Hand milking is the best way to collect milk. “How to hand milk” is something every breastfeeding mom needs to know. If there are any circumstances that prevent the baby from removing the mother’s milk during the first few days of colostrum production, hand milking is the best way to collect the milk. In addition, hand milking is also the most convenient and efficient way to collect milk when a breast pump is not available or when there are circumstances that make the use of a breast pump unsuitable (e.g. nipple injury). Remove the milk or use the milk spray reflex First of all, it should be clarified that although it is said to be “hand milking”, it is not actually like squeezing milk out like toothpaste, as we think. Whether you are breastfeeding, milking with a milking machine, or milking by hand, it is the “ejection reflex” that removes the milk. Violent hand milking and pushing is not only not easy to remove milk, but will also cause pain to the mother, so that the milk ejection reflex will be reduced, and as a result, the milk will become even more difficult to squeeze out. 1. First, ask the mother to sit up, with her upper body slightly forward. This will make it easier to collect the milk and the milk will not flow down the breast. If you have someone to help you express, you can also ask the mother to lie on her side and relax, and then express the breast on the upper side. 2. Massage gently first. Not everyone needs a massage, but it is okay to start squeezing directly. The purpose of massage is to stimulate the milk spray reflex, remember what we said earlier, there is a milk spray reflex, in order to effectively milking. Please do not scrape the breasts. Alternatively, you can use a comb to “lightly brush the surface of the breasts” to stimulate the milk spurt reflex. Many mothers often use a breast pump stick, in fact, also use the end of the particles, gently brush the surface of the breasts, the purpose is also to stimulate the milk spurt reflex. Do not scrape the surface of the breasts as hard as you would scrape the skin. Remember, violence will only hurt the breasts and will not collect more milk. 3, put the index finger and thumb on the outside of the areola. The size of each mother’s areola is different, so there is no certainty that it is a few centimeters outside the areola. It is better to count by the nipple, which is about three to four centimeters away from the nipple. However, depending on the shape of the mom’s breasts, sometimes there are some slight adjustments. For example, the black mom in the video has larger areolas and breasts, but she still uses hand milking techniques according to these basic principles. Don’t slide your fingers on the skin Afterwards, when milking, both fingers are always placed on the “place where they were positioned at the beginning”, and they don’t slide on the skin. In the video, there is a sticker to position the fingers! Often see moms hand milking, but the skin of the breasts are rubbed hurt, in fact, can be avoided. 4, is the key step, is the index finger and thumb, to the chest wall of the direction of the first pressure. Then squeeze two fingers face to face, and then relax the fingers. Then repeat these three movements: “press back”, “squeeze”, “relax”, “press back”, “squeeze”, “relax”. Remember to press backward in the direction of the chest wall first, and be careful not to open up the areola, as it will be uncomfortable, just press directly into the chest wall. Then press the index finger and thumb together to press the breast tissue behind the areola. During this process, both fingers are fixed and not sliding on the skin. No milk coming out is just that the squirt reflex hasn’t come yet It’s not necessarily that milk will come out at the beginning, it’s not that the fingers need to be pushed harder at this point. As I said earlier, hand milking is based on the spurt reflex. If there is no milk coming out at this point, it means that the ejection reflex hasn’t come yet, and it’s not that there’s no milk or a blockage, so don’t worry about it. You can repeat this action to stimulate your breasts, and soon you will notice that you are squeezing with the same amount of force, but there is more milk, which means that your ejection reflex is coming, and it’s a good time to remove a lot of milk. It is a good time to remove a lot of milk. It is not the right way if it hurts. Also, when squeezing, don’t squeeze out a drop of milk so hard that it drips down, then your breasts will hurt, your hands will be sore, and you will be sore and tired, and your milk spurt reflex will not be good, just relax your hands and squeeze. Repeatedly squeeze with the same force, when the milk spurt reflex comes, the oozing milk will naturally concentrate into a drop quickly, and then use a spoon or bottle to catch it. 5, you can switch sides. The milk spray reflex is a one-sided breast stimulation, two-sided breast response, so you can take turns to receive milk. Switching sides can also make the milk spray reflex come sooner. In addition, you can change the direction of squeezing to see which direction has more milk, the same index finger and thumb are placed in a face-to-face position, for example, originally three o’clock, nine o’clock, can be changed to one o’clock, seven o’clock. Repeat the three movements of “press back”, “squeeze” and “relax”. Practice over and over again and you’ll get the hang of it! Once again, if it hurts, it’s not the right way to do it!