Expressing milk means squeezing milk out of your breast so that you can store it and feed it to your baby at a later time.

Many different breast pumps are available to buy or hire. Find out why you may need one, what types there are and how to find a breast pump that suits you.

There are a number of reasons why a breast feeding mother might wish to express milk rather than feeding the baby directly from the breast.

There are many reasons why mothers may want to express their breast milk

Expressing breast milk by hand is a cheap and convenient method.

Breastfeeding mums can have breastmilk oversupply and breast engorgement. Check feeding patterns, techniques and positions. Hand-expressing can also help.

Many breastfeeding mothers will need to express their breastmilk at some time. Whatever your reason for expressing, it can be confusing working out the best way to express and what breast pump is best to use (if any). This article looks at the different types of breast pumps and which ones are suitable for different types of expressing.

This page includes information about expressing, storing, cleaning equipment, transporting and preparing expressed breastmilk for your baby.

Which breast pump is best for you?

Nipples vary in shape, size and presentation from woman to woman and, for some women, left to right. Some nipples protrude from the level of the areola (see image below right). Flat nipples are level with the areola. Inverted nipples (see imagine below left) do not protrude from the level of the areola but are retracted inwards instead. Some severely-inverted nipples are fully stuck inwards while others can be drawn out with suction, such as with a breast pump or syringe.