Bottle Feeding Your Baby

To test the flow of the formula or breastmilk, hold the bottle upside down when it’s filled with liquid at room temperature. The liquid should drip steadily from the teat but not pour out.

If you have to shake the bottle vigorously to see the drip, the flow is too slow. Your baby might go to sleep before drinking what they need.

When you feed your baby, you might see a little leakage at the corners of your baby’s mouth. This doesn’t mean the flow is too fast. It’s nothing to worry about. It will stop as your baby gets
older.

If your baby is having trouble getting formula or breastmilk from the bottle, try a faster teat. If your baby doesn’t seem to be swallowing quickly enough, try a slower teat. You might need to
try a few different teats before you find one that suits.

• Make yourself comfortable. Cuddle your baby close to you, holding them gently but firmly and on a slight incline
• Put the teat against your baby’s lips. Your baby will open their mouth and start to suck
• Keep the neck of the bottle at an angle so that it’s filled with formula or breastmilk and so that small air bubbles can rise through the milk as your baby drinks. This will help to reduce the amount of air your baby swallows and might help with burping. If you don’t see air bubbles rising, try loosening the ring a little
• When your baby stops sucking strongly or when about half of the formula or breastmilk has gone, gently remove the bottle and see whether your baby wants to burp
• Once you’ve tried burping your baby, you can offer the bottle again

Babies who are normally breastfed might find it hard to pace themselves when bottle-feeding, particularly if they’re premature. This is because they’re used to controlling the flow of breastmilk. Sometimes these babies can drink too much too quickly.

Paced feeding can sometimes help. This involves holding your baby in an upright position and letting them rest every few minutes. If you’re interested in paced bottle-feeding, it’s best to get help from your child and family health nurse or a lactation consultant.

Don’t worry if your baby doesn’t finish the bottle. Babies are very good at judging how much they need, so you can let your baby decide when they’ve had enough formula or breastmilk.

If your baby goes to sleep during a feed, put your baby over your shoulder, rub their back, and stroke their head, legs and tummy. This can help your baby to wake up. A nappy change is a good way to wake up your baby if that doesn’t work.

Wait until your baby is properly awake before offering the rest of the formula or breastmilk.

Babies sometimes refuse a bottle altogether. Here are things to try if this happens:

• Try a new feeding position or change the feeding environment. For example, move around while you’re feeding, find a quieter place to feed, or play some relaxing background music
• Try again later when your baby is more settled. For example, give your baby a bath and then try again
• Ask your partner or another family member to give the bottle to your baby. This can help if you usually breastfeed your baby
• Check the flow of formula or breastmilk. If the flow is too slow, this can frustrate your baby. You might need to try a different teat
• Let your baby open their mouth for the bottle when they’re ready, rather than putting the teat into their mouth
• Offer the formula or breastmilk from a small cup or spoon. To do this, sit your baby up and offer them small sips

If your baby is regularly refusing the bottle, speak to your child and family health nurse for advice. 

If you think your baby is refusing the bottle because they’re unwell, treat your baby’s symptoms or take your baby to see your GP.

Newborn babies commonly have 6-8 feeds every 24 hours, but there’s no set amount of food or number of feeds your baby should have. Different babies drink different amounts of formula or breastmilk. Some might have feeds close together and others further apart. Some babies have predictable feeding patterns, whereas other babies change their feeding times each day.

Feed your baby whenever they’re hungry. You’ll see baby cues that say ‘I’m hungry’ – for example, your baby will make sucking noises or start turning towards the breast or bottle. If your baby stops sucking or turns their head away from the bottle, you’ll know they’ve had enough.

As your baby eats more and more solid food, the total amount of breastmilk or formula they take in a day will decrease. The amount of breastmilk or formula will also decrease as your baby starts to drink from a cup instead of a bottle.

Some babies never drink the ‘recommended amount’ for their age and size, and others need more. Plenty of wet nappies, consistent weight gain, and a thriving, active baby mean all is well. If you’re concerned about how much breastmilk or formula your baby is taking, talk to your child and family health nurse or GP. 

If you’re bottle-feeding your baby with breastmilk or infant formula, you’ll need:

• 4-6 large bottles,
• Rings, caps and discs
• Several teats

You can use any bottle your baby seems to like, because none is better than any other.

Teats are either made from latex (brown) or silicone (clear), and either kind is fine. Teats are graded according to baby age, but this grading might not suit all babies. Teats also come in different shapes. There’s no evidence that one teat shape is better than another.

It’s a good idea to start with a teat that matches your baby’s age. If the teat doesn’t work well, try teats with bigger or smaller holes or different shapes until you find one that works well for your baby.

It’s important to sterilise bottle-feeding equipment until your baby is 12 months old. Your baby’s immune system isn’t strong enough to fight off some infections, so sterilising equipment reduces your baby’s chances of getting sick. 

Equipment needs to be clean before it’s sterilised. 

There are several ways you can sterilise bottle-feeding equipment after you’ve cleaned it:

• Boiling
• Chemicals
• Steam sterilisation
• Microwave sterilisation

Note: UV sterilisers are available in Australia, but there are no current national or international guidelines for the use of UV sterilisers.

Boiling is the simplest and most reliable way of sterilising your bottle-feeding equipment:

• Boil all equipment within 24 hours of use
• Put the washed bottles, teats, rings, caps and discs in a large pot
• Fill the pot with water until everything is covered. Make sure all air bubbles are gone
• Put the pot on the stove and bring it to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes
• Let everything cool in the pot until you can take it out with tongs or clean hands without scalding yourself
• Shake off excess water. There’s no need to dry the items
• Store equipment you aren’t going to use straight away in a clean container in the fridge. It can help to have at least 2 containers that you can alternate

If you have other children, you might want to use this method when they’re asleep or out of the house to reduce the risk of scalding them.

You can sterilise your bottles with an antibacterial solution that comes in liquid or tablet form. This is a type of bleach that’s diluted with water, so it’s safe for your baby but strong enough to kill bacteria.

Here’s how to sterilise with chemicals:

• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully when you make up the solution to make sure it’s the right strength. The solution will work only when it’s made at the right strength
• Completely submerge washed bottles, teats, rings, caps and discs
• Leave everything in the solution for at least the recommended time. If you need to add extra items to the solution later, start timing again so that all items stay in the solution for the recommended time. You can leave equipment in the solution for up to 24 hours
• Use tongs to remove equipment from the solution
• Shake off excess solution, but don’t rinse the equipment before use. There’s no need to dry the equipment
• Store equipment in a clean container in the fridge or in the solution

Note: if you leave equipment in the solution, throw away the solution after 24 hours, thoroughly scrub the container and equipment in warm soapy water, and start the sterilisation process again.

Here’s how to be safe when you’re using sterilising chemicals:

• Store the concentrate and solution well out of the reach of children
• Use plastic or glass equipment and containers for the solution. The chemical solution will eventually eat away metal equipment and containers

Steam sterilisers are automatic units that heat your equipment to a temperature high enough to kill bacteria:

• Put your clean equipment into the unit
• Add water according to the manufacturer’s instructions
• Switch on
• The unit switches itself off when the job is done

Store equipment you aren’t going to use straight away in a clean container in the fridge. Check the manufacturer’s instructions for how long you can store steam sterilised equipment.

These are like steam sterilisers, but you put them in the microwave:

• Follow the instructions carefully
• Check the microwave power needed – not all microwave ovens are the same
• Don’t put any metal inside these sterilisers

Never put your equipment straight into the microwave to sterilise it. This won’t work, and your equipment will melt or get damaged.