46. What you need to bottle feed
To ensure that bottle-feeding is a happy experience for you and your baby, you must be scrupulous about hygiene, and have everything you need-the formula milk, equipment, bibs, brushes, cleaner and sterilizers – ready in advance. Make sure you have enough bottles, teats and caps to make up feeds for a 24-hour period. To save time prepare all the feeds for 24 hours in one batch and store them in a refrigerator. Make up fresh feeds when you are down to two bottles of made-up feed in the refrigerator.

47. washing & sterilizing equipment
Milk is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which could make your baby very ill, so you need to sterilize all bottles, teats, and caps by one of the methods shown here. But before sterilizing, all items must be washed out thoroughly using a bottle brush with warm water, liquid detergent, and then rinsed well. If you rub the inside of a teat with salt, the scraping action will remove any trapped milk traces from the teat. Then allow all rinsed items to drain on kitchen paper, not the draining board. Don’t warm the feed until you need it, or try to keep milk warm in a thermos. After a feed, discard any milk left in the bottle.

48. managing a bottle-feeding routine
Bottle feed your baby when he seems hungry, not by the clock. Newborn babies often need as many as seven to eight feeds a day, taking about 50 ml (2 fl oz) at each feed. So put at least this amount of feed into each of the six bottles to begin with. By six months you will be making up feeds of 200ml (7 fl oz). as a rough guide, your baby will require about 150 ml of milk per kilogram of body weight (or 2,5 fl oz per 1 lb) every 24 hours. Before you begin, check the flow from the teat (three should be several drops per second), and the heat of the milk (which ideally should be at room remperature). Try a few drops on your wrist first to make sure it is not too hot. After six months on infant formula, your baby  may need supplement of iron of vitamin D, or may need to be put on follow-on milk which has extra protein and vitamins. If in doubt, check with your surgery.

49. making up a powder formula
Infant powder formula usually comes as a powder in tins, which you mix up as needed. You will need to have a supply of made up bottles in the fridge ready to give as soon as they are needed. Make up the correct levels following the instructions on the tinexactly. You can do one bottle, or a batch of bottles, at a time, whichever is more convenient for you. With the measuring scoop from the formula pack, add loosely filled scoops to each measure of water as directed. Always start with fresh cold water from the mains, boiled, and cooled once. Never use mineral water. You can mix the formula directly into the bottle(s), or via a jug. Once poured, seal the bottle with the disk and ring, but not the teat, and shake well to mix.

Continue to Bottle Feeding 2

37. Getting comfortable
Breastfeeding is absolutely natural, but it still has to be learned. Much will depend on “reading” the signals your baby gives you. But you can make things far easier by getting settled for a breastfeeding session-which could last for an hour. Lying down is ideal for night-time feeds. For other sessions, seek good back support, such as sitting on a low chair with no arms, or lying up against a bed headstead with plenty of pillows behind you.

38. Guiding your baby to latch on
Once settled, take a deep breath and relax your shoulders. If in private, take off your top to make it easier for baby to “latch on”, that is to be correctly placed on your breast and sucking efficiently. Use your baby’s natural reflex to “root” (seek out) and to suck. If you or baby, take another deep breath and start again.

39. Managing your milk flow
Your baby doesn’t just suck. She “milk” the breast by pressing on your milk supply at the base of the areola (the coloured area around the nipple). Don’t worry about “supply”. Your baby’s sucking stimulates “demand”. However, when your milk comes in, your breast may become engorged and sore for a few days. This makes the nipple go flat so it is hard for baby to latch on. Try these steps to help baby latch on and quickly relieve any engorgement.

40. Changing over during a feed
Let your baby suck for at least 10 to 15 minutes on one breast at each feed. After you’ve burped her, or she has had a short nap, slip a finger between her jaws to break her suction and offer her the other breast. She may be hungry enough to drain this one, too, or she may just suck for comfort. In either case, let her suck till she falls fast asleep.

41. Coping with leaking breasts
Your breast may leak a lot between feeds in the early weeks. You cannot prevent this, but it will diminish as your breasts settle down and supply matches your baby’s demand. To cope with this problem – and protect your cloches – wear disposable or fabric – washable breast pads inside your bra. These will absorb some of the dripping. Change the pads frequently, as wetness near your skin may make your sore.

42. Soothing sore nipples
Sore, red nipples usually result from your baby not latching on properly. Check that she takes the whole nipple and areola area into her mouth, and that her temples and ears are moving (that is, her jaw muscles are working hard). Cracked nipples give you shooting pains during feeding, but don’t stop feeds, as you may become engorged and make the problem worse.

43. Expressing milk by hand
Expressing your own milk means you can freeze it (for up to one mouth) and someone else can give it to your baby – which allows you greater freedom and flexibility. It is an easy and painless process. Help the flow of milk  by applying a warm flannel first.

44. Expressing milk by pump
Expressing with a purpose-made pump can work far quicker and be less tiring than hand expressing. Choose a “syringe”-type pump where the outer cylinder converts into a bottle. First soften your breast with warm water and massage them as if expressing by hand. The feeling an your milk ducts should be like your baby’s jaws.

45. First-year feeding routines
How long should a feed last? How many feeds should I give my baby in 24 hours? Can I tell when she is going to be hungry? Such question are all part of the emotional and practical worries of feeding a baby in the first year. Bear in mind the following tips when planning a feeding routine.
BREAST FEEDING TIPS:

• Always feed your baby as often as she seems hungry. And give her as much as the wants
• For the fist month at least, do not try to establish an inflexible routine.
• If you started off in the first two weeks by feeding your newborn 10 times in 24 hours, this should be reduced to eight feeds, then six, after a further six weeks.
• By two months expect to be feeding about every four hours.
• By three months plans for five feeds a day plus two night feeds.
• By four no five months plan for four feeds a day plus some solids.
• By six months your routine should be two breast-feeds a day: early morning and bedtime.
• By nine months you should be beginning a bedtime feed only.
• If you both want to, you can continue to breast-feed well into your baby’s second