Do you feed baby cereal before after bottle
Formula Feeding FAQs: Starting Solids and Milk
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- are interested in foods (for example, they may watch others eat, reach for food, and open their mouths when food approaches)
- hold up their heads well, and sit up with little or no help
- have the oral motor skills needed to eat (meaning that they don't push food of the mouth but move it to the throat and swallow it)
- usually weigh twice their birth weight, or close to it
Whether you've decided to formula feed your baby from the start, are supplementing your breast milk with formula, or are switching from breast milk to formula, you're bound to have questions. Here are answers to some common queries about formula feeding.
When should I introduce solid foods and juice?
The best time to introduce solid foods is when your baby has developed the skills needed to eat. This usually happens between the ages of 4 and 6 months. How do you know when your baby is ready?
Babies who are ready to eat solids foods:
Wait until your baby is at least 4 months old and shows these signs of readiness before introducing solids. Babies who start solid foods before 4 months are at a higher risk for obesity and other problems later on. They also aren't coordinated enough to safely swallow solid foods and may choke on the food or inhale it into their lungs.
When the time is right, start with a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal (rice cereal has traditionally been the first food for babies, but you can start with any you prefer). Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with breast milk, formula, or water. Another good first option is an iron-rich puréed meat. Feed your baby with a small baby spoon, and never add cereal to a baby's bottle unless your doctor recommends it.
At this stage, solids should be fed after a nursing session, not before. That way, your baby fills up on breast milk, which should be your baby's main source of nutrition until age 1.
When your baby gets the hang of eating the first food, introduce a variety of other foods, such as puréed fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, or yogurt.
Wait a few days between introducing new foods to make sure your baby doesn't have an allergic reaction.
Experts recommend introducing common food allergens to babies when they're 4–6 months old. This includes babies with a family history of food allergies. In the past, they thought that babies should not get such foods (like eggs, peanuts, and fish) until after the first birthday. But recent studies suggest that waiting that long could make a baby more likely to develop food allergies.
Offer these foods to your baby as soon as your little one starts eating solids. Make sure they're served in forms that your baby can easily swallow. You can try a small amount of peanut butter mixed into fruit purée or yogurt, for example, or soft scrambled eggs.
Note: There is no benefit to offering fruit juice, even to older babies. Juice can fill them up and leave little room for more nutritious foods, promote obesity, cause diarrhea, and even put a baby at an increased risk for cavities when teeth start coming in.
When can I start giving my baby cow's milk?
Before their first birthday, babies still need the nutrients in breast milk or formula. But at 1 year old, your baby can try whole cow's milk. Why not skim or 2%? Because babies need the fat in whole milk for normal growth and brain development during the busy early toddler period.
You can transition your baby from formula to whole milk by beginning to replace bottles of formula with bottles — or sippy cups — of milk. By 1 year old, your baby should be eating a variety of other foods and only 2-3 cups (480-720 milliliters) of milk per day.
If your baby was put on a soy or hypoallergenic formula because of a milk allergy, talk to your doctor before introducing milk.
When can I start giving my baby water?
In their first few months, babies usually don't need extra water. On very hot days, most babies do well with additional feedings. But you may want to offer your infant water, especially if your baby's pee is dark or your baby pees less often than usual.
Once your baby is eating solid foods, you can offer a few ounces of water between feedings, but don't force it. Water that is fortified with fluoride will help your baby develop healthy teeth and gums. If you live in an area with nonfluoridated water, your doctor or dentist may prescribe fluoride drops.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
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Formula Feeding FAQs: Starting Solids and Milk (for Parents)
Whether you plan to formula feed your baby from the start, want to supplement your breast milk with formula, or are switching from breast milk to formula, you probably have questions.
Here are answers to some common questions about formula feeding.
When Can My Baby Try Solid Foods?
Doctors recommend waiting until your baby is about 6 months old to start solid foods. Some babies may be ready for solids sooner than 6 months, but wait until your baby is at least 4 months old.
