HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury
Overview of breastfeeding/chestfeeding
Tirohanga whānui ki te whāngai ū
Human milk provides the best food for pēpi (babies) as they grow. It is the only food and drink they need for the first 6 months of their life.
Even after 6 months, it is recommended that you carry on breastfeeding/chestfeeding your pēpi while introducing other foods. In fact, the World Health Organisation recommends that breastfeeding/chestfeeding continues for 2 years or longer.
Colostrum is the first milk you produce after birth. It is the perfect food for your newborn and is all your pēpi needs for the first few days. You only make a small amount of it. But it contains lots of antibodies, which help to protect your pēpi from infections. It also contains prebiotics, which help make sure your pēpi has healthy gut bacteria.
Breastfeeding benefits
Breastfeeding/chestfeeding has many important benefits for parents and pēpi.
For parents it:
- helps you bond with your pēpi
- reduces your chances of getting breast and ovarian cancer
- reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
- lowers your risk of postpartum depression
- saves you time, as breastfeeds are ready to go!
For pēpi, breast milk:
- is the best food
- protects them from tummy bugs, ear, bladder and chest infections, wheezing and asthma
- helps them build a strong immune system
- reduces their chance of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI)
- in the long term, protects them from diabetes, obesity and Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Preparing to feed
You can do several things while you are pregnant and straight after your pēpi is born to get ready to feed.
- Ask your midwife, general practice team or lactation consultant any questions you have about breastfeeding/chestfeeding.
- Attend an antenatal breastfeeding/chestfeeding class in the community or online.
- Check out the help you can get from the Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service. It offers free education sessions and has mother-to-mother breastfeeding peer counsellors. It also has support groups that you are welcome to attend if you are pregnant.
- Waitaha Primary Health has a Community-Based Lactation Support Service. It provides specialist support for parents with complex breastfeeding/chestfeeding issues. It can do this at community-based clinics or at home. You can have individual appointments, then email, text or telephone follow-up if needed.
- Look at the Health Information and Services page on Getting ready to breastfeed/chestfeeding.
- Have skin-to-skin contact with your pēpi straight after they are born, giving them time to latch on your breast. It may take a wee while for them to do so, but that is OK. This BreastfeedingNZ video has useful information about initiating early feeds.
There are some common problems you can have with breastfeeding/chestfeeding. If you run into any difficulties, your midwife, lactation consultant or support group can help you overcome them.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Human Rights Commission – Your rights as a breastfeeding mother
Information about your rights when breastfeeding/chestfeeding at work and in public.
On the next page: Starting to breastfeed/chestfeed
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed October 2024.
SourcesReview key: HIBRF-24381
