How to Extract Milk From the Breast

A breastfeeding mother might need to remove milk from the breast in order to save it for later use, relieve pressure within the breast or get milk production started before feeding her baby. Learning how to extract milk from the breast manually can be useful for any lactating mother, but some mothers will find it invaluable. A mother who has difficulty getting enough milk using a breast pump may find that the gentler method of hand expressing milk works better for her.

Instructions

1

Wash and dry a wide-mouthed bottle or container that you plan to use for collecting the milk.

2

Place a warm, wet washcloth on each of your breasts for three to five minutes before starting to express milk. Gaze at a photograph of your baby to get your maternal hormones flowing, which makes extracting milk easier.

3

Hold the collecting container over your nipple using the hand that you will not be using to express milk. Do not press the container tightly against your skin. Instead, hold it lightly in place so that expressed milk will squirt into the container but will not interfere with your hand expressing.

4

Place your hand on your breast with the fingers on the bottom of the breast and the thumb on the top of the breast. Your hand should be about 1 to 1-1/2 inches from the nipple.

5

Press your fingers and thumb gently into the breast and pull gently back towards your body. This pulls your hand back behind the milk ducts.

6

Roll your fingers and thumb toward the nipple, stopping at the areola. Don't slide your fingers along the skin, but instead roll them like you are taking a fingerprint.

7

Perform hand compressions until the milk flow slows or stops. This indicates that the milk duct is now empty and you can move on to the next duct.

8

Rotate your hand about an inch clockwise on your breast and repeat the process. Continue rotating your hand around the breast with each compression to get all of the milk ducts.

9

Switch breasts and repeat the entire series of hand compressions on the other breast.