Expressing breastmilk is when you take milk out of your breast. Show
Expressing and feeding from a bottle or cup can be handy. You might want to express your breastmilk because you:
Some women find it easy to express, and other women find it more difficult. It can sometimes take a while to learn how to express. Women express varying amounts of breastmilk. It depends on many things, including your body, your baby’s last feed and your baby’s age. It can also depend on how often you express. If you can’t express much (or any) milk, check with your midwife, child and family health nurse or lactation consultant to make sure you’re expressing correctly. An Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) counsellor can also help – phone the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 1800 686 268 or use ABA LiveChat. There are 3 ways to express:
Most people find expressing breastmilk easier if they’re in a comfortable, private place. Get yourself relaxed and comfortable, and have a glass of water handy to drink. Give yourself plenty of time too – especially when you’re first learning to express. Expressing breastmilk by handHere are the basic steps for expressing breastmilk by hand. Getting ready
Expressing by hand
Expressing breastmilk with a manual pumpManual breast pumps usually consist of a breast shield attached to a pump handle and collection bottle or container. Just as with hand-expressing, the first step in expressing breastmilk with a manual pump is getting yourself relaxed and comfortable. This can help to trigger your let-down. Gentle massage and warmth as described above is a good idea too. Here are the next steps:
Expressing breastmilk with an electric pumpElectric breast pumps are much like manual pumps, except that you don’t have to do the pumping yourself. Attach the breast shield to your breast (or breasts, in the case of double pumps). As with expressing breastmilk by hand or by manual pump, get comfortable and relaxed to start. This helps with your let-down. Here are the next steps:
You can often get more milk by hand-expressing after the flow with the pump has stopped. You can buy or hire electric breast pumps. The ABA hires them out, as do some pharmacies. You’ll need to buy your own pump kit to attach to a hired electric breast pump. There are many manual and electric pumps on the market. If you’re interested in using a pump to express, it might be a good idea to speak with your child and family health nurse or an ABA counsellor. They can help you choose the right pump for your needs. Storing expressed breastmilkAfter you’ve expressed, put your breastmilk into a clean, closed container or a special breastmilk storage bag. You can buy storage bags from your pharmacy or other shops that sell baby stuff. It’s best to refrigerate or freeze breastmilk after expressing. Don’t forget to write the date of expressing on the storage container or bag before you refrigerate or freeze the breastmilk. If you’re adding fresh breastmilk into the same container or bag as other chilled or frozen breastmilk, cool the fresh breastmilk in the fridge first. The date on the whole container or bag should be the date when the oldest breastmilk was expressed. The guidelines below explain how long you can store breastmilk at different temperatures and when you should use stored or frozen breastmilk. Freshly expressed breastmilk
Previously frozen breastmilk (thawed in the fridge but not warmed)
Don’t refreeze previously frozen breastmilk. Breastmilk thawed outside the fridge in warm water
Don’t refreeze previously frozen breastmilk. If your baby doesn’t finish their feed of expressed breastmilk, you can’t use it for another feed. You should throw it away. Offering small amounts of expressed breastmilk at a time might help to reduce wastage. Transporting expressed breastmilkYou can transport expressed breastmilk between home and other places. Expressed breastmilk can travel:
Place the labelled breastmilk in the fridge as soon as you arrive or in the freezer if it’s still frozen. Preparing expressed breastmilk for useYou can give your baby expressed breastmilk with a cup, spoon or bottle. Warm your container of breastmilk by placing it in warm water. Use fresh breastmilk first if you have some, but if you’re using frozen breastmilk, you can thaw it by placing it in either cool or warm water. Test the temperature of the milk before feeding your baby. The temperature should be lukewarm or around body temperature. Some babies don’t mind milk that has been thawed but not warmed. Don’t use a microwave oven to thaw or warm the milk, because this destroys some of the components of breastmilk. It can also result in hot spots, which can burn a baby. You might notice that expressed and stored breastmilk has a surface layer of fat, with lighter milk underneath. This is normal. You can gently swirl the bottle or container after heating to mix the fat through. Cleaning expressing equipmentClean all breast pump parts and storage containers used to collect and store breastmilk before use. But you don’t need to clean sterile expressed breastmilk bags or new plastic bags before use. If you’re expressing once a day or more, you should thoroughly clean your expressing equipment at least once every 24 hours. Here’s how:
In between cleans, here’s what to do if you have access to a fridge:
And here’s what to do if you don’t have access to a fridge:
If you and your baby are well, you don’t need to sterilise expressing equipment after cleaning. You do need to sterilise bottle-feeding equipment after cleaning for babies under 12 months. You can read more about cleaning and sterilising bottle-feeding equipment. This information applies to normal healthy babies being fed their own mother’s breastmilk. If your baby is premature or sick, the health professionals caring for your baby will tell you what to do. How soon do you have to put breast milk in the fridge?Refrigerate or chill milk right after it is expressed.
Freshly expressed milk can remain at room temperature (up to 77°F or 25°C) for 4 hours (or up to 6 to 8 hours if very cleanly expressed), but it is best to chill as soon as possible.
Can you put breast milk in the fridge after heating it up?Once you warm the breast milk, you can give it to your child right away or it can be refrigerated again for up to 24 hours. You should not leave warm breast milk out at room temperature. You should not refreeze it. If your baby does not finish a feeding, you should throw away the leftover breast milk in the bottle.
Can I put breast milk back in fridge after baby drinks from it?If your baby did not finish the bottle, the leftover breast milk can still be used within 2 hours after the baby is finished feeding. After 2 hours, leftover breast milk should be thrown away. To avoid wasting unfed milk, consider storing, thawing, and warming milk in smaller amounts.
Can you store breast milk in bottles with nipples in the fridge?Tightly cap bottles. Do not store bottles with nipples attached. Label each container with your baby's name and the date and time the milk was expressed. Put several bottle bags in a larger airtight plastic bag to prevent them from sticking to the freezer shelf.
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