Why Hand Expression Techniques

Hand Expression Technique is just an alternative method to express your breastmilk for your baby for those hours you’re at work or away and most importantly for you to continue giving your baby your precious breastmilk, even when you’re at the Boardroom.

I firmly believe that using your own hands to express breastmilk has serious benefits over the typical and more normal breast pumps.  Benefits not a lot of mothers know or even realised.

Maybe because we see around us those fancy gadgety two-funnel breast pumps and everyone around us uses one and we quickly succumb to the herd mentality.

So, that’s why I’m doing this.  Creating awareness and making mommies around the world realise that there IS another option.

A cheaper option.

A faster option.

A far more hygienic option.

I’m not advocating that you throw away your breast pumps just yet, but do explore this option.

Although I’m a major proponent of hand expressing, I do occasionally rent our electric breast pumps if I were to be away for more than 2 nights and during these long lonely days, hand expressing would be less effective.

What I’ll try to impart to you are the benefits which are definitely the ones that I felt the most during my 9 joyful years of breastfeeding one baby after another.

Today I’ll elaborate on my first and foremost motivation to hand express my breastmilk.

ENCOURAGE BETTER MILK FLOW

Most conventional breastpumps, use the vacuum method to coax breastmilk from its milk ducts.  Which is okay, logically.  Except that babies do not rely on pure vacuum power while they nurse.

If you observe a suckling baby, first he would massage the areola and he uses his jaws to suck, never the tongue alone.  And it’s like coaxing breastmilk from the ducts down to the nipple.

That’s what you do when you hand express.  You massage your breasts first.  And you when you express, try to rub your thumb from the flshy part of the breast towards the nipple and before you know it, the sprays will get stronger and a minute later, you could just relax while the letdown reflex works its magic.  You control the flow.

I’m not making this up, seriously.

My son Ariz needed a total of 30 oz of breast milk for the 8 hours I was at work.  Breast pumps would never get me that much with me cringing in pain.  But hand expressing did it for me.

I hand express my supply at 11ish in the morning and get 10 oz from each breast and at 3pm, another round and 5 ox per breast.  Tara! 30 oz.  And I was able to keep this up for 17 months.  Alhamdulillah.

So, there.