Babies who are ready to eat solids foods:
- are interested in foods (for example, they may watch others eat, reach for food, and open their mouths when food is near)
- hold up their heads well, and sit up with little or no help
- don't push food of their mouth (which is a natural tongue reflex that disappears when babies are 4–6 months old)
- usually weigh twice their birth weight, or close to it
Talk to your doctor about the right time to start solid foods.
How Do I Introduce Solid Foods?
When the time is right, start with a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with breast milk, formula, or water. Feed your baby with a small baby spoon.
Don’t add cereal to a baby's bottle unless your doctor recommends it.
When your baby gets the hang of eating the first food, introduce other foods from all food groups, such as puréed meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and yogurt. Wait a few days between introducing new foods to make sure your baby doesn't have an allergic reaction.
You can include foods that are more likely to cause allergies — such as peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy — among the foods you introduce to your infant. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies.
Talk to your doctor before giving foods that contain peanuts if your baby has severe eczema or an egg allergy, as these conditions make an allergy to peanuts more likely. Eating peanut-containing foods early on may lower a child’s chances of developing a peanut allergy. But your doctor will need to decide if you can give peanuts to your baby, and the safest way to do it. Usually, this requires allergy tests.
Should We Avoid Some Foods?
Yes, don’t give your baby:
- foods with added sugars or no-calorie sweeteners
- high-sodium foods
- honey until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
- unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
- regular cow's milk or soy beverages instead of breast milk or formula before 12 months. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
- foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts
Always supervise your child when eating. Make sure your child is sitting up in high chair or other safe place.
When Can My Baby Have Cow's Milk?
Before their first birthday, babies still need the nutrients in breast milk or formula. But after that, they’re ready to switch to cow's milk.
Most kids under age 2 should drink whole milk. If a toddler is overweight or there is a family history of obesity, high cholesterol, or heart problems, your doctor might recommend switching to reduced fat (2%) milk.
If your child can’t drink cow’s milk, choose an unsweetened soy beverage fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Other milk alternatives, like almond, oat, rice, or coconut milk, have less protein and may not be fortified.
How Do We Switch to Cow’s Milk?
You can switch your baby from formula to whole milk by replace bottles of formula with bottles — or sippy cups — of milk. By 1 year old, your baby should be eating a variety of solid foods and drinking about 16 to 24 ounces (480–720 milliliters) of milk per day.
When Can I Start Giving My Baby Water and Other Drinks?
In their first 6 months, healthy babies drinking enough formula usually don't need extra water. Once your baby is eating solid foods, you can offer a small amount of water between feedings, up to 4–8 ounces a day.
Water that has fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. If your water does not have fluoride, talk to your doctor or dentist about fluoride drops.
Do not give juice to babies younger than 12 months.
After your child’s first birthday, limit 100% fruit juice to no more than 4 ounces a day. Always serve juice in a cup, not in a bottle. Don’t give your child sugar-sweetened beverages, including soda, juice drinks, sports drinks, and flavored milks.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: November 2021
Artificial feeding for the little ones
The advantages of breastfeeding are undeniable: the child receives the necessary vitamins and minerals, strengthens the immune system, besides, food invented by nature itself is the best suited for the stomach and intestines of the newborn. But there are circumstances when a woman cannot breastfeed: due to illness, stress, and also after a caesarean section, milk can disappear very quickly. The baby has to be transferred to artificial feeding, but this does not mean that he will not grow up healthy if you follow some simple rules.
Only a pediatrician can advise which formula is best to give to a newborn, since only he and the mother herself know the baby and the state of his health best of all.
And how to feed a baby from a bottle, the mother's intuition will tell. If a woman does not have milk at all, the first days will have to worry a little for both the mother and the child. It does not matter if the child does not immediately take the nipple: newborns are usually fed only after 10-12 hours, and the first time the baby does not drink much milk - no more than 20 g. After discharge from the hospital, he will drink more, so you can artificially feed gradually and more often.
Hold the bottle so that there is milk in the nipple all the time so that the baby does not swallow air. Still, a baby who is not yet able to suck properly from a nipple will still swallow some air. He may stop sucking and become anxious when air interferes with milk flow to the stomach. The newborn needs to be lifted, putting his head on his shoulder, and hold it for several minutes. Perhaps he will burp and calm down, but if he does not want to eat more, no need to insist.
