Info about Baby Supplies
Bottle Feeding A Baby
Having decided to bottle feed your baby; you will need dried or evaporated milk, bottles and teats, and a container for sterilizing them in. It is most important to observe the elementary laws of hygiene. Wash the bottle and teat thoroughly after each feed, then leave them soaking until the next feed in some antiseptic solution such as Milton.
Selection of Teat
Choose a teat that will give a flow of milk that does not require too much effort from the baby, yet does not drown him. You will find the right one by experimenting with several teats and your own baby.
Nearly all artificial milk feeds are of modified cow's milk. Ordinary cow's milk in its undiluted form is not suitable for feeding new babies. The casein content is too high, and the sugar content is too low. If you use cow's milk, it must be boiled, diluted according to the age of the baby and sweetened with sugar.
The various artificial milks available for babies vary very little. The important thing is that, once having settled on a particular brand, you should stick to it. Difficulties that arise are more likely to be due to feeding techniques than to the variety of milk chosen.
There are differences of opinion on the advantages of starting feeding on half-cream milks (low fat content) or full-cream. There is no right or wrong, most babies will tolerate full-cream milk from birth, most will thrive satisfactorily on half-cream for the first six or eight weeks of life, gradually changing over to full-cream over a period of two weeks.
If a baby is bringing back its Full-cream feed, this is a warning to change back to half-cream. Similarly, if at a week old half-cream is not satisfying baby, put him on to full-cream. The quantity of food given to a baby will depend to some extent on his demand.
From about three ounces of made-up mixture at each three-hourly feed at a week old, he will build up gradually to about seven ounces at each four-hourly feed at five months. The general average is 2 ounces of feed per pound of body weight per day.
Bottle-fed babies require extra vitamins, and should be given daily cod-liver oil or its equivalent. This should be given separately, and not mixed with feeds. Vitamin C; can be given as diluted orange juice from three to four weeks onwards.
All feeds should be mixed just before they are needed, it is wrong to warm up a feed that has been prepared in advance.
Prepared feeds should not be left in vacuum flasks, as they are breeding grounds for bacteria.