From breast to bottle: Bottle feeding tips

12:50 (GMT+2), Wed, 20 July 2011

Practical hints can make all the difference to your and your baby’s experience of weaning from breast to bottle! Take these hints into consideration:

The bottle’s teat should not be too large for a small baby as this can cause a retching reaction, which you could mistake for your baby reacting badly to being bottle-fed.
Many breast babies prefer latex to silicon teats, despite all the controversy surrounding this issue.
If your baby is going to be on a bottle for most feeds, it is best to choose an orthodontic teat. Having said that, babies are individuals with their own preferences and often you have to try a few until you find what suits.
Breast babies will also very seldom take the bottle (with formula or expressed breast-milk) from their mothers and it is best to leave this task to someone else initially.
It takes quite a bit of courage to see through this phase. If partially breastfeeding or expressing all milk feeds, and your baby refuses all feeds (breast- and formula milk), you will find that your baby drinks more from you at night, and so you need not be too concerned about refusal during the day. This should settle within a week or two and babies mostly become accustomed to the bottle.

By Sister Lilian

From breast to bottle: Weaning after prolonged breastfeeding

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