My DD was born less than 48 hours ago and is in NICU for a long stay, I am expressing to establish my supply and at this early stage I'm sticking to hand expressing. So far so good, each time getting the nice colostrum she so desperately needs. I'm trying to be as gentle as possible but its still quite brutal - any tips or techniques that I can use to avoid bruising my poor BBs?
Hopefully the flow will increase over the next couple of days and I can get the trusty pump going.
Congrats on the arrival of your DD, and hugs for the difficult situation you're in. My thoughts are with you and your little one (I'm guessing by your signature you weren't expecting all of this for quite a while?).
When DS was born 15 weeks ago, I ended up expressing most of the colostrum (by hand) and went on to express for 7 weeks (by pump).
My first bit of advice would be not to let the midwives/LCs at the hospital touch your BBs! They are so rough!
I'm assuming you're keeping back off the nipple and expressing from the areola??
The hospital I was in wet and froze baby singlets to put on the breasts - these really helped.
If you're on antibiotics from your delivery, make sure you start taking a probiotic (eg inner health plus). If you get thrush, you can break open the capsule, add some water, and paint it on your nipples (I'm assuming wash off before the express).
Heat before the express can help things flow well - a warm drink or a warm facewasher over the nipple.
I believe the natural remedy arnica can help with bruising (available in a spray for under the tongue). I had it after my c-section.
Take any pain meds they will give you - don't be in any more pain than you have to be.
Once you get started with pumping post back here or pm for some pumping tips. Something to bear in mind is olive oil on the flanges works really nicely as a lubricant. Maybe olive oil on your fingers would help a bit with the expressing?
HTH - I'm afraid I haven't done too much by hand. Please keep us posted with how you're doing.
I don't know how to do those little hug people, but if I did I'd send you a dozen! Look after yourself hun (or better yet, get everyone around you to look after you!)
I didn't really do any expressing at all by hand, I was on the pump from day 1 - but things that were helpful in general -
Heat before you pump - like Surprised said, a warm washer or towel can help a lot with let down.
Being relaxed - still now if I am stressed I get a lot less. If it's not a great time & it's just not happening for you, leave it & try again a bit later.
Keep up the fluids, and rest. Lack of sleep affects supply.
Massage the breast can help, down towards the areola.
Oh hun, it sounds like you've had an eventful couple of days
I think hand expressing is very much a learnt art, you are doing really well to be getting good colostrum out already. I think it should get easier and less painful as you get used to it, but I'm not sure how long that takes. The only tips I can think of are to be sure your fingers are on the areola, well back from the nipple, and to be gentle when you are doing it. It shouldn't hurt - it might be that being gentler and taking a bit more time could help. Perhaps a warm compress before expressing might help also.
The ABA Expressing and Storing Breastmilk booklet has some pictures that might help if you can get your hands on it. Do you have internet access at the hospital? If you have a chance, this clip of hand expressing might help: http://video.about.com/breastfeeding/Hand-Expression-Technique.htm>http://video.about.com/breastfeeding...-Technique.htm or http://www.breastfeeding.com/helpme/...xpression.html. There are others if you google too. There are different techniques and some work better for some mums and other ones for others.
Hopefully your milk will be in really soon so you can try the pump also.
I wish you and your little one all the best
Last edited by MantaRay; June 27th, 2010 at 05:20 PM.
: sorry, mucked up the links first time
gentleness was the key for me. my LC advised not to push too hard as it actually could stop it from coming down (basically a big ol' squish fest).
also a photo of bubs can work wonders!
oh and working the whole area of the boob (top, bottom, sides etc). i also found that hand expressing after a warm shower was AMAZING for getting the flow happening...but i guess this could be acheived with a warm compress like the others have mentioned.
Have a feel about on your areola to locate the milk ducts. They feel like ridges or bumps under the skin (mine are about a centimetre out from the base of the nipple) and gently squeeze and massage those bits and should be quite easy. There is no need to squeeze hard if you get the right spot but it can take a few goes to work out the right places to put pressure on.
Thank you all for your tips. I definitely needed to back off a bit with how forceful I was being - its hard when you only get those first few bits of colostrum coming through!
I'm happy to say that my milk came in yesterday only 48 hours after she was born which is great. I'm happily pumping away and getting a good result and the discomfort is starting to ease a bit. Heat is working wonders too. What I've managed to pump for DD so far will probably feed her for weeks. The tiny little darling is only having 1ml of EBM every 2 hours, but it is so important that she gets it this early. The best gift I can give her I think.
Now off to do some research - I need an electric pump LOL!
Hand-expressing tips
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