What does expressing breast milk mean?
Expressing breast milk or pumping is the removal of breast milk from your breast with a breast pump or your hand. You can then store your breast milk for your baby. You may need to express breast milk for one or more of the following reasons: • To build up and maintain a milk supply when your baby cannot breastfeed at your breast. • To increase your milk supply. • Your baby has a hard time latching (attaching) to the coloured, circular area around your breast called the areola (say: ar-ee-OH-la). Your nipples may be flat or turned in. Expressing for a few minutes before you try to latch your baby may help the nipples stand out more. • Your breasts hurt because they are hard and uncomfortable. This is called engorgement. Expressing regularly relieves the hardness. Engorgement can flatten the nipple. Expressing to relieve the engorgement softens the areola making it easier for the baby to latch.
