Tips For Responsive Bottle Feeding

Hold baby close, keep eye contact and talk to your baby

When bottle feeding your baby, either expressed breastmilk or infant formula:

• hold your baby close
• keep eye contact and talk to your the baby while feeding

Change sides when bottle feeding

It is important to change sides during a feed or at every other feed. This makes the experience
more similar to breastfeeding and encourages eye and head movement.

Babies may drink more quickly from a bottle than from the breast, and this can lead to overfeeding. This is because a baby's natural fullness cue is overridden or ignored.

Practice responsive feeding when bottle feeding

Tips for responsive bottle feeding:

• hold your baby in a semi-upright position rather than lying their head back
• keep the bottle almost horizontal, just slightly tipped, rather than almost vertical to prevent the milk or formula from flowing too fast
• stop and check from time to time to see if your baby wants more
• do not encourage your baby to finish the bottle if they are showing signs of fullness
• give more milk if your baby is still hungry and demands more after finishing the bottle

Watch the video and find out how to tell if baby is getting enough formula