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Breastfeeding: Getting Started, Getting Help and Feeding Well

Table of Contents

Mother Breast Feeding Baby

Breastfeeding can take time and hands-on support to become comfortable. The priorities are that your baby gets enough milk, you get help with pain or difficulties, and feeding is workable for your family.

This guide covers getting started and knowing when to ask for help. If you are still pregnant, see preparing for breastfeeding. For help with holds and attachment, see breastfeeding positions.

What breastfeeding can offer

Breastmilk provides nutrition and contains antibodies and other protective components. Breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of some infections in babies and may reduce the parent’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. These are health benefits across populations, not a guarantee that an individual baby or parent will never become ill.

Feeding at the breast can offer closeness and avoids buying formula for those feeds. It still takes time, energy and sometimes paid support or equipment. Bonding is possible with every feeding method; you do not need to breastfeed to have a close relationship with your baby.

Australian guidance recommends exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months, then complementary foods with continued breastfeeding to 12 months and beyond, for as long as parent and child wish. Individual medical needs may change the plan. If breastmilk is not available or sufficient, infant formula is the suitable alternative milk for babies under 12 months.

Breastfeeding does not guarantee weight loss or prevent postnatal depression. You can also become pregnant while breastfeeding, before your first period returns. Discuss contraception and any mood concerns with your healthcare team.

Getting started

If you and your baby are well, your team can help with skin-to-skin contact and an early feed. Colostrum comes first; milk volume generally increases over the following days. Ask someone to watch a complete feed and check both comfort and milk transfer.

If your baby cannot feed effectively at the breast, ask promptly about expressing and a feeding plan. Prematurity, jaundice, illness or separation may mean more frequent checks and a different approach. Do not assume a sleepy baby is getting enough just because they spend time at the breast.

Respond to cues, while keeping your care plan

Early feeding cues include stirring, turning towards the breast, opening the mouth and bringing hands towards the mouth. Crying can be a later cue. Holding and settling your baby first may make attachment easier.

Newborns feed often, including overnight. Some feeds cluster close together. Offer the breast when your baby shows interest, and follow any advice to wake them or feed more often. Do not stretch the gaps to make a newborn fit a routine.

Watch for active sucking and swallowing rather than timing every feed. Let your baby finish the first side and offer the other. If feeds are persistently painful, very difficult or your baby is not swallowing effectively, get an assessment rather than simply trying for longer.

How do you know your baby is getting enough?

Look at feeding, nappies, alertness and weight together. Wet nappies should increase through the first days. By day five, at least five heavy wet disposable nappies in 24 hours is a useful guide, but it does not replace weight checks or an individual plan.

Ask your midwife what poo and urine changes to expect for your baby’s age. Keep follow-up appointments, and seek advice the same day if urine output is lower than expected, feeding is ineffective, jaundice is increasing or you are worried about weight. An unusually sleepy or unwell baby needs urgent assessment.

The amount you pump, softer breasts or a baby wanting frequent feeds cannot by themselves diagnose low supply. If supply is a concern, ask a midwife, child and family health nurse or lactation consultant to assess what is happening before adding supplements or medicines marketed to increase milk.

Pain deserves help

Do not accept cracked nipples or ongoing pain as something you must endure. Attachment may need adjusting, but it is not the only possible cause. Ask for someone to observe a feed and check you and your baby.

A hot, painful or red breast area, particularly with fever or flu-like symptoms, needs prompt medical advice. If you feel very unwell, seek urgent care. Avoid deep or forceful breast massage and extra pumping intended to “empty” the breast; get an individual plan for suspected mastitis.

If you need or choose additional feeds

Ask what milk is recommended, how much your baby needs, how to give it and when the plan will be reviewed. If maintaining breastfeeding is your goal, discuss expressing when feeds are replaced. Do not reduce prescribed supplementary feeds without checking that your baby is getting enough.

Mixed feeding can be a continuing choice. Our formula guide and bottles and teats guide explain practical safety steps.

Night feeds and urgent warning signs

Keep your baby’s own safe sleep space nearby. Stay awake during feeds and place your baby on their back in their cot or bassinet before you sleep. Never sleep holding a baby on a sofa or chair.

Call 000 for severe breathing difficulty, blue or grey lips or tongue, a seizure or unresponsiveness. A baby aged three months or younger with a temperature of 38°C or higher needs immediate emergency-department assessment. Green vomit, poor feeding with unusual sleepiness or other signs of illness also need urgent medical care.

For feeding support, contact your maternity service or child health nurse. The Australian Breastfeeding Association helpline is 1800 686 268. You are allowed to ask for help and to reconsider what is working for you.

Sources and further reading

General information for Australian families. Follow your baby’s individual feeding and medical plan.