Breastfeeding
The first milk, called colostrum, is highly protective.
We encourage all mothers to provide colostrum to their baby soon after birth.
For more information, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/mry49zky
Skin Contact / Responsive Feeding
Skin to skin contact after birth provides important protection for your baby. During this time your baby will be covered with good, friendly microbes from your skin, which are highly protective. Skin to skin contact will also calm you and your baby, steady their breathing and keep them warm. This is a great time for a first breastfeed and your midwife can help you.
Stay close to your baby and feed whenever they are hungry. This will remind your body to produce plenty of milk. It is fine to feed your baby when they need comforting, when your breasts feel full or when you just want to sit down and have a rest. It is not possible to over feed a breastfed baby!
Less work (with formula feeding you need to make up each bottle fresh), less money spent, less time off work looking after sick children, and overall more convenience.
- Ill health
- Infections
- Diabetes
- Skin problems
- Asthma and respiratory illnesses
They are also less likely to be obese, require hospital admissions and are less likely to need antibiotics.
Mothers who breastfeed protect their own health too.
• Hold baby close to you
• Keep baby’s head and body in a straight line
• Head free / tilted back
• Start with nose to your nipple
• Baby’s chin touches the breast first
• It’s comfortable – Breastfeeding should not hurt.
• Baby is relaxed, your baby’s chin is indenting your breast, baby has a wide open mouth, you can see more of the darker skin around your nipple above your baby’s top lip, your baby sucks fast at first then deeper and slower and your baby’s cheeks are plumped out.
• Your baby has frequent wet / dirty nappies (yellow poo by day four).
Your baby only needs breast milk for the first six months.
Your midwife can discuss expressing your breast milk as an option.
Help and support
Your Midwife, Health Visitor or Children’s Centre can help you.
For up-to-date information on contact numbers and support groups in your local area, please return to the Infant feeding webpage.
Prepare for Breastfeeding (audio clip)
This FREE audio clip gives you some useful tips on infant feeding such as attaching your baby onto your breast, close loving relationships and skin to skin. This download will sit alongside all the conversations you will have during your pregnancy with your midwife. The download enables you to settle back, relax within the comfort of your own home and enjoy being with your baby, feeling your baby move, interacting with your baby. Relaxation helps release endorphins, these are our feel good hormones. Pregnancy is about building a relationship with your baby.
Breastfeeding while out and about
The Equality Act 2010 says that it is discrimination to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding. It applies to anyone providing services, benefits, facilities and premises to the public, public bodies, further and higher education bodies and association. Service providers include most organisations that deal directly with the public. Service providers must not discriminate, harass or victimise a woman because she is breastfeeding.
Discrimination includes refusing to provide a service, providing a lower standard of service or providing a service on different terms. Therefore, a cafe owner cannot ask you to stop breastfeeding, ask you to move or cover up or refuse to serve you.
You can find out more about your rights, here.
Breastfeeding
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Breastfeeding at
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Leaflet library:
There are a range of useful documents and videos below: