Expressing and Storing Breastmilk
You want to give your child the best start by breastfeeding, but perhaps full-time breastfeeding doesn’t seem realistic. Maybe you are returning to work, want to share the load of feeding with your partner, or are desperate for a night of sleep without feeds.
Breastfeeding doesn’t have to mean being present for every feed with your baby latched to your breast. Expressing and storing breastmilk can enable your baby to continue to benefit from all the goodness of your milk while giving you some freedom.
Alternatively, your baby may have been born premature or with health issues that prevent them from feeding effectively. You may want to boost your breastmilk supply by pumping during, after, or between feeds. You may even have an excess supply after feeding your baby and wonder if your milk could help others. There are many reasons and motivations for expressing and storing breastmilk.
Now that you have decided expressing and storing breastmilk is the way to go, where do you start? This section offers articles that answer many questions you may be asking yourself, including How to Choose the Best Breast Pump for You, Breast Pump Hire, and Increasing Breastmilk Supply – Power Pumping! We also offer videos, including Maximizing Milk Production with Hands On Expressing Breastmilk.
Our articles offer practical, real-life experiences from mothers like you who have successfully achieved expressing and storing breastmilk for their babies. We even provide an article on How to Use your Breast Milk Donation to Help Other Mums and Unwell Bubs.
Do you have a story about your experience of expressing and storing breastmilk that you would like to share? We are always looking for new content, and nothing supports a breastfeeding mother more than the words of someone who has been there (or is there). If you have a story to share or would like to suggest a topic you’d like to read more about, please email Pregnancy Birth and Beyond.
Expressing and Storing Breastmilk Articles
How to obtain donor breast milk safely when you don’t have enough milk
Who might need to know how to obtain donor breast milk With the proper support, most birthing parents can successfully breastfeed their babies. Of course, there are still situations where parents need more milk, and as the Australian Breastfeeding Association states, breast milk from another mother is the best alternative. Very sick or premature babies in hospitals sometimes receive donor milk. The hospital prescribes it and arranges its supply. However, there are many situations outside of the hospital when
How to use your breast milk donation to help other mums and unwell bubs
Why make a breast milk donation? Have you got more breastmilk than you know what to do with? Or perhaps you want to help others and have a strong belief in the value of human milk. If that's you, you might be considering milk donation. Most babies receive plenty of milk from their mums – as long as she gets good advice and support. However, sometimes that doesn't happen, especially if mum is unwell. The Australian Breastfeeding Association says
How to choose the best breast pump for you
It can be a difficult choice to choose the best breast pump for your needs. When preparing to bring home your baby, you might picture yourself using those generous baby shower gifts you received. Perhaps wrapping them in that soft sling or capturing their footprints. However, there's one handy piece of equipment you might not have pictured using – a breast pump. PBB has put together this handy guide on choosing the best breast pump just in case you
Breast Pump Hire
At Pregnancy Birth and Beyond (PBB), we make breast pump hire easy. PBB is here to provide you with the best breast pumps to help you express more efficiently and yes – you don’t have to break the bank for this! Breastfeeding provides babies with the best start in life and is a significant contributor to a baby’s health. Perhaps you have not been able to express enough milk for your baby. Or maybe your
Expressing Breastmilk
I remember being given a breast pump as a gift for my baby shower. I hadn’t even had my baby and I definitely hadn’t started breastfeeding yet so, well, let’s just say it was one of the scariest gifts I have ever received. The funny thing is looking back I can now honestly say that it is definitely the most useful gift I have ever received. That’s not to say that all pregnant or breastfeeding women need a breast
Six Months Of Exclusive Expressing
When I was looking for a midwife for my homebirth, it was extremely important to me that my midwife be a Lactation Consultant being as my first baby (hospital born) never latched to the breast and support was not available to me. I left hospital with my baby being fed by expressed milk and supplemented with formula. After five weeks of expressing, great stress, sleep deprivation (all which equated to a low supply), and an Early Childhood Nurse who
Increasing Breast Milk Supply – Power Pumping
The benefits for babies of breastfeeding have been well documented and in recent times, significant health benefits for women have also been uncovered. However, despite their best efforts, many women experience issues with low supply. Because breasts work on the principle of supply and demand, using a breast pump is often recommended. Regular pumping delivers to the brain a ‘make more milk!’ message and can be very effective in increasing supply. However, despite regular pumping sessions, many women do
Maximizing Milk Production with Hands On Expressing Breastmilk
At PBB we want to share with you this valuable video about maximizing milk production with hands on expressing. When an infant is unable to breastfeed effectively, and their mother needs to stimulate the breasts and express milk with a breast pump, building and maintaining an adequate supply can be a challenge. This video demonstrates some ways that expressing mothers can increase production without medication. We highly recommend watching this video - another fabulous resource. Maximizing Milk Production Video
Hand expressing breastmilk
Learning how to express breastmilk by hand is a great technique to learn as you don't need any special equipment and it is relatively easy to learn. The benefits of hand expressing breastmilk include: It is free You don't need any expensive or cumbersome pumps It is convenient, you can do it any time, anywhere It stimulates greater breastmilk production This video by Dr Jane Morton demonstrates how easily hand expression can be taught to mothers. At PBB we