The best way to collect milk is by hand milking. “Hand milking” is something that every breastfeeding mother should know. During the first few days of colostrum production, if there is any condition that prevents the baby from removing the mother’s milk, hand milking is the best way to collect the milk. Hand milking is also the most convenient and efficient way to express milk when a milking appliance is not available or if there is any condition that prevents the use of a milking appliance (e.g. nipple injury). The first thing to clarify is that although it is said to be hand milking, it is not like squeezing milk out like toothpaste, as we think. Whether it is hand-feeding, milking with a milking machine, or milking by hand, it is the “squirt reflex” that removes milk. If you push milk by hand, not only is it not easy to remove milk, but it will also cause pain to the mother and reduce the spurt reflex, which will make it even more difficult to express milk. The first step is to ask the mother to sit down with her upper body slightly forward. This will make it easier to collect the milk and it will not flow down the breast. If you have someone to help you, you can also ask the mother to lie on her side and relax, and then express the breast on the upper side. The second step is to start with a gentle massage. Not everyone needs to be massaged, but it’s okay to start expressing directly. The purpose of massage is to stimulate the squirting reflex, remember what we said earlier, there is a squirting reflex for effective milking. Please do not scrape your breasts. Alternatively, you can also use a comb to “lightly brush the surface of your breasts” to stimulate the ejection reflex. Many mothers use the breast spreader stick, which is also used to gently brush the surface of the breast with the end of the pellet, in order to stimulate the lactation reflex. Never scrape the surface of your breasts as hard as you would scrape Gua Sha. Remember, violence only hurts your breasts and will not collect more milk. The third step is to place your index finger and thumb on the outside of the areola. The size of each mother’s areola is different, so it is not always a few centimeters outside the areola. It is better to count the nipple, which is about three to four centimeters from the nipple. However, depending on the shape of the mother’s breasts, there is sometimes some fine tuning. Like the black mother in the movie, her areola and breasts are both larger, but she still uses hand milking techniques according to these basic principles. When squeezing afterwards, both fingers are always placed on the “initial position” and not on the skin. In the video, a sticker was used to position the fingers! Often I see mothers hand-milking but rubbing the skin of their breasts to hurt, which can actually be avoided. The fourth step is the key step, that is, the index finger and thumb, to first press in the direction of the chest wall. Then two fingers face to face squeeze, and then two fingers and then relax. Then repeat these three actions: “press backward”, “squeeze”, “relax”, “press backward”, “squeeze”, “relax”. Remember to press backward in the direction of the chest wall first, be careful not to open the areola, it will be uncomfortable, just press directly to the chest wall. Then the index fingers and thumbs come together again to press on the “breast tissue behind the areola”, a process in which both fingers are fixed and do not slide on the skin. If no milk comes out, it’s just that the squirting reflex hasn’t come yet. Milk doesn’t necessarily come out at first, and it’s not that your fingers need to be harder at this point. As I said before, hand milking depends on the ejection reflex. If there is no milk at this point, it means that the spurt reflex has not yet come, not that there is no milk or that it is blocked, so don’t worry. You can repeat this action to stimulate your breasts, and soon you will find that the same force of squeezing, but more milk, means that your spurt reflex has come, and it is a good time to remove a lot of milk. In addition, when you squeeze, don’t squeeze out a drop with force and let the milk drip down, then your breasts will be very painful and your hands will be very sore, painful and tired, and the spurt reflex will not come well. Repeatedly squeeze with the same force, and when the spurt reflex comes, the milk will naturally concentrate into a drop quickly, and then catch it with a spoon or bottle. The fifth step is to switch sides. The squirting reflex is a one-sided breast stimulation and a two-sided breast response, so you can take turns catching the milk from the left and right. Switching sides can also make the lactation reflex come sooner. In addition, you can change the direction of squeezing to see which direction has more milk, and put the same index finger and thumb on the opposite side. Then repeat the three actions of “press back”, “squeeze” and “relax”. Press back”, “squeeze”, “relax” and “relax” to milk easily. Once again, milking that hurts is not the right way!