Make yourself comfortable. (For night time feeding or if you have stitches, lying on your side may be the best option for you). Your baby should be held close to your body, facing your breast with his head, shoulders and body in a straight line and your hand supporting his neck so he can move his head to latch on. He should be able to reach the breast easily without having to stretch or twist. You can also breastfeed leaning back at about 45 degrees, supported by cushions. 

Hold your baby with his nose opposite your nipple, allowing his head to be able to flex. Brush your nipple against his lips or nose to encourage him to open his mouth and reach for your breast. Wait for the "gape" (his mouth opening like a yawn).

Bring him to the breast with his chin touching the breast first, then his bottom lip and tongue near the outer edge of the areola and bringing his top lip to latch over the nipple as far as possible on to the other side of the areola. Make sure that he takes a good mouthful of the areola (the dark area surrounding the nipple) and not just the nipple itself. He should have more areola in his mouth on the side of his bottom lip than his top lip. 

Babies breastfeed -  they do not nipple feed. Allowing your baby to suck just on the nipples will make them extremely sore and can lead to cracking and bleeding. Remember always to bring your baby to your breast rather than trying to move your breast to your baby. Tummy to Mummy, Nose to Nipple and Baby to Breast.

Download this page (together with the other questions), as an information sheet entitled ´Questions New Mothers Ask´ on our leaflet downloads page. You can also download and read this information in Spanish on the leaflet downloads page.

Alternatively, you can purchase this and all the other questions as a paper leaflet from this page.