There are times when you may want to express breast milk. If your breast may be too full and hence hurt then it would be a good idea to express the milk and store it for later use. You may want to go out and would like the person minding your baby to feed the baby breast milk. You can express milk with your hand or with a breast pump.

Hand Expression

To express breast milk with your hands you need:

* Sterile wide rimmed container to collect milk.
* Clean, washed hands.
* Privacy

1. Massage your breast gently to increase milk flow or use flannel to warm your breasts.
2. Hold your breast with one hand and with the fingertips of the other, move all around the breast stroking it gently. You can use the back of your knuckles, massaging from the outer edge of the breast to the nipple.
3. Once you have completely relaxed, place your hand behind the areola and start squeezing gently. You should be applying pressure on the milk sacs that are under the skin, at the edge of the areola. These sacs, will feel like peas under you fingertips.
4. As you squeeze in, milk will first drip out and then spurt. Move your hand all over the breast to remove milk from all the ducts.

Breast Pumps

There are a variety of breast pumps available today. You will have to very carefully select the pump that is best for you. If you choose the wrong one you may harm your breast tissue. It is best to consult your doctor before buying a pump. There are two types of pumps:

* Battery-operated Pumps: These are easy to use. But may not be very durable. These make less noise than electric pumps. Use a pump that has been designed to release suction at regular intervals to prevent excessive pressure.
* Electric Pumps: There are different kinds available in the market. Some come with a double pumping system, which is convenient for expressing milk from both breasts at the same time. Small and light pumps are available, which can be easily carried to work and when you travel. These pumps have adapters that can be fixed into, the cigarette lighter plug in your car to recharge it.

Storing Expressed Breast Milk

There are bags that are specially made to store expressed breast milk. You can use small disposable bottle bags or small glass or plastic bottles also. Depending on how soon you want to use the expressed milk either refrigerate it or freeze it. Here are a few tips you can follow:

* At room temperature fresh expressed milk can be stored for ten hours. Milk brought to room temperature after refrigerating or freezing, must be used within half an hour.
* Fresh expressed milk can be refrigerated for anything between five to seven days. Taste the milk to find out whether it is fresh before giving it to your baby.
* You can store freshly expressed milk for up to six months in an average freezer depending on the efficiency of the freezer. If ice cream is frozen solid, then your freezer can be used to freeze milk for six months. If ice cream stays soft, then you can store milk for three months. In the deep freeze milk can be stored for 12 months. Make sure you store in the coldest part of the freezer and away from the door.
* Pumped milk that has been refrigerated for less than 48 hours can be frozen. Milk that has been refrigerated for more that 48 hours should not be frozen.
* Freezing cause breast milk to expand. While filling bottles or bags leave about one inch from the top so that there is place for this expansion. If you are using a disposable bag fasten fold the top and fasten it with a rubber band.
* Milk containers should be labeled with the time and date on which it was expressed.
* If you can express large quantities of milk, do not store it in a big bottle or bag. Use small bags or bottles. The baby will need only small quantities at a time and you can defreeze one small bag or bottle each time. Thus wastage will be minimized.
* If you want to transport stored breast milk to use away from home, keep it cold till you use it. Use a cooler with ice or frozen packs to keep the milk cold while transporting it.
* The oldest milk should be used first.

Defrosting Expressed Breast Milk: Here are few ways to defrost:

* To thaw breast milk, use a hot bowl of tap water or do it at room temperature. Defrost using minimum amount of heat.
* Do not microwave to defrost, as it destroys the essential vitamins and enzymes in the milk.
* Feed the baby defrosted milk only when it has thawed completely.
* If the milk smells or tastes sour do not use it.
* Milk that has been thawed should be kept in the refrigerator and used within 24 hours.

Follow these measures to ensure express and store breast milk safely and efficiently till required.