Artificial Feeding or Breast Feeding?

As a parent, your primary concern for your children is their health. The health of your infant child is of utmost importance. It is as a result of your child’s inability to communicate his feelings to you. You must therefore keep an eye on your child’s diet to ensure that he never goes without food and grows up happily. Artificial feeding for newborns is one way to ensure your child gets enough nutrients.

With this, you can breastfeed your baby without being concerned about any of the potential difficulties. You have complete discretion over when and where you feed your child. Additionally, you may keep an eye on your child’s daily nutrient consumption. However, for optimum outcomes, you must select the newborn artificial feeding method that is most suitable for your child.

Artificial Feeding for Newborn:

After deciding on artificial feeding for the baby, the next choice is which feeding bottle to utilise. The two most important parts of the feeding bottle itself are the nipple and the bottle material. As a result, you should focus primarily on the numerous varieties of bottle containers and nipples that are offered for sale.

Nipples:

Utilize the parameters listed below to tailor your search. The following details the several kinds of nipples you can purchase:

• Material

Silicon and latex are the only two materials that can be used to make the bottle’s nipples. As a result, you must decide between nipples made of silicon or latex. In terms of the difference, silicon nipples are firmer and maintain their shape for a lot longer. Therefore, if your baby is a little older, you can buy the silicon nipple feeding bottle for him.

Baby bottle feeders with rubber nipples, in contrast, are softer and more flexible, making them the best choice for newborns without teeth. They don’t last very long, though, which is a disadvantage.

Check our range of silicon nipple bottle here.

• Shape

The feeding bottle nipples come in a variety of forms. It may have the conventionally designed bell-shaped nipples or orthodontic nipples, which have a flat side and an outward projection on the other. Since they rest comfortably on kids’ tongues, orthodontic nipples are easier for babies to grasp. If you want your infant to experience nursing, get a bottle with wide nipples. The size of these bottles is greater when compared to regular bottles.

• Disposable Nipples

They are frequently used while travelling and are designed for one-time use. There is no need to sanitise them because they are already sterile. Feed your baby by simply placing it into the bottle feeder. After feeding the baby, make sure to dispose of it. Never use it again because people toss things and use their nipples.

• Size of Nipples

It is an important factor to consider while buying feeding bottles for your child. Therefore, before investing in a bottle feeder, think about the baby’s age and the flow rate you think will be best for them. The best strategy to select the best nipple is to take into account its stage.

The lowest stage is a representation of the tiny nipple, suitable for a newborn baby. The size of the nipple increases the flow of milk. Change to larger nipples as your child gets older.

Also read: Best baby safety products for your little ones

Material:

You now understand how to select the nipples for your child. It’s time to consider the various bottle options on the market and which will work best for your baby. The sorts of bottles you can choose when purchasing a feeding bottle are as follows:

• Plastic baby bottle feeder

These infant bottle feeders are the most widely accessible on the market and are the least expensive of all the bottle varieties. Their strong body is the basis for their enormous popularity. When compared to other bottles, they are strong. However, parents are worried about potential health problems because BPA is contained in plastic bottles. Additionally, compared to glass bottles, plastic bottles require more frequent replacement.

• Glass feeding bottles

Plastic feeder bottles’ flaws are all fixed by glass bottles. Glass bottles are more likely to chip and break than plastic bottles, though, due to the fragility of glass. But don’t worry, you can prevent this by covering glass baby bottle feeders with silicon covers. Glass bottles have the benefits of being simple to clean and leaving no residue behind after cleaning.

• Disposable feeding bottles

You can benefit from the liners in these bottles. After feeding your infant, you can discard the liners once you’ve used them. The restriction they have is that you must carry a supply of liner with you while travelling. Please be aware that these liners are pricey. You can easily clean them, and you don’t have to sterilise them. They are therefore the greatest choice when travelling.

• BPA free baby bottle feeder

When buying plastic bottles is your only wish, then you must select BPA free bottles. These bottles are opaque in appearance and cover all the limitations of normal plastic bottles. Using BPA free baby bottle feeder, you prevent you child from exposure of harmful toxins. Check our BPA free bottle here.

