Important tip!
If you want others to help you feed your baby down the road, feed her a bottle at least once per week starting at 3 weeks. If she hates it, offer it more often, so she remembers.
Pump whenever your baby takes a bottle.
While watching the video below, keep a few things in mind:
- A baby should be able to consume 1oz of milk in less than 10 minutes or so.
- A term baby might need slowed down, so that bottle feedings are not lots easier than nursing.
- Babies born a couple weeks early may need a faster flow nipple. If they have to work too hard for too long, they'll get tired before they get enough.
- The bottle nipple should drip milk when held bottoms up, regardless of the advertised flow rate on the label.
- During paced bottle feeding, gravity is used to control the speed of the milk flow.
- Syringe, cup or spoon feeding s are practical in the first few days when colostrum and milk volumes are very small. As volumes increase, it's more practical to move to paced bottle feedings.
Kay Anderson MD, IBCLC
6/24