Bottle Feeding Technique

From The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th Edition by La Leche League International (c) 2011

• Feed the baby when he shows hunger cues, not on a schedule.
• Hold the baby snugly. Keep him fairly upright to give him control.
• Hold the bottle almost vertically against his lips at the start, as you would hold your finger to say "Shh."
• When he reaches with his lips, tip the bottle horizontally into his opening mouth. Let him draw it in himself, so his lips close on the flat part of the bottle nipple, *not* just the skinny part.
• Keep him fairly upright, so that the bottle is nearly horizontal when it's in his mouth. The milk won't pour into him automatically, and he'll have much more control.
• You may hear him sucking some air, but it will just come out his nose.
• If he gets tense or gulps, tilt baby and bottle slightly forward so the milk drains away. He will soon learn to pause on his own.
• Let him pause and take breaks when he wants to.
• When you think he is *nearly* full, twist and remove the bottle.
• Immediately offer the bottle again to see if he wants more. If he takes it, offer another ten sucks or so, remove, and offer again.Finally he'll just keep his lips closed. This reduces the risk of overfeeding.
• If he routinely doesn't finish the bottle, put less in it.
• If there's milk left over, don't throw it out! It will keep just fine in the refrigerator until the next feeding.
• If his mother is coming soon, try to distract him, or give him just a small amount. She'll be ready to nurse, and she'll want him to be ready too."

 The only thing I have to add to the above recommendations is to make the baby "work" for "letdown" while bottle feeding so that they have to suck that first stimulatory suck that they do when they latch onto the breast, which triggers the mother to let down. After a minute or so you can allow the nipple to get more milk to simulate letdown. After several minutes there, tilt the bottle backwards again so they have to "work" for another "letdown" and continue until the baby is finished (NOT necessarily until the bottle is empty).


For folks who need some rules to follow- general rules of thumb include no more than once ounce per hour, and it's a good idea to have 20-30 minutes be the goal to finish the bottle. If the baby is finishing the bottle in less time than that, their stomachs won't have enough time to communicate to their brains that they're full. Slow feeds more accurately replicate breastfeeding so they prevent both overfeeding and flow preference! It's generally much better to offer smaller amounts more frequently (i.e. 1.5-2 ounces every 1.5-2 hours) than larger amounts less often (i.e. 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours). ​