Starting breastfeeding
Placing your pēpi (baby) on your bare skin encourages them to feed as soon as possible after the birth. Find out about starting breastfeeding and why the first feeds are so important.
Skin-to-skin contact
Newborn babies are placed straight onto their mother as soon as they are born. This skin-to-skin contact with you after birth is good for your baby’s physical health and helps you to bond with each other. Skin-to-skin contact:
- is the best way to keep pēpi at the right temperature
- encourages them to start breastfeeding.
First breastfeed
You and pēpi will spend some time recovering from the birth. Within an hour, they will start to show interest in breastfeeding.
Your pēpi will:
- feel the warmth of your body
- feel your body rhythms
- recognise your voice
- smell the breast
- start to push upwards towards the breast
- open their mouth
- suck their tongue.
Your midwife will help you to position your pēpi for breastfeeding and make sure that they have a good latch on your breast.
Breastfeeding takes time to learn for you and your pēpi. You need patience, time and support from whānau, friends and health professionals.
The first milk – colostrum
Colostrum is the first milk that your pēpi gets. This milk is yellow in colour and is thick and sticky. Colostrum protects pēpi from infections and gives them their first food.
Your pēpi feeds on colostrum for the first few days until your milk 'comes in' — usually around 3 days after your pēpi is born. This is when your breasts start making more milk and the milk changes from colostrum to normal breast milk, which is thinner and whiter or bluish. The colour of your milk is no indication of its food value.
When your milk comes in, your breasts will start to feel quite full. You can avoid engorgement by feeding your pēpi often — at least 8 to 12 times in 24 hours.
It is normal for your pēpi to lose weight in their first few days. They should be back to their birth weight by the time they are 2 weeks old. If you have concerns about your baby's weight, talk to your midwife or healthcare provider.
Baby’s hunger signs
Babies will show hunger signs when they are ready for a breastfeed. These may happen with eyes closed or open.
The hunger signs are:
- rooting around with the mouth — opening the mouth and moving the head as if looking for the breast
- sucking movements and sucking sounds — often quite soft sounds
- the tongue coming out of the mouth and almost licking the lips
- hand-to-mouth movements
- sucking the fingers or hand
- opening the mouth and possibly turning the head in response to a touch around the mouth area.
These signs are often called early hunger signs. If you miss these early hunger signs your pēpi will cry. Crying is a late hunger sign. Try to not let this happen, or your pēpi may be too upset to feed well.
Let-down of milk
Let-down makes your milk available to your pēpi and happens soon after they start suckling. Your baby's suckling stimulates your body to make the hormone oxytocin, which triggers milk let-down. You can often feel this happen, and once the milk is flowing, your pēpi begins to suck and swallow rhythmically.
While you are feeding, more let-downs can happen, but you might not feel these. You are likely to notice your pēpi sucking more vigorously or swallowing more milk. Some people do not feel a let-down. Others feel a tingling in their breasts. You may notice that milk drips from the breast not being fed from.
How often and how long to feed
New babies need to feed about 8 to 12 times every 24 hours. This means that you will be feeding your pēpi during the night. Some days your pēpi will need more feeds. You will not run out of milk. If you feed your pēpi more, your breasts will make more milk.
Every pēpi is different, and the number of times they feed depends on several things such as:
- their size and age
- what developmental stage they are going through
- how much milk your breasts can store (everyone is different).
Different people breastfeed in different ways, but as a general guide:
- feed your pēpi from one breast for 20 to 30 minutes
- change your baby’s nappy then feed them from the other breast
- alternate the side that you start each feeding session with — so if you started on the left breast for the last feeding, begin with the right breast for the next feed.
As your pēpi grows, their stomach gets bigger, so they can feed less often but take more milk at each feed. But your pēpi should continue to feed at least 8 times in 24 hours for the first 4 to 6 months.
For their first 6 months, it is best to feed your pēpi only breastmilk or formula. Delay starting them on solid food until after 6 months.