Research shows that breastfeeding brings many health benefits for you and your baby. Yet managing breastfeeding in today’s fast-paced world can be challenging. Learning about breastfeeding before the birth can help you later on. The decision to breastfeed is a personal one. As a new mother, you deserve support however you choose to feed your baby. After giving birth in Switzerland, a lactation consultant will always be there to support you and help you make the right decision.
Breastfeeding gives a baby exactly what it needs in the first few months: all the important nutrients, physical closeness, attention and support for its immune system and development.
Breast milk – six reasons why it is so special
Breast milk is adapted to the nutritional needs of the infant and offers many benefits in addition to natural nourishment:
- Breast milk contains all the important nutrients in the right quantity and quality – the right proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, trace elements and vitamins a baby needs for healthy development.
- It is easily digested and adapts to the baby’s growing nutritional needs as it develops.
- It contains special protective substances that guard the baby against illness, e.g. protection against diarrhoea and middle-ear infections.
- Breast milk prevents the baby from overfeeding.
- It is available at any time and in any place, is always at the right temperature and is hygienically impeccable.
- Breast milk is free.
Breastfeeding after birth: the first hour matters.
The first moment with your baby after birth is special. The first time your baby latches on to your breast is simply wonderful. And there is more: breastfeeding in the first hour lays the foundation for the entire breastfeeding period. Doctors in Switzerland insist on putting the baby to the breast immediately after birth.
The first breastfeed is a beautiful moment. This intimate experience matters for the bond between mother and child – and more besides. Researchers have found that putting the baby to the breast as early as possible after birth is also crucial for optimally stimulating milk production and therefore for the entire breastfeeding period.
Even if you were unable to give birth naturally, breastfeeding after a caesarean section is also possible. Despite all your efforts, can your baby not be breastfed immediately after birth – for example, after a premature birth? In that case you can use an electric breast pump to make sure your baby receives healthy breast milk. The same applies to expressing: the sooner you start, the better for increasing milk production.
Four reasons for frequent breastfeeding from the first hour:
1) It stimulates faster milk production and supports early lactation.
This allows your body to produce the optimal amount of milk for your baby more quickly. If you plan to breastfeed for a long time, there is no better place to start than making sure your baby receives enough breast milk.
2) It makes use of the high hormone levels immediately after birth.
Immediately after birth, you and your baby have particularly high levels of oxytocin. This “hormone of love and happiness”, combined with plenty of skin-to-skin contact, supports your long-term breastfeeding relationship.
3) It makes use of your baby’s strong sucking reflex immediately after birth.
Sucking calms the baby, helps clear mucus from its airways and stimulates saliva production. Saliva, in turn, contains important enzymes for the initial digestion of food.
4) It gives your baby its “first vaccination” as early as possible.
Immediately after birth, your baby receives colostrum, which is especially rich in nutrients and in the antibodies your body formed during pregnancy. This helps reduce the risk of neonatal jaundice, as colostrum has a mild laxative effect, and it acts as a small first “vaccination” for your baby.
How does the first breastfeed after birth start milk production?
Your breasts changed during pregnancy so that milk production can begin immediately after birth. Once you have delivered the placenta after your baby, your progesterone level falls naturally. Your lactation cells are now ready to be activated. Your baby’s sucking signals to the cells that they are needed. At first, the small amount of colostrum is quite enough for your baby. When “proper milk production” begins differs from mother to mother – anywhere between 24 and around 120 hours after birth is normal. Now it is especially important to hold your baby often.
