Bottle-feeding for breast-fed babies

Bottle-feeding for breast-fed babies

How to get my breast-fed baby to take a bottle?

To be perfectly honest, just like many things when it comes to birthing your baby and raising your children, it is a lot of trial and error. There is no one-fix or quick-fix solution. Every baby and baby-parent relationship are unique. Your journey is unique.

The following suggestions on how to introduce bottle-feeding to your breast-fed baby, come from years of experience of working with new parents.

When to start introducing a bottle to my breast-fed baby?

Depending on why you are planning on introducing a bottle and whether you wish to continue to breast-feed or mixed-feed, timing is up to you. Some parents have to stop breastfeeding before they wanted to due to medical reasons, or because they are going to be away from their baby. Others choose to stop completely or to start mixed-feeding as their personal preference. Anything is possible. There is no one best time to start as again, you, your family and circumstances are unique.

How to start introducing a bottle to my breast-fed baby?

• Choose a day when your partner or primary support person will be available
  • Your baby may accept a bottle more easily from someone other than you / the breastfeeding mother or person. They know their milk comes from you and may not understand why it is now offered from this new object (the bottle).
• Choose a time when your baby is settled and patient.
  • An settled baby is usually more receptive of changes and new things
• Offer the bottle about 1 hour after a breastfeed at first. Start with a small amount of breastmilk or formula milk such as 1/2 ounce.
• Offer the milk at the “right” temperature.
  • Breastfed babies are used to drinking their milk at a body temperature of approximately 37 degrees Celsius. They can be a little more particular about the milk temperature. Warm up refrigerated milk in a bowl of warm water, in a bottle warmer or under warm running water. Cool down freshly prepared formula milk in a bowl of cold water or under cold running water.
• Leave the room/house
  • Sometimes it may be necessary for the breastfeeding mother or parent to leave the room or even the house, so that your baby cannot smell your milk.
• Be patient
  • Tickle your babies upper lip with the bottle teat, letting your baby “latch on” to it like they would to your breast. If they get upset and haven’t eaten anything after 10 minutes, stop and try again later or the next day. Responsive bottle-feeding or paced bottle-feeding
• Bond with your baby
  • Talk to them, look them in the eyes. Skin-to-skin when introducing a bottle can help, too. Skin-to-skin contact helps your baby to relax and settle, while it’s stimulating their digestion and interest in feeding.
• The teat and bottle
  • try different teats and bottles. You may be lucky that the first one you try works for you and your baby but if it isn’t there are many more…
    • short round teats with a wide base are believed to be the encourage a similar experience and movements to breastfeeding.
    • some babies gag on longer teats, therefore, shorter teats seem preferable.
    • warm the teat with warm water before feeding
• Positions
  • Try different positions. Preferred positions for breastfeeding are often different than those preferred for bottle-feeding. Maybe try a facing out position, so your baby can look around the room. Sometimes walking around the room while feeding can help, too.
• Try feeding from a spoon, sippy cup, doidycup or small open cup
  • If you don’t wish to use a bottle or you’ve tried everything and it hasn’t worked out for you and your baby, you may try feeding the baby with a spoon, sippy cup, doidycup (baby/toddler training cup) or small open cup. Hold the baby in your lap in an upright, supported position. Bring the spoon or cup to the baby’s mouth and allow the baby to take the milk herself by just touching the milk in the spoon or cup to the baby’s upper lip. Let the baby set the pace. Be very careful to not dump the milk into the baby’s mouth to avoid choking.

Responsive bottle-feeding or paced bottle-feeding

For any parent who chooses to feed their baby with a bottle, responsive or paced bottle-feeding is the current recommendation by the NHS (at the time of writing this in 2022).

Recognize feeding cues. Feed your baby when they are showing signs of hunger.

Hold baby close, in a semi-upright position during feeds.

Tickle your baby’s nose with the teat to encourage them to open their mouth wide. Keep the bottle in a horizontal position.

Watch your baby and follow the cues for when they need a break.

Your baby will know how much milk they need. Follow their lead.

Here is a video on paced bottle feeding:

Sources, References and Further Reading