When to start bottle feeding breast milk
Breast to Bottle: Tips to Help The Transition
Today we're going to talk about what to
do if you've been nursing your baby and
you're ready to transition them to the
bottle and they're not quite ready for
it yet. So this is a common problem that
happens to moms who are going back to
school and they're going back to work
and they need some help in transitioning
their baby to a bottle. So this is a
really good time to ask for the help of
another caregiver, so this can either be
your partner, or a nanny, or somebody else
who's going to be taking care of your
baby. So babies are used to nursing at
particular places and looking at certain
things in their surroundings. That's
going to hint to them that it's time for
a breastfeeding session. So when you're
ready to transition your baby to a
bottle, it might be good to have somebody
else take them to a different setting, a
different room, and a different chair. So
today I'm going to give you my three
tips on transitioning your baby to
taking a bottle. Tip number one is going
to be timing. Tip number two is going to
be happy cues. Tip number three is
taste. So timing, the best thing is to offer
your baby a bottle, you’re going to do this
about an hour or two after their last
nursing feed. You want to catch them when
they're highly motivated and active but
not when they're ravenous or starving.
It's best to start with only a half an
ounce of milk, no need of wasting that
precious breast milk. Number two happy
cues, so your baby is going to be very
astute to your temperament. If you're
nervous, or if you're frustrated about
feeding your baby, your baby is going to
pick up on that. So you’ll want to talk to
them in a very soothing voice. You’ll want
to smile at them and let them know that
you're also feeling pretty comfortable.
Tip number three is taste, so you want to
introduce some milk on the baby's lip or
tongue so they can already start to
taste what they're about to get and that
they understand that their meal is
coming from a different form. You’ll also
want to introduce the nipple into their
mouth very gently.
If they're showing signs that they're
frustrated by thrusting their tongue or
arching their back or crying that would
be a good time to stop.
If it's taking longer than 10 minutes
for the baby to start drinking from the
bottle go ahead and give it a break and
you can try again at the next session.
Other things you can try to help
encourage your baby to take the bottle
is dipping the pacifier into breast milk
so they can taste it. You might have to
experiment with different nipple types,
some babies are just picky. You can also
try a sippy cup or even a regular cup
just to help encourage them to start to
take the milk by mouth. Over the
following days you'll notice that babies
start to progressively take more and
more milk but as I mentioned before
keep practicing at it.
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