A breast pump is a very handy instrument to have in your mommy's toolbox.
Why? It will help you to express milk from your breasts - so that you can store this (you can even freeze it) to give to your baby at a later date.

It can help you to build up a reserve bank of milk (for the times when your baby is going through growth spurts), for times when you are tired and suffering from sleep deprivation and your milk production has slowed down as a result and for times when you want to express some milk to use with a bottle if you are going out and need to feed your baby in public.
Further, you can express milk as a way of relieving the pain if you are suffering from engorged breasts (and goodness, they CAN be painful). And, especially for the working mother who has to return to work after maternity leave, the ability to express your milk and leave it for your carer to give to your baby in your absence - is very important.

For those very reasons - and there are others - I would consider having and using a breast pump to be a necessity.

You can either express the milk manually (using your hands) or use a breastpump.

You can actually express by hand especially if you are in great pain and your baby doesn't want to relieve your swollen breasts. Expressing by hand is also a cheaper option to using a breastpump however it can take longer to get the milk and usually requires some practice.
Method: Ensure you have clean hands and obtain a sterile, wide rimmed container to collect the expressed milk. Place your thumb above your nipple and your fingers underneath so that they form a "C" shape around the areola. Now squeeze, as you push your fingers back against the chest wall. Continue this way in a circular motion around the areola.


The alternative is to use a breastpump and there are two types available on the market: electric and manual.

These breastpumps operate on the same method as expressing by hand, except they are a lot faster and more efficient at expressing the milk.
Method: Ensure you have clean hands. The pump will come with some sort of suction cover which you need to place over your breast. Then turn the machine on and it will carry out the extraction process for you - and collect the milk in a container which is attached to the pump. If you are using a manual pump, then you will probably have some sort of lever which you will have to clasp, and in the process of doing so, will impress some force upon the suction cover so that the milk is squeezed out.

It should be possible to express milk from both breasts in about 20-30 minutes.
Although the process, whether you are using a manual pump or an electric one, sounds painful, it needn't be. Do your research before you purchase one and check out the Best-Buys recommendations from the pregnancy magazines. A good breast pump should mimic the sucking motion of a baby and won't cause any pain as a result.