This is a nice thing to do, easy to learn and can be quite convenient for some women.

A few reason's why a mother may want to hand express her breasts are:

It is ecologically friendly, portable and it's free!

A new mother is busy and caught up at the store, etc

A pump is not handy or the baby is not present

To add extra stimulation to breasts, it can help milk supply

Added stimulation will increase colostrum present

To store small amounts for future use

Bring colostrum to the surface of breasts to entice baby to latch

Hand express to spoon or cup to feed a baby who wont latch

How to get started:

Position: your hands at 12 and 6 o'clock on the breast. It should be about 1 inch to inch and a half behind the nipple. Make sure the fingers are directly opposing each other.

Press: your thumb and fingers back into the breast tissue towards the wall of the chest. Do not move them apart, just press straight back.

Roll: your fingers and thumb forward to compress the lactiferous sinuses. They are located under the areola behind the nipple. Don't slide the thumb or fingers along the skin, which will make them sore.

Repeat: this sequence-position, press and roll forward-until the milk flow ceases. Then try moving hands to an 11 o clock setting and 5 o'clock position. Do it again, and again.

The trick: to doing this finding the right hand placement, to get the right spot.

When you first are learning to do this, please place your hand over the mother's hand so you can show her the motions of hand expressing.

The more you get comfortable in doing this, the better you can teach your patients, and therefore they will be more confident not only in the ability to hand express but also that they DO have something precious they can give to their baby.

Practice..Practice..Practice. It is a very natural way to increase milk volume, and to help get the baby just what he/she needs.....and that is the colostrum!