This booklet covers expressing milk, breast pumps, preparation of containers and storage of milk.

What does expressing milk mean?

Expressing milk means squeezing milk out of your breast so you can store it and feed it to your baby later. You might want to express milk if: you have to be away from your baby, for example, because your baby is in special care or because you're going back to work. your breasts feel uncomfortably full (engorged)

Is expressing milk the same as breastfeeding?

Should you pump or breastfeed? Both breastfeeding and pumping are excellent ways to feed a baby breast milk. Breast milk is the natural food for infants, and pumping can offer benefits that are similar, although not identical, to providing breast milk directly from the breast.