Feeding

Feeding your baby can be very rewarding and a time to enjoy a real feeling of closeness. Babies get far more than just nutrition from a feed - they enjoy the cuddle, the comfort and the satisfaction of a full tummy.

In addition, feeding your baby has an impact on his health, not just in infancy but in the long term, too.

In the UK, most mums start off breastfeeding. Breastmilk supplies all the nutrients your baby needs for about first six months and it's the normal, physiological way to feed a human baby. Take the opportunity in pregnancy to talk about your feeding preferences and get the most up-to-date information you can.

Research shows that babies who aren't breastfed have a higher risk of infection, and are more likely to spend time in hospital during their first year. This difference does not depend on the social or economic status of the baby's family - the gaps in health persist even when these factors are taken into account.

But it's not enough to know that breastfeeding gives your baby a better start. Many mothers need help and support to breastfeed, and access to good information to overcome problems.

If you don't breastfeed, for whatever reason, then your baby will need infant formula milk.

Mixed feeding - giving your baby formula milk as well as breastfeeding - can be a way to maintain some breastfeeding if you return to work, or if breastfeeding alone isn't working out for you.

Because you need to breastfeed often to keep up a supply of milk, mixed feeding can lead to breastmilk production dwindling sooner than you wish. Talk to a breastfeeding counsellor, or other knowledgeable person, to help you work out a plan that suits you.

If everything's OK, your baby can start to breastfeed straight after birth.

It can take a little while for the two of you to feel you have your act together but, once you do, it's convenient and easy.

• All mothers produce breastmilk
• It's all your baby needs for the first six months
• It contains antibodies that help protect against infections
• Breastfed babies are at lower risk of conditions such as eczema, asthma and diabetes
• Breastmilk is convenient - it needs no preparation, and it's free
• Breastmilk is always the right temperature

If you're unable to feed your baby (you may be going back to work or having a night out with friends) but want your baby still to have breastmilk you could express it and have a bottle prepared. This is a technique you can learn to do by hand or with a pump.

It can be stored in the fridge for between three and eight days, depending on the temperature of the fridge, or in the freezer for up to three months, see Expressing and Storing.

Breastfeeding needs no equipment but you might want to think about buying some of the following:

1. Nursing bras - to make 'access' easier, and to improve comfort and support
2. Breastpads - to absorb leaks in the early days/weeks; folded up cotton hankies do the job just as well

If you're going to offer breastmilk from a bottle you may consider the following:

1. A breastpump for expressing, although hand expressing only needs an ordinary sterilised household bowl
2. A bottle and teat to give expressed breastmilk
3. Sterilising equipment
4. At least six bottles and teats

Technique

Early feeds are a learning process for you and your baby. You may need guidance from a midwife or breastfeeding counsellor, and an experienced eye to help you avoid becoming sore. Well-positioned and attached babies shouldn't damage your nipples. There's no single right way to hold your baby, as long as you remember:

• Your baby shouldn't have to twist his body, turn or flex his head to come on to your breast
• Your baby needs to take your nipple far back into the top third of his mouth (otherwise his tongue will get in the way)
• His mouth needs to be wide open, with his tongue coming over the bottom gum and lip
• Pushing his head on to your breast can make him uncomfortable and resistant. Instead, bring him on when his mouth is at its widest point
• He has powerful instincts to get it 'right', and you can work with these

Follow what your baby wants to do. You'll get better and better at following his cues. He may want both breasts every time, and you can offer the second when it seems right - maybe when he wants to take a natural break.

Holding your baby so he can attach himself can be a comfortable and easy way to get things going. Lie back with your baby lengthwise down your body, just cuddling him gently. Newborn babies, with their powerful instincts and reflexes, can get themselves on to the breast with very little help.

It's also a good way to 'get back to basics' with a baby who's had a difficult birth, or who has been handled a lot.

Making milk

You already have colostrum (the first milk that your breasts produce) and some time between days two and five after the birth, your milk changes and becomes more copious. This is because prolactin, the milk-making hormone, has worked on your breasts as soon as the placenta was delivered.

If you don't breastfeed, production slows down and then stops.

You continue producing milk only if it's removed from your breasts - that's how your body knows your baby wants it.

There's no need to time breastfeeds, or schedule them

There's no need to time breastfeeds, or schedule them. In fact, if you do, you may end up with problems.

Babies don't need to be on the breast for a minimum or maximum time, either. Babies have individual needs, and mothers have individual milk storage capacity and responses. So responding to your baby is the best way of ensuring breastfeeding works out.

Breastfeeding after the early days

At first, you'll find your baby asks for feeds a lot and you may not be able to predict when he's likely to sleep. Sometimes you won't know when one feed flows into the next. Your baby may have ten to 15 feeds over 24 hours. This is the way your body adapts to producing the amount of milk your baby needs.

As time goes on, feeds are likely to become more predictable, though there may be occasional days when he enjoys a 'feed in' - that's normal.

It's fine for your breasts to feel softer after a few weeks - as though there's less milk there - it shows your breasts are producing what your baby needs.

How do I know it's going well?

• Your baby takes the breast without fighting or coming off and on
• He shows you he's contented after most feeds
• He's developing well and gaining weight
• He has several wet nappies a day, and does soft yellow poos
• Your breasts and nipples aren't sore

At first, most breastfed babies poo at least twice a day. Then, after a few weeks, they may go several days between each poo - that's normal, as is frequent pooing, too. Long gaps in between poos doesn't mean your baby has constipation.

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