Most women will make the decision about how they wish to feed their baby well before the birth. Some may find this choice easy, others are unsure and may take a 'wait and see' approach. The decision-making process is usually influenced by many factors. It often reflects the woman's cultural, social, and personal beliefs, past experiences, her perception of her body and breasts, the society she lives in, her plans to return to work, how her mother fed her babies, as well as her partner's preferences.
All these issues, as well as the actual breastfeeding experience, will influence each woman's final decision and how she feels about it. Ultimately, the method that you choose should be one that is best for you and your baby. You may wish to read more in Class C,
choosing how to feed your baby.
Many babies are normally quite alert for an hour or so, and then they will often drift off into a deep, long sleep for several hours. It is usually the priority of the caregiver to ensure that the baby has a feed (if the baby and mother are well) at sometime within the first hour after being born. If there are complications for the mother or baby this first feed may need to be delayed. If breastfeeding, the baby will not be given a bottle unless many hours have passed and the baby is hungry, with a breastfeed still not being possible.
It can take a baby from 5 to 50 minutes to become interested in feeding. It often takes them a while to adjust to being outside the uterus and many will happily look around for 20 to 40 minutes or so before showing interest. Despite the myth that the baby will 'go straight to the breast' as soon as they are born, not many will attempt to feed this soon.
When the baby is interested, they will often start opening and closing their mouth - trying to latch onto something, or anything! This is called the
'rooting reflex' and is an inbuilt survival response that helps them to search out nourishment.
First breastfeed
First bottle feed