Breastfeeding causes more milk to be produced. A baby needs to suck frequently at the breast so that enough breastmilk is produced to meet the baby's needs.

Supporting Information

From birth, the baby should breastfeed whenever he or she wants to - often indicated by crying. Frequent sucking at the breast is necessary to stimulate the production of more breastmilk.

Frequent sucking helps to stop the breasts from becoming swollen and painful.

'Topping up' breastmilk feeds with milk-powder solutions, infant formulas, cow's milk, water, or other drinks, reduces the amount of milk the baby takes from the breast. This leads to less breastmilk being produced. The use of a bottle to give other drinks can cause the baby to stop breastfeeding completely. It can also confuse the baby because the sucking action of bottle-feeding is very different from sucking at the breast. Babies who are confused between sucking at the breast and sucking at the bottle may drink less breastmilk. This will cause less breastmilk to be produced.

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