Bottlefeeding
After the birth of a baby the parents have to make the important decision with regards to whether to breastfeed or bottle feed the baby. Although breastfeeding does offer many benefits to the mother and infant, many parents decide to opt for bottle feeding instead for a variety of reasons. If you do plan to bottle feed your baby you should remember some important facts that will enable your baby to feed safely and enjoy good health from bottle feeding.
- If you plan to bottle feed your baby, you should remember that you need to use special formula milk and not regular cow’s milk because of the baby’s digestive system as well as for his or her nutritional requirements. After the age of six months the infant can start to have small quantities of cow’s milk in cooking but should remain on formula milk for as long as he or she is bottle feeding. If your baby is intolerant to cow’s milk then you should look into getting a soya milk formula. This is because the commercial baby milk formula available is based on cow’s milk with modifications made to cater for the baby’s nutritional needs and digestive system.
- You will need to ensure that you are equipped to bottle feed your baby in advance, so that by the time your baby is born everything is ready for you to start feeding. This includes the right formula for the baby; around half a dozen bottles, bottle covers, and teats; a sterilizer for the bottles; and a bottle brush for effective cleaning.
- You need to ensure that you sterilize the bottles that you use for feeding your baby, and there are a number of ways in which you can do this. This includes using a steam or microwaveable sterilizing unit, using a tank with sterilizing tablets or fluid, or simply by boiling the feeding equipment for around ten minutes in a large pan.
- Prepare the milk ready for baby’s feeds in advance. You can keep the bottled refrigerated for up to twenty four hours, using the bottle covers on them. All you need to do then is warm up the milk by using a special bottle warmer or standing it in a jug of hot water to warm it through. Make sure that you do not use the microwave to warm the milk, as the way the microwave warms it could result in hot spots of milk, which risks burning the mouth of your baby.