Bottle feeding

Choosing to bottle feed your baby is just as personal a choice as if you choose to breast feed your baby.

At the end of the day, however you chose to feed your baby be confident that it is your decision based on works best for you and your baby.

Having said that, some tend to steer away from bottle feeding as it has the reputation to adding to an already busy schedule as a new parent. It has been noted that it can be tedious at times what with the cleaning, of the bottles, making the formula, etc, however, it is very important to keep baby safe from illness.

When feeding a baby a bottle there are so many choices.

There is choosing the bottle, purchasing sterilizing equipment, and deciding on the formula.

It is important to be mindful that a bottle fed baby won’t get as full quite as quick as a breast fed baby.

This is as the formula tends to take a little longer to digest.

Let’s look at the types of formulas available first.

That will depend on the baby, your feelings on formula and so on to choose the exact one.

A formula with the added vitamins, minerals, protein fat and carbohydrate is recommended.

These are generally a little more expensive than the standard formulas but they are considered to be the closest to breast milk and the most nutritionally sound.

Cow’s milk based formulas are suitable for most children and are recommended over Soy or Goats milk ones.

The Whey protein is softer and lighter and considered easier for the baby to digest and closer to the breast milk than the heavier casein formulas.

Whey dominant formulas:

The major component of the formula is in similar proportions to human milk. They generally have less sodium, potassium and minerals.

Common whey based dominant formulas are: Karicare First, S26 Gold, Nan, Heinz starter.

Casein dominant formulas:

Have a heavier curd and mineral content and are less altered. Some may find that after using the whey formula that their child may still appear hungry and so they may switch to the heavier formula.

Common casein formulas are: SMA or Lactogen.

Soy bean formula:

Unless there is a reason you give your child this there is no other basis why they should have this as it has no better value to the child.

The formula contains soy bean protein from the soy bean a vegetable rather than animal protein and usually there are no added carbohydrates.

These formulas you will generally find are more expensive.

Common soy formulas are: Infasoy, Karicare Soya, Isomil.

Goats’ milk formula:

These are very rare formulas and are generally only used when there is difficulty with other formulas. Karicare do a Karicare Goats Milk Formula.

It is always recommended to consult a health nurse or your Dr if you plan on switching formulas.

As with the breast feed babies it is recommended to feed your baby on demand.

This will generally be around the 3 or 4 hour mark once your baby settles into a routine.

• Use only purified or boiled water (boiled for at least 5 min and only the once).
• Let the water cool before adding the formula.
• Follow the instructions to the letter T. It is not helpful to add in a little more powder. While you may think this make the baby fuller it will only serve to give the baby wind, a pain in the belly, constipation or more health issues. This is all because they have not received the correct dosage of water to formula which is tested as the right combination.
• Refrigerate milk you have made up and are not using. Only do this for a maximum period of 24 hours. Throw it out even if not used.
• Discard any unused bottle from each feed.
• Never re-heat a bottle.
• Don’t add anything other than formula and water to a bottle.
• Only ever use a bottle for formula or water never soft drink, etc.
• Hold your baby when feeding in a slightly upright position.
• Never put a baby to bed with a bottle.
• Never re-heat. Once the bottle has been heated you can not reheat. The nutrients will be lost and it can make your baby sick.
• Discard the partially used contents after 1 hour. Although it is recommended to discard once feed is over as re-using heated and sucked on bottles is considered risky.
• Only keep refrigerated for no longer than 24 hours.
• Sterilize all equipment to be used.
• Store bottles in the middle of the fridge never in the door (the door is the hottest part of the fridge).
• Feeding may last 20-30 mins.
• Feed your baby when they are hungry. It is considered that demand feeding is the better way to feed. A baby will settle into a routine this way but it does not need to be an exact routine.
• If a baby sleeps through a night feed it means they no longer need it.
• All babies need burping, even if held and fed correctly they will swallow some air.
• Sometimes during a growth spurt a baby may need more feeding.
• Be careful if you heat expressed milk in the microwave- take the lid off and shake well, test on your inner arm before giving to baby as sometimes microwaves can produce ‘hot spots’. Be careful not to overheat as it’s best to use immediately rather than wait till it cools after a heating. Although the jury is out on whether this is an accepted way to heat milk, with a divide with Dr’s and pediatricians, not to mention other mums.  Some believe that the nutrients are lost/destroyed in this form of heating as well as the possibility of hot spots. It is recommended to warm the milk in warm, not boiling, water. And if you do heat it in this way remember to test on the inside of your wrist to check the temperature after vigorously shaking it to mix it well. If you are to use the microwave ensure you have microwave safe bottles (not all are!). It is also recommended to let the bottle stand for 1-2 minutes to ensure that it has stopped heating and then invert the bottle up and down to mix again, test again before serving.
• Another way to warm breast milk (aside from the controversial microwave or the standing in warm water method) is to use a bottle warmer but it should be in there for less than 10 minutes and again ensure it doesn’t get too hot so that then it has to cool again.
• The best way to travel with formula is to have the water in the bottle measured and ready to add the portion of formula to.
• If transporting already mixed formula is must be kept cold.

• 5 days – 3 months = 150 ml/kg body weight/day
• 3 – 6 months = 120 ml/kg body weight/day
• 6 – 12 months = 100 ml/kg body weight/day