Feeding your little one is a time to bond– not stress over the nutrition and how well they’re taking the bottle.
If you’re curious about bottle feeding or trying to up the ante with your feeding skills, we understand!
Formuland wants to help parents everywhere keep their children healthy and happy through nutrition.
So we’ve put together this guide to feeding a newborn and the bottle feeding tips that could change the game with it comes to bottle time.
Keep reading to find out our top tips for bottle feeding a newborn
Feeding a newborn: what you’ll want to know about bottle feeding
Becoming a parent doesn’t come with a manual that’s 100% guaranteed to work.
We wish this was true but thankfully there are tons of tips to help you figure things out as you go! To help you on the feeding front, keep reading to see our top bottle feeding tips.
Find the right formula
One of the most important things you’ll have to figure out when feeding a newborn is which formula is going to be best for them.
Every baby has preferences in taste and has a unique digestive system that may work better with some formulas and not others.
This means you may have to do some trial and error testing before you find the right one.
Formuland is all about providing the best organic formulas for parents to feed a newborn.
Stay away from popular store-bought formulas and make sure you are selecting the highest quality formula without any additives.
We’ve even written about ingredients you’ll absolutely want to stay away from when looking for that perfect formula.
Make sure the milk and nipple have been warmed
Feeding a newborn is a time of comfort and making sure your baby is having a good experience with their feedings.
This means you’ll want to make sure the milk and the bottle’s nipple have been warmed.
You can heat up your baby’s milk by placing the bottle in a bowl of warm water that isn’t boiling so that it can be warmed slightly for your baby.
If your baby is finicky, it could be that they dislike the “surprise” of cold milk, so testing out with warmed formula could settle them into feeding.
Is your bottle BPA free?
All parents want to make sure their baby has the best and that they aren’t consuming anything dangerous.
On top of finding the perfect formula, you’ll also want to look if your bottles and nipples are BPA-free.
We recommend glass bottles to avoid any issues with BPA so that you can put this issue out of your mind.
BPA is a concern because it is often a part of plastics in our bottles and some metal products. As food and water are in contact with it, BPA can seep into it so that you can consume it.
This becomes problematic because it mimics certain hormones that can harm our bodies and disrupt our natural hormone patterns over time.
Though some people say the small levels that come from bottles aren’t harmful, it’s better to avoid anything with BPA.
Check to see if the nipple hole is the right size
It’s not something you think about right off the bat when you think about bottle feeding a newborn, but making sure that the nipple hole is the right size is important.
This means that newborns are given nipples that have a smaller hole and then the size is increased as the baby grows.
The reason for this is that newborns do not yet have their swallowing reflexes down pat. When the nipple hole is too big, they could get overwhelmed with milk as they are feeding and could choke.
Similarly, if you notice your baby is pulling too hard or not getting enough during a feeding, try increasing the size of the nipple to see if that solves the problem.
Feed your baby on a schedule
Part of helping your baby develop a routine is keeping them on a feeding schedule as they grow.
Newborns can be fed as needed in order during the first few weeks to see how often your baby is hungry. From there, you will be able to notice patterns and start a schedule for them!
Many experts recommend feeding babies once every 3-4 hours to allow them to digest their previous bottle and prevent overeating.
Keep everything clean
Making sure that everything is sterile during a bottle-feed is important.
While bottles are tucked away, they can accumulate germs and other harmful bacteria that your baby should not be ingesting.
To sterilize your baby’s bottles, you have a few options.
Many parents prefer to purchase electric steamers that ensure everything is sterilized. However, you can also boil bottles to keep everything clean without needing to buy anything extra.
It’s especially important to make sure that your bottles do not have BPA during these times since the heat can cause more BPA to be released.
Take breaks
Part of feeding your baby is allowing them to take breaks every once in a while.
Unlike breastfeeding, bottles do let in more air while your baby is feeding. Air can them accumulate and fill their little tummy, making them uncomfortable.
That’s why mid-feed burping can be a great idea to make sure feeding goes as smoothly as possible.
This means that you will have time to burp them and keep them comfortable while they feed. You’ll also get a bit of additional bonding time while taking a break, which is always a great thing.
Learn more with Formuland
We love helping parents keep their babies healthy with the best products and advice.
Our shop is stocked with the best organic baby products coming from Europe to offer parents around the world the opportunity to feed their baby great formula.
Make sure to contact us if you have any questions and take a look at the rest of our blogs if you want to keep getting the best information for your baby!