It is important that the hole in the nipple is the correct size.
You can check this by turning the milk bottle upside down and seeing how the mixture flows. It should come out in a thin stream for the first seconds, then drip. If it continues to pour, then the hole is too large, and if it only drips at first, then it is too small. The hole can be pierced with a hot needle of the required thickness. When the child grows up, but will continue to drink from the bottle, the hole can be made larger.
For older children, you can alternate artificial milk formula with liquid cereals. After 2-3 months, you can start giving your baby oatmeal. It is prepared in the following way. A little oatmeal is poured with hot boiled water and allowed to brew until a liquid paste is formed, then filtered through gauze. This paste is added to boiling milk, then cooled to a temperature normal for feeding a baby. Liquid oatmeal is ready, it can be given to the baby from the nipple in the amount that the baby usually drinks. By 6 months, you can cook semolina porridge and give it from a nipple with a slightly larger hole.
Vegetable and fruit purees can be started along with oatmeal. If the pediatrician does not mind, they can be bought ready-made, or you can cook it yourself. For example, applesauce is prepared like this. A peeled apple is simmered in an enamel saucepan with a small amount of water and sugar. If the apple is very sweet, you can skip the sugar. Then the whole mass must be wiped through a fine strainer and the puree should be given to the child from a spoon. At 3 months, the baby is already able to grab a little food from a teaspoon, then he will be able to eat from a spoon better. In the same way, mashed potatoes can be prepared from soft vegetables - potatoes, carrots, pumpkins.
From raw fruits, you can give a banana mashed with a fork, and a little later, fresh fruits grated into a fine grater - an apple, a pear. It is better to choose green or yellow apples, especially in the first months, since red fruits often cause diathesis. If the baby does not have diathesis, then little by little you can give red vegetables and fruits.
Many mothers are very worried when they lose their milk and have to feed their baby artificially. Breastfeeding should not be abandoned if a woman has milk, but if she does not, there is nothing wrong with artificial feeding. You just need to follow the advice of the pediatrician, include the necessary foods in the child's diet and trust your baby not forcing him to eat what he does not want.
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any problems. If your breastfed baby refuses a bottle, don't worry. This is a common occurrence in many babies who are used to breastfeeding. Obviously, this can create certain difficulties for moms, especially if you need to return to work in the near future.
3 Philips Avent products to help with bottle feeding:
So why is your baby refusing the bottle and crying? There are many ways to quickly and easily teach a breastfed baby to a bottle.
Here are important tips on what to do when your baby refuses a bottle.
Baby refuses a bottle? Take a step back
If your baby cries while bottle feeding, the first thing to do is to start over and rethink your feeding approach and technique. Try the following steps when bottle feeding your baby: [1]
- Lift and tilt your baby's head forward. Before inserting the pacifier into the baby's mouth, make sure that the baby's head is raised and tilted over his body to avoid choking: so that the baby does not choke and have the opportunity to burp during bottle feeding.
- Insert the pacifier. Bring the pacifier to the baby's lips and gently guide it into the baby's mouth. In no case do not try to press the nipple on the baby's lips and try to push it into his mouth. After touching the pacifier to the baby's lips, wait for the baby to open his mouth and take the pacifier.
- Hold the bottle at an angle. Tilt the bottle at an angle so that the nipple is only half full.
So the child can eat at his own pace. - Let the baby burp during and after feeding. It can be useful for a child to burp not only after feeding, but also approximately in the middle of the process. This will help reduce gas or tummy discomfort that your baby may experience from swallowing too much air.
- Stop in time, do not overfeed the baby. If the baby begins to turn his head away from the bottle or closes his mouth, then he is full and you need to stop feeding.
- Perhaps the flow of milk from the nipple to the baby is weak or, on the contrary, too fast, so he is naughty and refuses the bottle. Try changing the nipple to a nipple with a different flow.
