Giving the bottle: How to feed your baby properly
When your baby gets the bottle, there are a few things to consider. How your baby should lie best, what to look for when holding the bottle and how to feed your baby properly, you will learn in this article.
The last preparations before the vial
After you haveprepared the bottle for your baby, you can actually start giving the bottle. However, before you give your baby the bottle, it is very important that you check themilk temperatureagain so that your baby cannot burn himself while drinking. The ideal drinking temperature is around 37°C. For testing, drip a few drops of milk from the vial onto the inside of your wrist. There, your skin is particularly sensitive and you can judge the temperature well. If you find the milk pleasantly warm, it is usually also drinkable for your baby.
Also, double-check that you have chosen theright hole sizefor the food you want to feed your baby. If the hole is too large, the milk will come out of the bottle too easily and your baby could choke. If the hole is too small, the meal could become frustrating for your baby, as too little milk comes out of the bottle and your child’s efforts are not sufficiently rewarded. You can tell that you have chosen the right hole size if you turn the vial over and about one to two drops per second fall out of the teat.
Prepare a burp cloth before feeding. You can use this not only to remove milk from your baby’s face that runs out of his mouth while drinking. It will also serve you well with the farmer afterwards.
Make yourself comfortable
Feeding is not only intended to keep your baby full, but also an excellent way to strengthen the bond between you and your child. So don’t just deal with the bottle, buttake enough time to do so. Also, make sure that you and your child are comfortable and relaxed. Sit down in a cozy place and set yourself up so that you can endure it there for a while. It could well be that your baby dozes off briefly during feeding because he is so relaxed. When feeding, therefore, a little patience is always required.
Put your baby in your arms. The head should lie in the crook of your arm and be about at the level of your own chest. This slight inclination ensures that the head is slightly elevated compared to the rest of the body. This makes it easier for your child to drink, as it allows them to swallow better. It is best to put a pillow under your arm with which you hold your baby so that it does not hurt over time.
In order for your baby to feel particularly comfortable, you shouldnot wear long-sleeved clothing made of scratchy materials, as this could irritate the delicate skin on your baby’s face. As much skin contact as possible ensures that your baby feels particularly secure. If it’s warm enough, it’s best to wear a T-shirt or topless feeding. So your baby can also better perceive the smell of your skin, which it will then associate with the positive experience of feeding. Also, maintain eye contact while giving your child the bottle to give them security and signal that you’re paying attention.
Give the vial
Don’t just put the teat in your baby’s mouth. First, stroke your baby’s cheek facing your own body with the teat. This triggers thesearch reflexin your child that it would normally need to find the mother’s breast. You can also tell if your baby is really hungry, because the search reflex is only triggered when this is the case.
Then gently touch baby’s lips with the teat. This triggers another early childhood reflex, thesucking reflex. Your baby will tip his lips when touched and try to suck in the teat. Now slowly push the bottle further forward to encourage your baby to open his mouth wide. Make sure that the tongue is under the teat. Your baby’s lips should enclose the wide part of the teat, very close to the closure ring, while he is drinking. Thus, the natural movements of the jaw and tongue, as they would also occur during breastfeeding, are favored.
During feeding, always keep the vial upright so that the entire teat is filled with milk. This will prevent your baby from swallowing a lot of air, which could later lead to abdominal pain or flatulence.
Problems drinking
While your baby is drinking, there can sometimes be small problems. If your babychokes, you should remove the bottle immediately. If necessary, straighten up your baby briefly so that he can cough up the wrongly swallowed milk better. When it has calmed down again, you can continue feeding.
Sometimes your baby sucks so hard that avacuumis created in bottles and teats. As a result, very little milk comes out of the teat and your baby has to make a lot of effort when drinking. So if you notice that the teat flattens out, you should pull it out of your mouth briefly so that the vacuum can dissolve. If your baby continues to suck heavily, you may need to gently slide your little finger into the corner of your child’s mouth to release the vacuum and “free” the bottle. Because if your baby can no longer fully enclose the teat with his lips, it is no longer closed to the outside and air can penetrate.
If you notice that your baby is trying very hard when drinking, but there is no negative pressure, this may be due to the fact that thesuction hole is too small for the chosen food. However, you should have checked this before feeding by the drip test. Another reason could be that thesuction hole is clogged. In this case, replace the teat immediately with a new one, so that your baby does not get frustrated because his efforts have no effect.
Stop giving bottles correctly
If your baby signals to you that he does not want to drink anything more, for example by turning his head away, or if the bottle is empty, this is not the end of “bottle giving”. While drinking, your baby swallowed not only milk, but also air. This is sometimes more, sometimes less, but no matter how much, this air must now get out of the small belly, so that your child does not get abdominal pain or flatulence.
Take your baby upright in your arms. Favorable is the posture in which you put your child on your upper body while it looks over your shoulder. It is best to put a burp cloth over your shoulder, as a little milk will probably come out whenbelching. To protect your clothes, a burp cloth is therefore advisable. Lightly stroke your baby’s back and pat gently to help him with his little farm. Due to the light slaps, the air can rise more easily. The meal is not really finished until your baby has eruccumbed once or twice.
But what if your baby falls asleep during feeding? Shall you wake it up again so that it can make its little farm? Unfortunately, there is no general answer to this. You can put your baby to sleep on your shoulder for a short time after feeding and wait to see if some air escapes. If this is not the case and your baby sleeps well even without belching, then it is actually not necessary to wake him up again. However, if your baby regularly sleeps restlessly without a baby and soon wakes up again because the tummy tweaks, it is advisable to think about waking up your baby briefly after giving the bottle so that it can sleep undisturbed afterwards.
If your baby has not completely drunk the bottle during the meal, it is important that you dispose of the remaining milk immediately. You should definitely refrain from feeding at a later date or even mixing it later with fresh milk, because germs and bacteria quickly form in prepared milk, which could lead to an infection of the gastrointestinal tract in your child.
You can find out how to best clean the vial after feeding in our article “Clean the vial properly“.