Why is milking so painful? Correct milking posture and technique

For many new mothers, the most troublesome thing after giving birth is not only the pain of the wound that is still healing, but also the breast milk expression. Because many hospitals now encourage mothers to breastfeed exclusively or try to breastfeed their children, but for new mothers, they really don’t know how to express breast milk or what is the correct way to express milk. They think that milking will be painful and resist it. But in fact, if you express milk correctly, it is not very uncomfortable! Hurry up and follow the professional physical therapist who has helped more than 6,000 mothers to lactate, and you will not feel pain next time you express milk!

Why does milking hurt?

If mothers feel pain when expressing or being milked, it is usually because they are milking in the wrong place; breasts are very delicate in the early stages of lactation, so if you squeeze too deep or too hard, in addition to hurting the breasts, the milk will not be squeezed out completely, and the nipples will still be hard after squeezing. New mothers don't be nervous, it's not difficult to express milk correctly! Follow the steps below to learn how to express milk by hand correctly and milk painlessly!

How to express milk painlessly

To know how to express milk painlessly, you must first understand the structure of the breast and the correct posture. Let's learn together!

1. Breast structure

We can divide breasts into three parts: front milk, middle milk, and back milk. The front milk refers to the area where the areola is.

The middle milk refers to the area outside the areola, which is two fingers wide. The back milk refers to the area outside the areola, which is about three to four fingers wide. For mothers with smaller breasts, it is about three fingers wide, and for mothers with larger breasts, it is about four fingers wide. 2. The correct direction and posture of milking

The direction of milking is divided into "left and right, up and down, diagonally to the sides". Basically, you can grasp the concept of this "米" shape!

When expressing breast milk, the correct hand posture is a "C" shape. Maintaining this posture allows the hand to be more easily attached to the breast. Some mothers may have bad expression gestures (like the picture below). After expressing breast milk for a long time, the tendon of the thumb is more likely to become inflamed, which can easily lead to mother's hand. Therefore, you must pay attention to your posture!

Front, middle and back milking steps

1. Express forepartum milk correctly

Keep your thumb and index finger in a straight line with the nipple, and you can start to squeeze the front milk. For the front milk, just use point-to-point pressing to squeeze: It should be noted that it is not necessary to pinch or squeeze hard, because the front part of the mammary duct is relatively superficial, so gently pressing and squeezing like a stamp will actually squeeze the mammary duct. For example, when the baby is breastfeeding, the sucking depth is not very deep, just holding and completely covering the areola, which can achieve the effect of lactation.

When squeezing until the milk starts to flow out a little, you can observe the flow rate of the milk. If you feel that the flow rate is good, squeeze a few more times. When the part under the breast becomes softer, you can change your position and continue squeezing. When the flow rate is good and some milk has come out, you can change the direction of your hand and continue squeezing.

2. Expressing mid-section milk correctly

After squeezing the areola, you can start squeezing the middle part of the milk. After the hands are opened, because the distance from the nipple and areola becomes farther, some mothers may squeeze too hard at this distance, which will cause excessive friction. Therefore, it is recommended that mothers apply a little medium on the breasts and hands, such as a little breast milk on the hands, or vegetable oil that the baby can eat.

After your hands have opened the range, hold them toward your body and then move them forward.

You don't need to use a lot of force, and don't scrape the tissue inside excessively. Just place it lightly on the breast, gently bring it forward, and slightly pinch the areola, and the milk will flow out.

After squeezing a few more times in this direction, change your hand to the other direction and continue squeezing; after squeezing the middle part once and the breasts are soft, expand outwards to squeeze the back milk.

3. Expressing hindquarter milk correctly

When squeezing the back part of the milk, open your hands a little more, hold it in the chest wall, and then bring it forward. During the squeezing process, remember that you don't need to scrape, knead or press it too hard, because such hard scraping and kneading will actually flatten the mammary ducts and make it difficult for milk to flow out. Follow the above steps, and after squeezing 360 degrees, check that it is soft in every direction, and you are done!

4. Why should we squeeze from the front to the back?

Because the distribution of mammary ducts is like a tree, the part closer to the back is the end of the branch, and the part of the areola is the trunk, as shown in the following figure:

After understanding this structure, you will know that the front part is where the pipeline is thicker; in addition, the front part (near the areola) has the structure of the milk sinus, that is to say, the areola is also where there are more milk ejection reflex receptors. Therefore, when expressing milk, you should first use the most efficient front part of the pipeline to squeeze out the milk, and the milk behind will slowly move forward to flow. This is the most efficient and non-injurious way to express milk!