• Sterilizer baby bottle feeder

Unlike other feeding bottles, sterilizer bottles don’t need separate sterilizers for them. You can easily sterilize them by heating in microwave. However, you will find them little expensive to buy. Further, they heat more than any other types of bottles.

• Angular baby bottle feeder

Unlike most of the bottles that carry cylindrical shape, these bottles have a bent of 45degree at their neck. Their design, allows the milk to accumulate at nipple. Thus, there is no air in milk flow, and hence it avoids creation of gas and colic.

• Anti-colic feeder bottles

Colic is caused, as mentioned above, by air interacting with milk flow. It makes milk poisonous and smelly, which irritates the infant when they consume it. Baby feeding bottles that prevent colic feature a design that minimises air mixing. It features a straw for milk flow and enables the infant to consume less milk for colic. They are pricey to purchase and challenging to maintain, but they are well worth it if you want your baby to have actual health.

Also read: Feeding bottle for babies: An overview

Artificial feeding Tips:

Artificial feeding for newborns gives you a chance to get to know and connect with your baby. The baby will feel safer if the majority of the feeds are given by you, your spouse, or another key caregiver. Make sure you are sitting comfortably and that your child is nearby. Enjoy holding your infant, looking into their eyes, and talking to them as you feed them. When feeding a newborn artificially, hold it a little bit upright. Hold their head up so they can breathe and swallow freely. Brush the teat against your baby’s lips when their mouth opens wide and let them draw it in. Always give your baby plenty of time to feed.

Getting started:

• Pick a time when your baby is calm and not too hungry or full.
• Begin by giving your infant thimblefuls of breast milk or infant formula. As long as you don’t know how much your baby typically consumes during a artificial feeding, you can give more if he or she is indicating that they are hungry.
• Your infant could be more willing to accept a bottle from someone other than you if you are breastfeeding.

How to bottle feed:

• To ensure that the milk only comes out when your baby suckers, hold the bottle at an angle rather than straight up and down.
• When your infant appears to need them, allow him or her to take breaks from drinking.
• Even if the bottle is not empty, keep an eye out for signs that your baby is full before stopping.

Things to remember:

• Only breast milk / infant formula in a bottle should be given to your baby.
• When you give your infant a bottle, keep them close.
• Never prop the bottle in your baby’s mouth or leave it there. Your kid may be more susceptible to choking, ear infections, and tooth decay as a result of this. Additionally, your infant might eat more than is necessary.
• Don’t give your infant a bottle to fall asleep. Milk may collect around a baby’s teeth, which may lead to tooth rot.
• If your baby is displaying indications of fullness, do not urge him or her to finish the bottle because doing so may result in the infant eating more than is necessary.

Why is Artificial feeding Useful?

Breastfeeding requires a lot of commitment from the mother. The requirements of a nursing newborn may cause some new mothers to feel constrained. Because breast milk is easier to digest than formula, breastfed newborns eat more frequently than formula-fed ones. This implies that mom might be required every two to three hours throughout the first few weeks. Although it may be exhausting, babies soon stop eating as frequently and begin sleeping through the night for longer periods of time.

Some new mothers are required to return to their outside jobs or must abandon their children for other reasons. Some of these mothers decide to give their kids formula in baby bottles. Mothers who desire to continue nursing can collect breast milk using a breast pump, and this milk can then be given to their newborns in a baby feeding bottle. This ensures that their baby will still benefit from breastfeeding even if mom isn’t available to do so.

Fathers may wish to help in feeding the infant as well. They can take part in the event by assisting mom with her transition. Other family members can assist with breastfeeding by providing the infant pumped breast milk when mom needs a break.

While nursing, a woman could feel self-conscious or anxious. Once the efficacy of a nursing procedure is established, these feelings usually vanish. Getting advice from others who have gone through the process previously is frequently useful. The majority of hospitals and birthing facilities provide new mothers with thorough nursing training.

Your doctor or nurse might be able to answer your inquiries or advise you to get in touch with a lactation consultant or breastfeeding support group.

