Mother, Breastfeeding, Bottle-feeding

Breast milk is the perfect food for your baby and breastfeeding is perfect for you too. 

Breast milk is the perfect food for your baby because:

  • it’s all that your baby needs to eat and drink for about the first 6 months
  • it helps to protect your baby against colds, tummy bugs, infections and allergies. It also helps to protect your baby from dying suddenly in their sleep
  • breastfeeding helps your baby to feel safe and secure.

Whilst it’s widely acknowledged that breastfeeding is the best way of feeding your baby, some women are unable to successfully breastfeed. For example, after breast surgery, or due to being very anaemic – and some women simply do not want to breastfeed.

Although the number of breastfed babies continues to increase in New Zealand every year, around 1/5th of all babies are exclusively bottle-fed by 3 months.