Breastfeeding best tips - how to avoid breast milk from drying

Top tips for successful breastfeeding: Make sure your baby is well attached to your breast. This will help your body make the right amount of milk and stop your breasts getting sore. The more you breastfeed your baby, the more milk you will produce. When your baby comes off the first breast, offer the second. It doesn’t matter if they are not interested or don’t feed for long, or even if they feed for longer on the second breast. This is fine – just start with this breast next time. Sometimes your baby might seem hungrier than usual and feed for longer or more often. Your body responds automatically and makes more milk to provide the extra needed. This is why you can feed more than one baby at the same time.

• There is no need to offer formula milk in addition to breast milk.

If your baby feels hungrier, feed more often, rather than offer formula milk.

• After a while, you will get to know the signs that mean your baby is ready to feed. Most babies will signal that they are hungry by opening and closing their mouths, making sucking noises, opening their eyes or turning their heads to bring their mouths towards you.

By the time a newborn baby starts crying, they will normally have been hungry for a while.

• Try not to give your baby any other food or drink before the age of about six months. This will reduce your milk supply and could increase the chance of your baby getting ill.

• Try not to give your baby a dummy until breastfeeding is going well, as this can also reduce your milk supply.

• When you are out and about, wear something that will make it easier for you to breastfeed.

What reduces breast milk?

Try not to give your baby a dummy until breastfeeding is established, usually when your baby is a month old. Using dummies has been shown to reduce the amount of milk that is produced. If your baby becomes accustomed to using a dummy while sleeping, it should not be stopped suddenly in the first six months. But you should stop using a dummy when your baby is between six and 12 months old.