola. Pour boiling water into the container. Then wait a little and attach the neck to the areola area. As the bottle cools down, the nipple will be drawn in and the milk will flow out.
The warm bottle method is convenient but does not drain completely. Therefore, it is best to end the procedure with normal manual pumping. The chest will already be softened, so there will be no pain.
- Learning to express your breasts with your hands
- Choosing a breast pump and learning how to express breast correctly
How do you stock up?
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A nursing mother should make sure that she always has at least a modest supply of expressed milk. This will help out in case of an urgent departure, illness and in other unforeseen situations, when you have to temporarily part with a baby.
At room temperature up to 25 °, breast milk is stored from 3 to 6 hours, in the refrigerator - 24 hours, and in the freezer longer - from 1 to 3 months. Therefore, to create a long-term supply, it should be frozen in special containers or sachets. Before being sent for storage, breast milk should be kept in a sealed container for about half an hour so that it retains all its valuable qualities. Each portion of milk must be packaged separately, indicating the date of expression, so you can control its freshness.
