US model and celebrity Chrissy Teigen broke the mum-ternet last year with her social media post about formula feeding, when she posted: “People have surrogates, people have trouble breastfeeding and all you hear as a new, anxious mom is how breast is best.
“Normalize breastfeeding” is great. “normalize formula” is great, too! so yeah. That’s all! Normalize formula! your baby is gonna be BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, AND OK.” @chrissyteigen
There are benefits of breastfeeding, but we know that it’s just not possible for every mother for a variety of reasons, whether that be low breast milk supply, being on medication or if your baby has a rare disease.
We also know that some mums like to co-ordinate between breast and formula feeding, so there’s really not a one-size-fits all approach. The most important thing is that your baby gets fed.
Whatever journey you are on, whether you’re bottle feeding formula or expressed milk (or both), there’s an awful lot to consider in the early days and it can feel overwhelming with questions like, what equipment do I need? How do I know when baby is hungry and when they are full? How do I keep everything clean?
So that’s why we’re sharing this handy guide of do’s and don’ts for bottle feeding, along with our top rated baby feeding products, loved by real mums.
Do’s
- Do trial a few different bottles when you’re starting out, to see which one works best for baby
- Do try their first bottle when baby is happy and relaxed rather than when they are hangry!
- Do make sure everything is clean before every feed – sterilise your bottles and wash your hands
- Do choose formula that is appropriate for the age of your baby
- Do follow the correct guidelines for storage
- Do get comfy! Settle yourself down in a comfortable position and calm environment
- Do have a muslin cloth handy
- Do hold your baby so that they are fairly upright and be sure to support their head
- Do gently brush the teat of the bottle on baby’s lips and let them draw in the teat themselves
- Do be patient
- Do keep the teat full to avoid baby taking in air while they are feeding
- Do enjoy the blissful feeling of gazing into your baby’s eyes when you’re feeding them
- Do listen to baby’s cue’s that they’ve had enough
- Do old baby upright and gently rub or pat their back to bring up any wind
- Do clean bottles, teats and feeding equipment in hot, soapy water as soon as possible after the feeds and before sterilising
- Do change bottle teats every 2-3 months
- Do speak to your health visitor or GP if you have any concerns
Don’ts
- Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, you’re doing the best you can
- Don’t force baby to feed
- If you’re formula feeding, don’t add any extra formula powder than is required
- Don’t worry if they don’t finish the bottle, but throw away any unused formula or milk
- Don’t overdo the winding. Wind isn’t as big a problem as many people think!
Our best baby bottle feeding sellers
1. Newborn Baby Bottles Starter Kit:
A perfect starter for ten. Our newborn kit contains everything you’ll need, including bottles, bottle brush, cotton bib and more. If your little one doesn't take to the bottles, don't worry because they all come with a with an acceptance guarantee or your money back.
5* customer review: “Excellent starter set, I love Nuby bottles. These bottles are the only bottles that my little one took, the quality is great and it help us with the colic issues that we had with other brands. I love the new designs.”
2. Combat Colic Easy Latch Bottle:
As a wide neck baby bottle, it's easy to fill and clean, has a leak-proof sealing ring and it's natural shape makes it easy to hold with textured side grips to help too.
5* customer review: “Great for newborn baby, slow flow and easy to feed our little one. Great quality too.”
3. Decorated Combat Colic Bottles:
These super cute feeding friend decorations are so hard to resist and perfect for feeding your baby. These bottles are multi-award winning and you get three in a pack, so you can have some sterilising while you use the others.
5* customer review: “Excellent bottles! We've tried 3 different brands but my daughter prefers these as they're easy to latch on and I absolutely love the cute designs!”
4. Reduce Reflux Bottle for 'Sit-up' Feeding:
Our Reduce Reflux bottle is designed to make bottle feeding a stress-free experience for you and your baby thanks to the unique, weighted straw that allows your little one to feed in a sitting position as recommended by healthcare professionals to help reduce reflux, colic and wind.
5* customer review: “The best thing I ever got my son suffered with colic until I started using these bottles absolutely amazing.”
5. Award winning Easy Latch Fast Flow Teats:
Fast Flow teats are inspired by the shape, texture & natural flex of mum’s breast encouraging babies to latch on more easily. They're designed to work with all Nuby bottles & have 3 unique advanced anti-colic valves which reduce air intake to help prevent painful colic & gas when your baby's feeding.
5* customer review: “Great teats, my baby accepted only these ones, she didn’t like any other brands.”
6. Silicone Brush With Stand:
It can be a bit tricky getting to hard to reach places without a special brush to hand. This brush has durable silicone bristles and a stand for storing it when you're not using it. The stand also has a little draining dish so once you've used the brush and stored it, any excess water will drip into the dish ready to be poured away.
5* customer review: “The silicon is much better and more durable than a normal bottle brush.”
7. UV Baby Bottle steriliser:
Our UV Steriliser uses ultraviolet light to sterilise your bottles and other baby items in just 3 mins with no water, microwave, chemicals, cooling time or drying.
5* customer review: “This is such a lifesaver. Can just pop anything in and its safe and ready to use in 3mins. I can even sterilise the electrical parts of my breast pump that I couldn't put in my steam sterilizer.”
For more bottle feeding advice, check out our bottle feeding FAQ’s. To view our full range of baby bottles, visit our baby bottles department.
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