Anyone got top tips for hand-expressing?

[sonnysmum]

I'm having to hand express from the left breast due to a very sore & open cracked nipple. I can't use nipple shields/ electric express machine as it just hurts too much. Midwife suggested I hand express...

1. How much do I have to 'produce'? It took me ages this morning & I only got 2oz & then gave up!
2. Every now & then a big squirt came out (of one 'hole' only) but mainly it was just drips - pathetic! ...does anyone have any top tips? Some of the books are so confusing, and my boobs are about 5 times bigger than all the ones in the b/f books!

Do a search on here, because Mears has lots of advice on this including a link to a very helpful site. Best of luck!

This link here might be helpful.

The trick is to massgae your breasts first by rolling your fist gently over the breast towards the nipple to encourage the milk to flow into the ducts.
Then feel forwards down towards the nipple. Around about the areola area you will feel pea-like lumps. They may be just under the areola or before you reach it. These are the milk resvoirs. With your thumb placed over them on top and 2 fingers below, gently squeeze. After a few seconds you will feel the milk let down and start to flow. The milk will flow in jets then stop. You can alternate sides to make the flow quicker. Rotate your fingers and thumb aroung the areola area to empty all the resevoirs. As you express on one side, the opposite side lets down. You will get faster as you gain more practice. HTH.