Making Bottle Feeding Bliss for Your Baby

Making bottle feeding bliss for your baby

Your baby should be able to get more then half her feeding in about 4 minutes steady sucking. If it takes her longer then that she is having to work so hard at getting the milk that she will get tired and frustrated and will take in a lot of air with the milk.

Make sure the hole in the nipple is big enough to let milk drip out at several drops per second if you turn it upside down.

If it doesn’t com out that fast, either use a larger-holed nipple or enlarge the hole with a nipple or sterilized in a match flame.

Always make sure that the bottle is tilted so that the nipple is full of milk. You don’t want her to suck air instead of food.

While she sucks, hold the bottle firmly so that her suction has something to pull against.

Make sure that air can bubble back into the bottle from time to time. If she sucks until there is a vacuum in there the nipple will go flat and she will not be able to get any more milk.

There is no reason why a bottle-fed baby should be deepness and the attention from you that she would automatically have if she were breastfed.

Always settle down comfortably and hold her in your arms so that she can watch your face and feel your cuddling as she sucks.

When she is bigger you may be tempted to let her hold the bottle for herself; you may even wonder about propping the bottle for her so that she can suck while you do something else. But if the milk came from your breast you’d have to give her the time; don’t short-change her because it doesn’t.

One of the advantages of using a bottle is that other beloved adults can feed the baby. Taking turns with a partner, or giving a grandmother or close friend a treat is fine, but don’t let strangers, or children who aren’t big enough to cuddle her comfortably, feed your baby.