Breast is best
Breast milk is the best milk for babies. Breast milk provides the ideal balanced nutrition and protection for your baby. Maternal nutritional requirements increase during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Therefore mothers’ diets should include a wide variety of nutritious food and healthy snacks.
If you are considering bottle feeding, always seek professional advice as once bottle feeding has commenced it can be difficult to revert to breast feeding. Partial bottle feeding may also adversely affect breastfeeding by reducing the supply of breast milk. Always use and prepare infant formula as directed by the manufacturer; unnecessary or improper use of infant formula can be hazardous to the health of your baby.
Before using infant formula, always consider the social and financial implications, such as issues of convenience and cost to the household of using infant formula for at least 12 months. If you are considering using infant formula, it is important to discuss this with a health professional.
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Breastfeeding: 8 months and over
It’s great for baby if you’re breastfeeding past eight months, in fact it’s recommended! Here are a few things to think about:
- Breast milk is the ideal balance of nutrients for your baby – it suits them no matter which stage of development they’re in. Just make sure you introduce solids no later than six months, to ensure they are getting the additional nutrients they need, such as iron.
- As you probably know already breast feeding is portable, hygienic, easy and an important bonding time for you and your baby.
- Returning to work doesn’t mean you need to stop breastfeeding. You can express milk, feed before and after work, or maybe find a crèche or daycare nearby – there are plenty of options to help you through.
- The 12-month mark doesn’t need to be the end - you can keep breastfeeding for as long as you and your baby want. Remember, every baby is different and you should do what works best for both you and your baby.
It is important that at this stage you offer food before their usual milk feeds. This means that your baby will begin to get more of their nutrition from food than in the earlier stages.