Breastfeeding is a skilled, complex behaviour that requires the mother and her newborn to successfully enact a series of learned and innate behaviours. Infant feeding decisions are often made in response to current perceptions or experiences of maternal and family well-being, the infant’s needs or other contextual influences such as support or pressure to adopt a particular feeding method. Supporting the mother to achieve her breastfeeding goal is key to a positive transition to motherhood, which then enables her to feel confident and competent in caring for her infant. Facilitating mother-infant skin-to-skin at birth is the first crucial step of breastfeeding initiation and has short- and long-term effects on feeding and maternal-infant well-being. The process of starting to breastfeed, which is most commonly situated within the social and clinical context of the birth space, is strongly affected by individual, family, social and health service factors. Although breastfeeding is the biological norm, a number of biopsychosocial deterrents operate at different levels. The strength and direction of influence vary by setting, which has resulted in several global and national initiatives to promote, protect and support the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding. There is good evidence that additional skilled support that is individualised, kind and caring with a high degree of interpersonal skill can help women to breastfeed successfully.