Give vials

and Sabine Schrör, medical journalist Updated on

Nicole Wendler holds a PhD in biology in the field of oncology and immunology. As a medical editor, author and proofreader, she works for various publishers, for whom she presents complex and extensive medical issues in a simple, concise and logical manner.

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Sabine Schrör is a freelance writer for the medical team. She studied business administration and public relations in Cologne. As a freelance editor, she has been at home in a wide variety of industries for more than 15 years.Health is one of her favorite subjects.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

Give a bottle or breastfeed? Every mother has to answer this question for herself on the basis of her needs and her life situation. Whether for health, professional or other reasons: even if you give your baby the bottle, he will want for nothing. Read here how best to feed your baby with the bottle and what advantages this offers.

Nowadays, breast milk substitutes are of excellent quality: like breast milk, it contains all the nutrients your child needs now. And the bond between mother and child does not suffer when giving a bottle: You can give your baby just as much love and security as when breastfeeding.

How to bottle feed your baby

Make yourself comfortable to give a bottle. Subdued lighting and pleasant temperatures relax you and the child. A nursing pillow relieves your arms.

The correct drinking position: Hold the child slightly upright, the head should rest slightly tilted back on your upper arm. Maintain eye contact with your child while feeding. That promotes the bond.
Skin contact: Skin contact also strengthens the bond between parent and child. You can also snuggle it up against your bare torso while feeding it to make as much skin contact as possible.
Triggering the sucking reflex: Touch the baby's upper lip with the teat to trigger the drinking reflex. Do not put the teat in the child's mouth if they do not want to drink.
Make a pawn: When your baby is full, the pawn comes. In this way, the child gets rid of the air that has been swallowed, which can otherwise cause gas. Hold the child upright so they are looking over your shoulder. Give it a gentle pat on the back until it has burst open - ideally twice.

Prepare baby bottles

Follow the manufacturer's instructions. The wrong proportions of powdered milk and water can be harmful to the baby's health.

Heat the water to the temperature specified by the manufacturer.
First put the water, then the milk powder in the bottle. Cap it and shake it until the powder has dissolved.
Wait until the milk has cooled down to body temperature before feeding. You can test this by putting a few drops on the inside of your wrist.
If a lot of air bubbles have formed, wait a little longer. Otherwise your baby will get gas easily.

Bottle preparation hygiene

Babies' immune systems are not yet fully developed. That is why the tiny ones often get diarrhea. Therefore, pay particular attention to hygiene when preparing baby milk:

Wash your hands before preparing the baby milk.
The drinking water in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is of such high quality that you can use it without hesitation.
Let the tap water run longer until it is really cold. Germs may have accumulated in lukewarm water that has been in the pipe for a long time.
Always prepare the milk in the bottle fresh. Milk that has been in the bottle for more than an hour should be thrown away.
Clean the bottle and teat immediately after feeding with detergent and a brush that you only use for this purpose.
Let the feeding utensils dry on a clean cloth.
Boil latex teats regularly and replace them after two months.
Replace silicone teats if they show bite marks from the child or are otherwise damaged. Germs can lodge in the grooves.
Nowadays you only have to sterilize the vials and teats if they are encrusted.

How much milk does your baby need?

There is no rigid feeding schedule for breastfeeding and bottle feeding in the first few months. You give the baby the bottle when it is hungry. Only small portions fit in baby stomachs, and babies need a lot of energy at the same time. Therefore, more than four hours should not pass between drinking meals.

How much milk a child needs varies from person to person. It depends on how big and heavy your baby is and how active it is. As a rule, you are correct if you follow the manufacturer's instructions. The following amount of drinking can roughly be specified:

0 to 2 months: six bottles of 80 to 120 milliliters each per day
2 to 4 months: five bottles of 120 to 200 milliliters each per day

Caution: In premature babies who are lagging behind in growth, the amount of milk is adjusted according to the age of maturation.

Which milk is right?

In the first four months, baby milk that is labeled “Pre-” is suitable. It is very thin and also corresponds to breast milk in this respect. This is followed by the somewhat richer and thicker milk, which has the addition “1”. It can be fed for the entire first year of life.

Milk powder marked “HA” is also available. HA stands for hypoallergenic. HA milk powder is designed for children at high risk of allergies, whose parents both suffer from allergies.

Replace milk meals slowly

As soon as the child receives additional food, the milk meals are gradually replaced. By the seventh month at the latest, milk alone is no longer enough to feed your child. You can read more information about the first porridge in the article Introduction to complementary foods.

Which bottle, which teat?

Glass bottles are easy to boil and age more slowly. Plastic bottles, on the other hand, do not break as quickly and are also lighter. For the latter, you should choose high-quality specimens.

Silicone teats are more robust and last longer. Latex ages faster, but is more elastic and easier to handle.

You choose the teat size according to the age of your child. The opening should be rather small. The meal may then take longer, but the child has just as much to do as when sucking on the breast and thus satisfies his need to suckle. In the case of newborns, a small opening also prevents the children from swallowing too much milk at once.

Give good reasons for the bottle

As many good reasons as there are for breastfeeding - there are also a few arguments in favor of feeding the baby with the bottle.

The mother is relieved

As wonderful as it is to have a child - the first year in particular is a very stressful time. It's good if the mother can relax in between because someone else is feeding the baby. And the child also benefits from a rested mom.

Father and child develop a closer bond

When the mother is breastfeeding, the father is usually a bit out of the way. It is different when the child is bottle-fed: the father can prepare and give it just as well as the mother. For many fathers, this is a special experience that brings them closer to their child at an early age. Of course, this applies when dad takes over the feeding of expressed breast milk.

The return to work is made easier

Some women need to get back to money quickly. Others love their job and don't want to be mothers for too long. And some professions make a long break down extremely problematic. In any case, it is often difficult to reconcile working life with breastfeeding. Then the child benefits in the long term from being bottle-fed.

Physical reasons for the bottle

Sometimes there are health reasons on the part of the mother or child that make breastfeeding difficult or impossible. Then bottle feeding is the right solution.

The child is too weak

The tiny baby needs considerably more force to suck milk from its breast than it does to drink from a bottle. For example, premature babies are often unable to cope with this show of strength. Then feeding with the bottle may be necessary.

Breastfeeding problems

Sore nipples, inflammation of the breast (mastitis) or low milk production: there are many breastfeeding problems. Often they can be cleared up with a little patience and experienced support, for example from the midwife. If the mother basically prefers to breastfeed, the bottle is often only needed to bridge the gap.

Mother's health problems

Some mothers are simply too weak to breastfeed or have to take medication that would be harmful to the child. These include, for example, thyroid hormones. In the case of addictions, too, the mother should give her child the bottle instead of the breast if she does not manage to remain abstinent.

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