Dear Lactnet Friends:

Besides all these goodies, teaching her hand expression makes it good for
her to touch her own breasts and learn their geography. She'll start doing
self-exams 25 years before she turns 40 and has a baseline mammogram.

From our archives:


Subject:

Hand expression

 Nikki Lee <[log in to unmask]

Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>

Date:  Tue, 6 Mar 2012 22:41:44 -0500



Yes, there is research about the value of hand expression over pumping.


Oyama 2010 compared hand expressing with pumping with a Symphony (Medela)
pump; mothers got more milk in the first 48 hours with hand expression: an
average of 2 cc/expression versus 0.6 for each pumping session.

Dr. Jane Morton has done research that suggests using hands before, during
and after pumping increases milk yield.

Here's an abstract of another, more recent study that speaks to
breastfeeding duration being positively impacted by hand expression.

Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2012 Jan;97(1):F18-23. Epub 2011 Jul 11.

Randomised trial comparing hand expression with breast pumping for mothers
of
term newborns feeding poorly.

Flaherman VJ, Gay B, Scott C, Avins A, Lee KA, Newman TB.

OBJECTIVE:
Breast pumping or hand expression may be recommended when newborns latch or
suck
poorly. A recent trial found worse outcomes among mothers who used a breast
pump
in the early postpartum period. The objective of this study was to compare
bilateral electric breast pumping to hand expression among mothers of
healthy
term infants feeding poorly at 12-36 h after birth.

DESIGN:
Randomised controlled trial.

SETTING:
Well-baby nursery and postpartum unit.

PATIENTS:
68 mothers of newborns 12-36 h old who were latching or sucking poorly were
randomly assigned to either 15 min of bilateral electric pumping or 15 min
of
hand expression.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Milk transfer, maternal pain, breastfeeding confidence and breast milk
expression experience (BMEE) immediately after the intervention, and
breastfeeding rates at 2 months after birth.

RESULTS:
The median volume of expressed milk (range) was 0.5 (0-5) ml for hand
expressing
mothers and 1 (0-40) ml for pumping mothers (p=0.07). Maternal pain,
breastfeeding confidence and BMEE did not differ by intervention. At 2
months,
mothers assigned to hand expression were more likely to be breastfeeding
(96.1%)
than mothers assigned to breast pumping (72.7%) (p=0.02).

CONCLUSIONS:
Hand expression in the early postpartum period appears to improve eventual
breastfeeding rates at 2 months after birth compared with breast pumping,
but
further research is needed to confirm this. However, in circumstances where
either pumping or hand expression would be appropriate for healthy term
infants
12-36 h old feeding poorly, providers should consider recommending hand
expression.

warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI, ANLC, CKC
Author:* Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy*
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com
https://www.facebook.com/nikkileehealth
*Get my FREE webinar series
*

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