Other tips if your baby refuses the bottle
If you've followed the steps above and your baby still refuses the bottle, don't worry. There are other ways to help bottle feed your baby. Here are some simple tricks you can add to your bottle feeding process. [2]
1.
Remind your child about mom.
Sometimes a child can be fed by someone other than his mother - dad, grandmother or, for example, a nanny. If your baby fusses while bottle feeding, try wrapping the bottle in something that smells like mommy, like a piece of clothing or some fabric. This will make it easier to feed the baby when the mother is not around.
2. Try to maintain body contact while bottle feeding.
Some babies need contact with their mother, so try bottle feeding while leaning against you. However, some babies are better at bottle feeding when they are in the exact opposite position than when they are breastfed. For example, there is a position with bent legs. Lay the child on your bent knees, facing you, pointing the child's legs towards your stomach. During feeding, the baby will be able to look at you and contact you in this way. If your baby refuses a bottle, experiment to see which works best.
3.
Move while feeding.
Sometimes all it takes is a little wiggle or walk to get your baby to take the bottle. The next time your baby starts crying while bottle feeding, try moving around a little rhythmically to calm him down.
4. Try changing the milk temperature.
If the baby still does not want to take the bottle, check if the milk in the bottle is too hot or too cold. Before feeding, put some warm breast milk on the inside of your wrist to check the temperature. Milk should be warm, but if it seemed hot to you, just place the bottle for a short while under a stream of cold water.
Choosing the right bottle for your baby If you plan to combine bottle feeding with breastfeeding, it is advisable to choose bottles with a nipple that will have a wide base as the bottle will grip closer to the breast. Also pay attention to the fact that the nipple is firm and flexible, the child must make an effort to drink from the bottle, as well as from the breast.
Give preference to nipples with an anti-colic valve that vents air out of the bottle. Natural bottle allows you to combine breast and bottle feeding. 83.3% of babies switch from a Natural bottle to breastfeeding and back.*
If you choose a bottle for artificial feeding, traditional bottles are fine, but it is desirable that the nipple is made of a hypoallergenic material, such as silicone, has an anti-colic valve and did not stick together when bottle fed. In case your baby spit up often, then use special bottles with anti-colic and anti-reflux valve, which reduces the risk of spitting up and colic.
Bottle with unique AirFree valve reduces the risk of colic, gas and spitting up. With this bottle, you can feed your baby in an upright or semi-upright position to reduce spitting up. Due to the fact that the nipple is filled with milk and not air during feeding, the baby does not swallow air, which means that feeding will be more comfortable.
Both bottles are indispensable if you want to breastfeed, bottle feed or just bottle feed your baby.
“My baby refuses to breastfeed but bottle feeds – help!”
Sometimes a baby gets used to bottle feeding and refuses to breastfeed. Therefore, it is important to use bottles that are suitable for combining breastfeeding with bottle feeding. If, nevertheless, you are faced with the fact that the child refuses to take the breast, try using silicone nipple covers to make the transition from the bottle to the breast and back more imperceptible.
Remember that if you want to combine breastfeeding and bottle feeding, it is worth waiting at least a month before offering a bottle, so that you are lactating and have time to get used to each other and develop a breastfeeding regimen.
Breastfeed and bottle feed your baby with pleasure
Remember that it takes a while for your baby to get used to bottle feeding. This is completely normal. If you have to go to work, be sure to set aside enough time to bottle train your baby beforehand.
Remember that every child is different, so what works for one may not work for another. With a little time and patience, you will find out what works best for your baby when he refuses a bottle.
You will identify your child's unique needs. However, if your baby still refuses the bottle after all the steps above, check with your pediatrician.
Articles and tips from Philips Avent
References:
*O.L. Lukoyanova, T.E. Borovik, I.A. Belyaeva, G.V. Yatsyk; NTsZD RAMS; 1st Moscow State Medical University THEM. Sechenova, "The use of modern technological methods to maintain successful breastfeeding", RF, 02.10.2012 3 llli.org - The Baby Who Doesn't Nurse
llli.org - Introducing a Bottle to a Breastfed Baby
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