Tips! - Expressing your milk.

To express:

• Try massaging your breasts to stimulate milk flow
• Place a warm cloth on your breasts
• Express straight out the shower – the warmth helps with the let down.
• Visualise your baby breastfeeding
• A picture of your child (or a video works well too) helps stimulate those hormones that release milk.
• An item of baby clothing can do the same.
• Let baby nurse on one side while you express the other. This takes practice, at first, but is achievable.
• When you need to express a large amount, swapping baby and pump can sometimes help. i.e when you can’t pump anymore from the left, let your baby nurse for a few minutes on the left, then start pumping again. This is because your baby is the best pump there is, and even when a pump gets nothing, your baby will.
• Keep well hydrated – have a glass of water next to you and drink it while expressing.
• Express a little milk into your hand to rub on your nipples after each session. NO MORE CREAMS! your breast milk is liquid gold remember? put it to use! 
• Pump at the same time every day to ‘trick’ your body into supplying milk for your baby at that time.
• Find the best time of day. In the mornings mums usually have a lot of milk, and expressing can sometimes be easier. At night it can sometimes take a little longer. But also remember that your milk changes, and at night nucleotides are released into your milk to help your baby sleep. If you’re giving expressed morning milk at night, that won’t be present in the milk, and visa versa.