Giving nothing but breast milk is recommended for about the first 6 months (26 weeks) of your baby's life.
When you choose to breastfeed, you make an investment in your baby's future, plus breastfeeding also protects you and your baby's health.
Breastfeeding can help you develop a nurturing bond with your baby and can help you build a sense of closeness and comfort.
Some of the health benefits of breastfeeding include the following.
Breastfeeding can help to reduce your baby's risk of:
- infections, with fewer visits to hospital as a result
- diarrhoea and vomiting, with fewer visits to hospital as a result
- sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- obesity
- cardiovascular disease in adulthood
Breastfeeding and making breast milk also has health benefits for you. The more you breastfeed, the greater the benefits.
Breastfeeding lowers your risk of:
- breast cancer
- ovarian cancer
- osteoporosis (weak bones)
- cardiovascular disease
- obesity
How to get support
Contact your community midwife if you need support with breastfeeding within the first 10 to 14 days after birth.
If your care has been transferred to your health visitor, you can contact Derbyshire Community Health Service's Single Point of Access for support telephone: 01246 515100.
Or contact Derbyshire Family Health Service's Chat Health by text: 07507 327769.
Find out more about how to breastfeed and get support.
The importance of skin-to-skin contact
Newborns who have prolonged skin-to-skin contact with their mohers are more likely to breastfeed successfully.
Uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact where a baby is dried and laid directly on their mother's bare chest after birth maximises the chance for babies to be physically ready to breastfeed.
How long to breastfeed for
Giving nothing but breast milk is recommended for about the first 6 months (26 weeks) of your baby's life.
But the benefits continue after 6 months and breastfeeding into your baby's 2nd year or beyond, alongside other foods, is ideal.
You and your toddler can continue to enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding for as long as you want to. Your toddler is likely to find breastfeeding comforting when they're ill or upset which can be a great help.
The positive health effect of breastfeeding for women is greater the longer breastfeeding is continued.
Find out more about breastfeeding at Derbyshire Family Health Service.
How often your baby needs to feed
All mums and babies are different, but as a very rough guide, your baby should feed between 8 to 12 times every 24 hours during the first few weeks.
Find out more about breastfeeding at Derbyshire Family Health Service.
I Choose
For lots of other information about breastfeeding, visit I Choose.
This is Derbyshire Family Health Service’s dedicated infant feeding campaign and is full of answers to the questions you might not feel comfortable asking, plus some surprising facts that you might not know about breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding support
We also support a variety of initiatives across Derbyshire to help you get the advice and support that you need.
The Breastfeeding Peer Support Service offers support and advice to mothers to help establish a breastfeeding routine. This involves visits to mothers during pregnancy and after birth until breastfeeding is established.
Our services
Our children's service and health visitors have achieved UNICEF Level 3 Baby Friendly Accreditation. This involves implementing Baby Friendly standards, and requires being externally assessed by UNICEF which involves interviewing mothers about the care they have received and reviewing policies, guidance and internal audits.
Breastfeeding problems
Sometimes you may experience discomfort or pain when breastfeeding. This may discourage you from continuing, however there is lots of advice to help address some common issues you may experience.
Find out more about breastfeeding problems from the NHS.
Breastfeeding and mental health
Breastfeeding supports and builds your relationship with your new baby.
Breastfeeding releases hormones which can help reduce stress in mothers, and some women report that it can reduce the symptoms of postnatal depression.
If you plan to breastfeed and are unable to, you may be more likely to experience post-natal depression.
Stopping breastfeeding before you are ready can have a significant impact on your mental health, and you may be left with feelings of guilt, frustration, anger, and loss.
It is important that you feel supported with any difficulties you may be experiencing - you are not alone.
You can find parent and carer mental health support on the Derbyshire Family Health Service website.
You can find mental health support on the Derby and Derbyshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing website.
Breastfeeding and mental health medication
If you have a diagnosed mental health problem, thinking about breastfeeding may be influenced by managing your condition throughout your pregnancy and afterwards.
This is particularly true for women who take medication. With the right advice and support, it should be possible to find and use medication that is compatible with breastfeeding if you want to.
It is important that you speak to your midwife about this to ensure you get the support you need.
Contraception and breastfeeding
You can get pregnant while you're breastfeeding, even if your menstrual cycle hasn't returned to normal.
Find out more about contraception while breastfeeding.
Some people prefer to use breastfeeding as a natural family planning method. You can find out more about this on the NHS here: Natural family planning - NHS.
Continuing to breastfeed if you get pregnant
There is no reason why you cannot breastfeed while you're pregnant with another baby, but this is something you might want to talk about with your GP or health visitor.
Find out more about breastfeeding while pregnant Pregnant and Breastfeeding - La Leche League GB.
Breastfeeding more than one child
If you experience a multiple birth - for example twins, triplets or more, you can still breastfeed all of your babies. Multiple birth babies can be breastfed. As they're more likely to have a low birthweight breast milk is especially important for them.
Finding out you're a pregnant or trying for a new baby does not mean you have to stop breastfeeding. Mothers can breastfeed whilst they are pregnant, and some go on to breastfeed their new baby alongside their older child too. This is known as 'tandem feeding'. It is possible to tandem feed 2 or even 3 children if that is what would work best for your family.
Breastfeeding after a caesarean
You can breastfeed after a caesarean.
Ask a midwife about pain relief so you can feed your baby more comfortably.
Drinking alcohol while breastfeeding
Alcohol can pass into your breastmilk and then into your baby when you feed them.
An occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby, but it is advised that you wait at least 2 hours after having an alcoholic drink before feeding.
Find out more about alcohol and breastfeeding on the NHS website.
Breastfeeding Welcome Here Awards
Did you know that we run the Breastfeeding Welcome Here Awards? It's a chance for Derbyshire organisations to show that they welcome and support breastfeeding in their venues.
Nearly 400 places are already signed up.
Breastfeeding helplines