While it is known that breast milk is always best for the baby, there are many mothers who want, or need, to bottle feed their child. Fortunately, nowadays there are good alternatives to breast milk.
Table of contents
1. The Bond With The Child
Malicious tongues claim that when feeding with the bottle, not the same bond with the child can be built as with breastfeeding. However, this concern is unjustified.
Quite different things are decisive.
Physical Proximity
Take your child in your arms when you bottle-feed him or her. Skin contact promotes bonding and is also wonderful. Your child can feel you, smell you, and feel cared for.
Eye Contact
Look at your baby while feeding. Make sure he is lying down so that you can see him too, without having to turn his head. Over time, this will help you develop a sense of when your baby is full or needs a feeding break.
Bottle As Needed
Don’t base your feeding on specific time intervals, but on your baby’s needs. The quantities on the packaging of the milk powder, serve only as a guide. Your baby should get as much food as he or she needs.
Fathers
This is a wonderful advantage of bottle feeding. Dad can provide for the baby just as mom does. This promotes bonding between dad and baby and allows mom to take necessary breaks.
2. Infant Formula
There is a wide variety of infant formulas available on the market. Regardless of which one you choose, they all have to meet certain standards. For the beginning the PRE food and the 1 food are suitable. These can be used throughout the first year of life. Parents with allergies can use HA food.
This contains broken-down protein.
3. Preparation Of The Bottle
Drinking water is best for preparation. With tap water, you should make sure to boil it beforehand. This is because it can be contaminated by old pipes.
For optimal drinking temperature, you can mix boiled water with cold water. Then mix this with the amount indicated on the package, depending on the age. To check the temperature, you should run a few drops on your wrist before feeding. You will quickly notice if the milk is too warm.
If you are unsure if your drinking water is clean, you can also buy it in bottles. The important thing is that it is suitable for infant formula.
Re-seal the powder airtight to prevent bacteria. Do not save any leftover milk.
4. Hygiene
Make sure you wash your hands before preparing the bottle. Clean the bottle and teat after each use with separate brushes and cloths.
You can also put the bottle in the dishwasher but then rinse it again with clean water afterward. Teat attachments do not belong in the dishwasher – this can cause cracks to form.
Useful here is a vaporizer, in which you can sterilize all utensils. Alternatively, you can boil them in a saucepan.
5. On The Road: The Bottle For On The Road
If your baby is a bottle baby, you know the difficulties: Bottle, powder, hot water – everything has to be there. On the road, not so easy. For the playground visit, you can prepare two bottles well. Take two vessels with you, one for cold and one for hot water. So you can quickly achieve the optimum temperature by mixing.
For longer trips, a camping – kettle is recommended. Buy packaged baby water, which they can bring to the right temperature in the bottle warmer.
Remember to have enough powdered milk.