Lisa mentions the problem with breast pumps not draining all areas of the
breast. When I instruct mothers on pump usage or in any lectures or writing I
do on pump use, I include the recommendation to massage and compress all
quadrants of each breast while pumping. This is designed to increase the
speed of pumping, remove as much milk as possible from all areas of the
breast, eliminate as much residual milk as possible which can back up and
cause mastitis, and sometimes this helps increase the amount of milk removed.
This technique is also used to increase the fat content of the expressed
milk. Mothers who double pump can hold the two containers with one arm across
their chest as they massage and compress a breast.

No pump or flange works the way the baby does, so the massage and compression
compensates. Dairy farmers have long known this and would never leave
residual milk in an udder after milking.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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