Your baby has already practised drinking in your tummy.
It drank its amniotic fluid. Flakes of his cheese smear and the fluffy hairs that had fallen out were floating around in it. It happily drank and digested them.
Your child has practised sucking on its little hand. Many children use their thumb in the womb, some suck on many fingers or on their little hand. You will see what your baby has done soon after birth. This is because your baby will retain its "sucking style" even after birth.
But the baby is not satisfied with thumbs. That's why it seeks the breast just a few minutes after birth.
If you have it lying on you for the first hour, you can observe how the baby searches for the nipple. It searches for the odour with its little nose. It tries to move towards the nipple. You can observe how it stretches to find its milk from you.
As soon as it feels the nipple on its lip, it opens its mouth and sucks hard.
Your baby's first meal or first drink is an enchanting moment. You can watch your child suck the drops of colostrum with relish. This first milk is also called colostrum. You don't have a lot of it. But this milk is incredibly nutritious. And it is enriched with valuable immune substances. These are deposited in your child's intestines and protect them from illnesses and later allergies. The first milk is little. But it is a valuable helper for your baby for the rest of its life.
Your baby's stomach is still really small. The colostrum is enough for the baby. It is only important that you feed it frequently. In the first few days after birth, your baby may well need twelve feeds a day. The milk and the suckling make the baby fit. This is the best way for it to cope with the challenges of its new life outside your womb.
From around the third day, your baby needs a different milk and a significantly higher quantity. Then the baby will constantly demand the breast for a few hours. This is your body's signal to produce more milk. It doesn't take long for your breast to respond: Now you have enough milk - you are in milk letdown.
You can find out what benefits breastfeeding has for your baby here read up on it. If you have a want to build a wonderful and healthy breastfeeding relationship with your baby, I recommend the Breastfeeding course by emergency midwife.
