Your own breast milk is the ideal food for your baby and babies tend to be healthiest if they have nothing but breast milk for the first 4 to 6 months. If there is diabetes or allergies in your family this could be important as formula milk increases the risk of diabetes, asthma and eczema.

Breastfeeding protects your baby from infections, such as sickness and diarrhoea, ear infections and chest infections. This protection continues even after you stop breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding (ie feeding your baby nothing except breast milk) reduces the risk or severity of allergies and provides the best protection. Combining breast milk with some formula milk still helps reduce risk of infections. And women who breastfeed are less at risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis in later life.

If you decide to combine formula feeding with breastfeeding, you can maintain a good milk supply if you only introduce formula milk when breastfeeding is well established. Your midwife, health visitor or breastfeeding counsellor will help you decide when and how to do this. If you start bottle feeding from the beginning it can be difficult to change to breastfeeding so if you are undecided, it's best for you to start by breastfeeding. Even a few feeds of colostrum (the first milk that your breasts produce, rich in antibodies and other substances that protect against illness and infections) will benefit your baby.

Formula milk is also more expensive than breastfeeding. It costs at least £350-£450 a year, depending on the formula you use. Your midwife, health visitor or other health professional will advise you which formula to choose for your baby.