The art of hand expressing breast milk

This month I have the opportunity to teach a new parenting class with the Natural Parenting Education Network of Lafayette. (See Here) In preparation for the course I was reveiwing my resources for breastfeeding and came across a link on how to hand express breastmilk. I encourage all moms and dads to watch this movie as it is very simple to understand and can be very beneficial for those wanting to breastfeed their babies. Here is the link http://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/HandExpression.html

Studies have shown that if hand expression 5 times a day is used in additon to the use of a breast pump, mothers produce up to 80% more milk. And the more milk a mother is producing the easier it is to breastfeed your baby.

Knowing how to hand express is also helpful later in the nursing relationship in case your pump stops working, you need to relieve pressure while away from your baby, or for the mom that only needs to express enough for the occasional feeding that she will be away from her baby.

Knowledge is power, and I hope by learning hand expression you will gain addtional confidence to breastfeed your babies.

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