Also Read: Hygienic Containers for a Healthy Baby

Artificial feeding and Hygiene:

Infants have a low immune system, thus any lapse in hygiene maintenance will result in an illness. Additionally, milk is a baby’s only source of sustenance, and we all know that milk is an excellent place for bacteria to flourish. Therefore, if you force your infant to drink contaminated milk, he could become ill. Therefore, it’s imperative that you thoroughly clean your baby’s formula bottle while artificially feeding him.

Before feeding him artificially, wash and sterilise his bottle to lessen the possibility of bacterial infection. As a result, your kid stays secure and healthy at all times.

Also read: Baby artificial feeding: How to introduce it to your toddlers?

General way of cleaning and sterilizing the formula bottle:

According to doctors, a baby’s underdeveloped immunity makes him more susceptible to infections until he is 12 months old. So don’t approach the chore of sterilising the baby formula bottle lightly. Each time you feed your infant artificially, you must clean and sanitise the feeding apparatus.

Cleaning the bottle in hot, soapy water is a good place to start. After that, put the entire bottle setup in a pot of simmering water. It may also be heated in a microwave. This sanitises the bottle of baby formula. After the bottle has been cleaned and sterilised, it must be placed in an airtight container.

What are the artificial feeding equipments that you need to sterilize?

In artificial feeding, you need to purchase a formula bottle where you store the breastmilk or formula milk. Whenever your baby feels hungry you feed him the milk with the formula bottle. Thus the formula bottle you buy consist of following parts –

• One large bottle to store milk
• Rings and caps for sealing the milk from leaking
• Teats for baby to such milk from bottle

The bottles and teats are available in different shapes and sizes you can choose which suits your baby the best. Teats can be latex or silicon made, you can choose anyone. The holes in teats also vary as small or large. Thus, select the one to whose flow rate your baby can adjust.

How to Clean the Artificial feeding Equipment?

You have already read the importance of cleaning the artificial feeding equipment of your child after every feed. So the moment your baby stops drinking milk, rinse it thoroughly with clean water. It makes the bottle easier to clean later. You can then use following methods to properly clean the formula bottle –

• Start with sanitizing your hand with soap water and then dry it properly with clean towel.
• Then, check the teats of formula bottle for any cracks. If the teat is damage, immediately replace it, as the bacteria grows in cracks.
• After this, you need to put all the bottle-feeding equipment in hot, and soapy water. Rinse them thoroughly in the water.
• You can the brush to clean and scrub the bottle and teats from inside. Caps and screw thread areas are most prone for bacterial growth. Thus, give these areas the special attention.
• Pass the water from the hole of teat. It will clean the hole of teat.
• Rinse everything thoroughly.

How to Sterilize the bottle-feeding equipment?

There are many ways of sterilizing the bottle-feeding equipment of your toddler after cleaning it:

• Boiling Sterilization
• Chemical Sterilization
• Steam Sterilization
• Microwave Sterilization

How Safe-O-Kid provides a range of baby safety products that Ensure Newborn Safety?

Babies need extra care and if you are worried about the health of your babies, Safe-o-Kid is there to take your burden out. Baby Safety Inc., a research-based company dedicated to making the world a better environment for children, owns the Safe-O-Kid brand.

Baby Safety Inc. has committed itself to researching the shifting range of risks that encircle our children and testing innovative protective measures in response. Our professionals have dedicated years of their life to child safety research and this is the result of their hard work that Baby Safety Inc has been able to regularly launch and update a comprehensive array of baby-proofing products under its brand Safe-o-Kid covering all possible aspects of a kid’s life and associated dangers.

These baby safety products could ease some of your responsibilities as parents who struggle to balance caring for their children with their regular chores. Safe-o-Kid (www.safeokid.com) is one such company that are dedicated to ensure safety for babies.

Baby Safety Inc., a research-based company dedicated to making the world a better environment for children, owns the Safe-O-Kid brand. Baby Safety Inc. has committed itself to researching the shifting range of risks that encircle our children and testing innovative protective measures in response.