Breastfeeding your baby

To ensure a good milk supply, eat a good diet and drink lots of liquids. Feed on demand, that is, when your baby is hungry. If your baby feeds often and hungrily, you will automatically produce enough milk. Breast size is irrelevant, but it’s important to get plenty of rest between feeds so your metabolism can catch up.

Frequency

Your baby could feed ten or eleven times in 24 hours for the first few weeks, but by the time your baby is six to eight weeks old, he or she will be feeding less often. During the first few weeks, use alternate breasts for feeds, with ten to fifteen minutes per feed. This helps to balance the milk supply and avoids either breast from becoming sore.

A baby actually doesn’t ‘suck’ but ‘smacks’ the nipple between his or her tongue and the roof of his or her mouth. To do this properly, your baby has to latch on properly with his or her gums, gripping the areola and the nipple firmly. The milk is then squeezed right into baby’s throat for baby to swallow.

Breast babies are rarely underfed, although they may only feed for a short time. As a rough guide, expect your baby to feed for 10 minutes. Your baby gets 80% of the feed in the first five minutes and the creamy after-milk is sucked out in the next five minutes. Many babies take a few days to get the hang of latching on, and may be slow to feed. If this becomes a problem, seek advice. If your baby has a tendency to fall asleep at the breast, let him take all he wants from one side, then offer the other breast first at the next feed.

Few women breastfeed without having one or two problems. While you need not expect to find it difficult, you should also not be surprised if you experience a few problems. It’s important to remember that most breastfeeding difficulties can be put right provided you have support and the commitment and confidence to continue.

Our Employee Wellbeing Programme (EAP) is available 24 hours a day if you want to talk about breastfeeding a baby.