If you’re breastfeeding, quite likely, an outsized part of your day is consumed with feeding your baby. (And if you’re not feeding them, you're probably worried about when to feed them, how much food they've got, and other related questions.) While many know that breastfeeding provides a special connection between them and their little ones, it also requires a lot of time, energy, and dedication - to keep it light. A major concern for breastfeeding people is ensuring that their breasts are sufficiently empty and getting enough for small meals. So, what if we told you that there was a trick to help with this? Let's see what breast compression really is: What is breast compression? Breast compression is applied when you apply pressure to the outside of your breast to help keep the milk flowing. This is especially useful when your baby is only sucking on the breast and not drinking milk. (You know this is happening because they won't
leave their mark, and you won't hear the sweet sound of swallowing!) Breast compressions manually stimulate the milk ejection reflex and can help your baby get more milk out of the breast during one feed. They can speed up the flow of milk to keep your baby awake in the breast. When is breast compression useful? May be useful for breast compressions: • Babies who do not gain weight fast, as breast compression can help transfer more milk • Fussy babies, who may be said that the milk doesn't come as soon as they want • Frequent babies to need frequent or long feedings • Pain nipples due to the amount of time your baby is sucking them during feeding your Frequent blocked ducts or mastitis because a common cause of these conditions is that the milk is not fully expressed and stays in the breast for too long. • Babies who go to bed early and suck without alcohol • Babies who drink more milk are sucking to calm down How to do breast
Compression? By now, you are probably wondering, how do you do breast compressions properly? Here's the great news: the method is perhaps simpler than you think! 1. Find a comfortable place and breastfeeding position. Make sure you have a supply (e.g., nipple cream, diapers, water bottle, pump) that may be available near you. 2. Help your child properly and double-check. Hold the baby with one hand. 3. Support your breasts with the other hand. Circle it so that the thumb is on one side of the chest and the other fingers are on the other side close to the chest. (Your fingers should be close to the chest wall and not the nipple.) 4. Observe the baby while feeding them and make sure their jaw is drooping, signaling that they swallow milk. 5. When the baby is no longer drinking with an open mouth-pause-closed mouth suction pattern, compress your breasts to increase external pressure. No need to roll your fingers down the chest towards the baby. Just squeeze down and grab. Try to avoid squeezing so hard that the areola changes shape or compression in the baby's mouth hurts you. You should pay attention with the hope that the child starts drinking again. 6. Continue to hold the breast suction until the baby stops drinking.
Release compression at this point. 7. If the baby doesn't still drink, try breast compression again, wrapping your arms around the breast. You should try at least 2 or 3 different hand positions around the breast. 8. Continue to do this on one breast until the baby is no longer sucking, even with breast compressions. It has reached this point after a long time to give the baby a good bed on the breast, only in case you may find another letdown that may cause the baby to start swallowing again on its own. In any case, if the baby doesn't start drinking again quickly, you'll want to get rid of them from the breast to stop unnecessary nipple pain. 9. Offer the baby other breasts and repeat an equivalent breast compression procedure. You want to continue switching back and forth between breasts each time after this same procedure if: • Your nipples do not hurt • Your child is interested • You have a lot of milk that you want to express
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