Breast-feeding your baby

Sitting or lying

You can sit or lie down to breast-feed.

How to breast-feed

Breast-feed your baby as follows:

• Put the baby’s belly against yours.
• Bring the baby toward you with their nose at the height of your nipple.
• The baby opens his/her mouth and licks the nipple.
• The nipple and a large part of the areola are in their mouth.
• The baby’s lips are curled outwards. The baby sucks.

Signs that your baby is hungry

In the beginning, most babies feed about every 2-3 hours, then about every 4-6 hours. However, every baby is different. Feed the baby when they ask for it.

If your baby is hungry, they can give you 1 or more of the following signals:

• moving mouth and tongue;
• licking or sucks hands;
• being agitated;
• crying.

Healthy breast-milk

To produce healthy breast-milk for your baby:

• Do not smoke;
• Do not drink alcohol;
• Do not take drugs;
• Do not take medicines without consulting a general practitioner or midwife;
• If you have HIV, most doctors in the Netherlands recommend baby or infant formula instead of breastfeeding. This eliminates the risk of transmitting HIV. But a mother who has HIV and a suppressed virus may breastfeed under the supervision of a doctor. For this, consult your doctor / HIV practitioner.

If you cannot breast-feed, there are other ways to bond with your baby.

Breast-feeding and contraception

You are fertile again around 3 weeks after delivery. You can get pregnant if you have unprotected sex, even if you have not yet menstruated.

Breast-feeding is a form of natural family planning. However, it only works under the following conditions:

• If applied correctly, the method only works during the first 6 months following delivery. After 6 months it is better to use a method of contraception.
• You must only breast-feed your baby. This means the baby only gets breast-milk. There should never be more than 4 hours between feedings during the day and 6 hours between feedings during the night.
• You should not express milk. Expressing milk is squeezing the breast by hand or using a pump to suck milk from the breast.

If you do not meet these conditions, use a method of contraception. In the months that you are breast-feeding, it is best to use a condom or the mini-pilll, , contraceptive injection or contraceptive implant. You can get pregnant directly after giving birth. Talk to your midwife or doctor about this. They can prescribe or place contraceptives.