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Even though the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding of infants up to 6 months, it is possible to bottle-feed your newborn baby from the maternity ward when you are unwilling or unable to breastfeed. Preliminary preparations, choice of bottle in the maternity ward… Here are the steps to follow.
Before birth: getting ready for your baby
Nothing worse than running around pharmacies with a tiny baby who has just arrived! So we buy in advance 3 or 4 bottles and the corresponding teats. We will need at least one 120 ml bottle and several 300 ml bottles, which we will not fill completely at first. We also buy a swab to clean the bottle, which will only be used for this purpose. Finally, in our kitchen, there is a separate space to dry bottles and accessories.
Before childbirth, we make an appointment with a midwife or a homeopathic doctor. He will prescribe medicine for us to take immediately after birth. Their action reduce the peak of hormones responsible for the flow of milk and will participate in the anti-inflammatory effect of analgesics given in the maternity hospital.
In the birth room, the medical team is informed of its choice of future parents to bottle-feed. This will be notified on our file. The mother can easily give her baby the “Welcome feed” but it is on the other hand not recommended to give the breast to his infant the following days. It is better indeed pass to the bottle to reduce the flow of milk.
Which milk should I choose for my infant when leaving the maternity ward?
In the shelves, we rush on infant milk 1st age (from 0 to 6 months). No need to give the same milk as at the maternity ward: our baby will get used to the one chosen for him. We can therefore buy it in advance! The majority of infant milks are made from cow’s milk and look more or less alike, the basic composition of the milk being fixed by European directives. If our baby has an allergy ground, we will opt for hypoallergenic milk.
It is essential to choose a milk suitable for the diet and specific needs of infants – what is not the milk of animal origin or the milk obtained from almond or soy juice for example, which we consume as adults.
How much milk will my baby need at birth?
Immediately after the birth, a childcare assistant will come to see us and provide us with single-use bottles (baby bottles). The caregivers will explain to us how to replenish the milk when we return home and, depending on our baby’s appetite, he will drink small amounts of milk from 10 to 30 ml, 6 to 8 times per 24 hours.
We will not be able to choose the milk given to our infant: all non-breastfed newborns receive the same mini-bottles pre-filled with infant formula, except if our child presents an allergic risk.
The average number of bottles or baby bottles per day
On average, a newborn baby claims 6 to 8 bottles per day. To reconstitute the 1st age milk, we usebottled water (with the words “suitable for infants”) orcold tap water (find out about the quality of the water in your municipality). In the latter case, run for a few minutes to prevent the water from stagnating and let stand to let the chlorine evaporate. No need to sterilize the bottle, a good wash with soapy water is sufficient. It is also rinsed thoroughly.
How long between each bottle?
There is no precise interval to be observed between each bottle, the important thing being to respond to our baby’s requests: he is therefore given small quantities of bottles each time he claims them. On average, however, we give at the beginning a 10 to 30 ml bottle every three hours about.
How much milk for my newborn at 1 week?
The important thing is therefore to meet the demand of our child during his very first days, but on average, a child consumes:
- 6 to 8 bottles of 10 to 20 ml on its first day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 30 ml on the second day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 40 ml on the third day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 50 ml on the fourth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 60 ml on the fifth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 70 ml on the sixth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 80 ml from its seventh to its fifteenth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 90 ml from its XNUMXth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 100 ml from their twentieth day
- 6 to 8 bottles of 110 ml from its thirtieth day
Testimonial: “My daughter had her first bottle with her dad. “
I made the decision not to breastfeed even before I was pregnant. For a lot of reasons. I found the bottle more practical, more reassuring. At the maternity ward, as I had a cesarean, my daughter was taken to the recovery room. She got her first bottle from her daddy. Thomas’ involvement was very important, as I was recovering poorly from the Caesarean. I had a fever, linked to the rush of milk.
For ten days, my breasts were strained with milk flowing. I took homeopathy, made cabbage poultices, wore bras… The staff were very helpful and helpful. Conversely, the talk about what the baby should take varied from one helper to another. Rather stressful for young parents! So to those who want to bottle-feed, I would say: listen to your baby, he’s the one who knows when he’s hungry! “
Eglantine, mother of Esther, 2 and a half months