What is the “golden hour,” and up to what age does an infant need exclusively breast milk?

Only 43% of infants are exclusively breastfed during the first six months of their lives. Meanwhile, breast milk itself not only provides infants with nutrients, but also builds the protection necessary for a baby's healthy growth. For World Breastfeeding Support Week, we explain how it affects a child's health. 

Skin-to-skin contact

Immediately after birth, if the condition of the mother and child permits, it is recommended to ensure uninterrupted "skin-to-skin" contact for at least the first hour of life or longer — for as long as the woman wishes. Ideally, this contact should continue until the first breastfeeding session (the first time the baby is put to the breast).

As indicated by the Public Health Center, such contact helps the newborn adapt more easily to the new environment, maintain body temperature, breathe more steadily, and find the breast independently for the first feeding. For the mother, it promotes a successful start to breastfeeding, breast milk production, and the development of an emotional bond with the child.

"The golden hour" – the recommended start of breastfeeding

The first hour after birth is often called the "golden hour." It is during this time that the World Health Organization recommends starting breastfeeding.

Early initiation of breastfeeding helps the child receive colostrum, promotes the establishment of lactation, and is associated with a reduced risk of illness and mortality among newborns.

Colostrum — the first natural protection

In the first days after childbirth, the mammary glands produce thick colostrum, which the baby receives after birth. Only a small amount is produced, but this is exactly the amount a newborn needs during the first days of life.

Colostrum contains a high concentration of antibodies and other protective components that help the baby's body fight infections, support the development of the immune system, and aid adaptation to the new environment. That is why it is often called the child's first natural protection.

The first six months — breast milk only

WHO and UNICEF recommend exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life. This means that all of the child's nutritional needs are met solely by breast milk — without water, tea, juice, or other products (except medicines, if prescribed by a doctor). 

Specialists recommend continuing breastfeeding after six months as well. 

Benefits for life

Scientific studies show that breastfeeding helps reduce the risk of diarrhea, respiratory infections, and other common diseases in early childhood.

In the long term, breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of excess weight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and may positively affect a child's cognitive development.

What should you do if breast milk is unavailable or insufficient? 

Breast milk is the preferred source of nutrition for babies. But what should you do if milk is unavailable or insufficient? In such cases, there is the practice of breast milk donation, which is also becoming more widespread in Ukraine. It often operates as informal assistance from one postpartum woman to another, but is increasingly taking regulated forms through so-called breast milk banks. One such bank operates in the capital at the Perinatal Center.

The main purpose of the bank is to provide donor breast milk to:  premature babies; infants with critically low birth weight; children (healthy full-term infants) whose mothers are temporarily unable to breastfeed for medical reasons.

How the Breast Milk Bank operates at the capital's Perinatal Center24.06.26, 14:32 • 55952 views

Donor milk is especially important for premature infants. 

The digestive system of premature infants is immature, so they tolerate formula feeding considerably worse than breast milk. In such infants, the intestinal enzyme systems, protective mucosal barrier and immune mechanisms are not yet sufficiently developed. As a result, formula can increase the risk of serious gastrointestinal complications. The most dangerous of these is necrotizing enterocolitis — a severe disease involving inflammation and damage to the intestinal wall 

In addition to reducing the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis, the use of donor breast milk improves tolerance of enteral feeding; helps infants reach full feeding volumes more quickly; reduces the frequency of infectious complications; and shortens the length of stay for some children in the intensive care unit. 

Therefore, it can confidently be said that the establishment of a breast milk bank in Kyiv made it possible to use a feeding method whose effectiveness had already been proven by global practice 

Donor milk is provided free of charge to infants who have medical indications for it. Each month, the Bank helps feed up to 80 infants. 

The quality of the milk at the Bank is carefully monitored: every batch undergoes bacteriological testing. If non-compliance with the standards is detected, the batch is disposed of. 

We also analyze each batch of milk for the amounts of fat, protein and carbohydrates, as well as its calorie content. The composition determines which department the milk will be sent to 

The milk reaches the small patients only after laboratory testing and mandatory processing. All donor milk is pasteurized. Donors also undergo medical examinations.