Breastfeeding or formula feeding: the choice is yours. Whichever you choose, we are glad to help you get started and to think along with you if it does not go the way you had hoped.
Breastfeeding
Breast milk contains everything your baby needs for the first six months, and alongside solid food it remains an important source of nourishment long after that.
The composition of breast milk matches what your baby needs at that moment. For a baby born prematurely, for instance, it differs from that for a baby born at term.
Benefits for your baby
The very first milk your baby drinks after the birth is called colostrum. It is rich in antibodies that protect against infection. Colostrum also has a laxative effect, so the first stools (meconium) leave the body sooner, which makes jaundice less likely.
Thanks to the antibodies in breast milk, breastfed babies are ill less often: they have fewer ear infections, respiratory infections and stomach and bowel problems, and their immune system develops better. Breastfeeding also appears to lower the risk of cot death.
Benefits for the mother
Your baby's sucking makes your womb contract sooner, so your body recovers more quickly and you lose less blood. It also makes it easier to lose the extra body fat built up during pregnancy.
Women who breastfeed have a lower risk of breast cancer and of ovarian cancer. And because menstruation usually stays away for a few months, the risk of iron deficiency is smaller too.
Practical benefits
- breast milk is always available
- breast milk is always at the right temperature
- breast milk cannot spoil
- breastfeeding helps mother and baby bond
- breastfeeding can comfort a crying baby
- breastfeeding is kind to the environment
Practical tips
- put your baby to the breast within an hour of the birth
- try to feed every 2 to 3 hours in the first few days
- feeding often at the start gets your milk supply going sooner
- breastfeeding is a matter of supply and demand
- keep your baby in your room for the first weeks (rooming-in)
- do not give formula alongside breast milk without discussing it with us
- if breastfeeding still hurts after a minute, take the baby off and latch again
- offer both breasts at every feed in the first few days
- break the suction before you take the baby off the breast
- wait with a dummy until breastfeeding is going well
There is a great deal of information about breastfeeding online. Have a look at the site of the four Dutch breastfeeding organisations: www.borstvoeding.nl.
Breastfeeding and work combine perfectly well, and there are specific rules for it. For details see www.borstvoeding.com and www.arboportaal.nl. These sites are in Dutch.
You can rent a double electric Medela pump from us. We also sell a few aids, such as nipple shields, mother mates and Purelan.
Formula feeding
If you are not breastfeeding — because that is your choice, for medical reasons, or because it does not work out despite good support — formula is good food for your baby. All brands meet the same requirements, so it matters little which one you choose. How to make it up is on the packaging, and the maternity nurse will show you.
If allergies run in the family, talk it over with us or with the child health clinic. Hypoallergenic formula does not prevent allergies: it is meant for babies with a diagnosed cow's milk allergy.