Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding provides your baby with everything he needs in his first months of life

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Text last updated: 2023-06-23

Only the best for your baby

Breastfeeding provides your baby with everything he needs in his first months of life. Breast milk is good for the immune system and promotes the intimate relationship between mother and child through physical closeness and attention.

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Why is breast milk so valuable for my baby?

Breast milk is optimally tailored to the needs of an infant. It offers your baby much more than good nutrition:

  • Breast milk contains all the essential nutrients in the right quality and quantity that an infant needs for healthy growth.
  • It is easily digestible and adapts to the growing nutritional needs of the infant during development.
  • It contains special defenses and protective substances that protect a child from diseases, such as diarrhea and otitis media.
  • Breastfeeding can protect the baby from pathogens and later allergies.
  • Breast milk prevents the baby from being overfed.
  • Breastfeeding satisfies your baby's need for warmth and affection.

What are the benefits of breastfeeding?

  • Breast milk is available at any time and in any place.
  • It is always at the right temperature and is hygienically impeccable.
  • The necessary hygienic precautions required in the production and storage of bottled milk are not necessary.
  • Breast milk is free.

By the way, neither a woman's figure nor the size of her breast has any influence on the ability to breastfeed, but only the condition of the breast tissue.

From a father's perspective: What role does the partner play in breastfeeding?

Even though a lot revolves around mother and child during the breastfeeding period: fathers are not left out, but play an important role in promoting breastfeeding. From day one, the new dad can support his partner in breastfeeding. Especially in the case of initial breastfeeding difficulties or later breastfeeding crises, the father is called upon as an emotional supporter.

Breastfeeding simply works better when the mother has a partner at her side who actively supports breastfeeding. He can encourage and provide a calm and protected environment in the postpartum period. Breastfeeding takes a lot of energy from the mother, so the care of the partner is especially important during this time. If the mother occasionally pumps milk, this is a good opportunity for the father to give the baby the bottle.

To build up a close bond with the child himself, the father can carry, swaddle, cuddle and gently rock the baby to sleep. And who says the father can't create his own intimate moments? For example, by deliberately taking time to cuddle and laying the baby on his bare torso dressed only in a diaper.

Where can I get help and advice on breastfeeding?

Most clinics offer a facility to accommodate the newborn in the mother's room (rooming-in). This allows you to have your baby with you at all times and breastfeed him or her as needed.

You can find contacts for all breastfeeding-related questions at the lactation consulting specialists in the clinic as well as at your postpartum midwife. They will show you how to put your baby on correctly in a good breastfeeding position, help with initial difficulties and give advice on how to avoid many a breastfeeding problem.

Even when you are at home with your baby, you should not hesitate to ask your midwife or a breastfeeding specialist for advice and help at any time if there are problems.

You can find more information on topics such as breastfeeding duration, supplementary feeding, problems with breastfeeding and much more on the websites of gynecologists on the net

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Information on this can also be found on the website of the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA)

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This free downloadable info comic gives mothers 9 everyday breastfeeding tips to strengthen their breastfeeding skills. It can be found on the site of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

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Information on the important role of the father in breastfeeding is provided by the flyer "Stillkinder brauchen ihren Vater" from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Freier Stillgruppen AFS

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