Sitting or lying
You can sit or lie down to breast-feed.
How to breast-feed
Breast-feed your baby as follows:
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 he/she asks for it.
If your baby is hungry, he/she 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, you cannot breast-feed your baby.
If you cannot breast-feed, there are other ways to bond with your baby.
Breast-feeding and contraception
A woman is fertile again around 3 weeks after delivery. She can get pregnant if she has unprotected sex, even if she has not yet had a menstrual period.
Breast-feeding is a form of natural family planning.
The breast-feeding method only works under the following conditions:
- The method only works during the first 6 months following delivery. After 6 months it is better to use a method of contraception.
- The woman must only breast-feed her 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.
- The woman 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 use these methods of contraception from 6 weeks after delivery.