Should you need urgent health advice please contact your GP or call NHS 111. In an emergency please visit A&E or call 999
Hand expressing can be useful for a number of reasons:
- When your milk changes, you may feel engorged and uncomfortable. Your breasts may feel hard and your baby may struggle to attach. Hand expressing a small amount of milk may soften the breast and help your baby to attach
- Sometimes babies can be reluctant to feed, and hand expressing some milk may encourage them.
- If you needed to be separated from your baby when the colostrum is being produced, the amounts are so small you would lose it in a pump. Hand expressing means the colostrum can be collected in a syringe and given to your baby.
- Please look at this video for a clip showing you how to hand express.
