How Can You Get Your Baby Used To A Bottle Naturally?

Getting your baby used to bottle-feeding requires considerable effort, but also some planning. You will also need mutual help and family support, because all your baby knows when it is born is breast milk. Although this is a delicate process, you will need a little persistence, it is essential to achieve your goals and to feed your newborn well. Discover all our advice today in this article.

Breast milk is the best food a baby can receive during the first few months of life. However, for various reasons it is also necessary to get your baby used to bottle feeding. Find out in this article today how you can do the best you can to get your baby used to the bottle naturally.

While this can be a slow process at times, you will need a little patience to get your newborn baby naturally used to bottle-feeding. Find out how to go about doing it in a simple and natural way.

If you have decided to bottle feed your baby, you will need to wait until breast milk production has started. Always check that the nipple tip is always very clean before offering it to your baby, as this will reduce exposure to possible infections.

Also remember to be careful to replace the nipple tip frequently. Also check that the pacifier is never damaged because your baby could suffocate if he swallows small fragments. Also, try to look for other alternatives before choosing a pacifier suitable for your baby. Sometimes hugging your child or playing soothing music can also help calm them down.

In addition to all these great tips, now find out everything you need to know before getting your baby used to bottle-feeding. 

Before your baby gets used to bottle-feeding

First of all, you should take into account that your baby’s feeding experience is unique. Breastfeeding not only serves to nourish the baby, but also establishes a very deep bond between mother and child. This is why it is not uncommon for the newborn to slowly get used to this new way of feeding.

In addition, although the baby comes barely born, he can already recognize the differences in smell, texture and heat between the nipple mother and artificial nipple. Indeed, he can perfectly perceive certain information that he perceives directly from the human nipple. Knowing this, you are more likely to face this process with more patience and encouragement towards your baby.

How to get your baby used to the bottle?

For all these reasons, in order for you to gradually get your baby used to bottle-feeding, you need to plan everything carefully and in advance. Especially if you know that your lifestyle or your needs require your baby to alternate breast and bottle at the same time.

To do this, the most recommended first thing is to wait until the breast milk is perfectly regularized. This event occurs three or four weeks after the birth of the child. Once breastfeeding has started, a two-week trial period should be considered before alternately introducing bottle-feeding. The goal is to resolve any complications that could be the consequence of the newborn’s changing feeding habits.

Since we have laid out the plan for getting your baby used to bottle-feeding, there are other likely aspects that you need to consider in order to ease the baby’s nutrition transition. With this in mind, today we want to share with you a short list of all the most important aspects for successfully managing changes in the nutrition of a newborn baby.

The best time to start

In the first place, we know that it is necessary to establish changes, but we must not turn this process into suffering for the baby. So instead of absolutely wanting to give him a bottle when he’s hungry. Instead, try to start making these changes when your child is happy and relaxed.

It is recommended to practice this technique several times to accustom the newborn. Above all, don’t try to want to do it all at once. Babies are much more associated with breastfeeding during these times.

However, if this technique doesn’t work, try bottle-feeding her a little later than usual. This way your baby will have more of an appetite than usual and will want to drink the whole bottle at once. You must also make the choice of a suitable bottle and a suitable mouthpiece.

The choice of the bottle and its mouthpiece is vital

To interfere as little as possible in changing the way you breastfeed your baby, it is recommended that you pay special attention to the choice of bottle. For this you can try the long, round and soft pacifier. Also avoid products that claim to be “anatomical” because they don’t look like mom’s nipple at all.

The purpose of choosing a good bottle is to provide through this tool an experience very similar to that of breastfeeding so that the child does not notice the difference. On the other hand, you must also pay attention to the size and flow of the nipples, this is crucial.

For this, it is necessary to find the size of the pacifier that most closely resembles that of the mother and its natural flow. Otherwise, the baby may experience stress if he notices that a little or a lot of milk is coming out of the pacifier.

The most recommended position

Nowadays, opinions about the position of the baby during feeding are very different. For example, some people recommend not to imitate breastfeeding when bottle-feeding the baby. On the contrary, they emphasize that one should instead keep the baby in an upright position, as if he were sitting.

You can reproduce this position by letting the baby sit in a secure seat or in a seat like the one used in automobiles. Once the baby is fully accustomed to bottle-feeding, you can place him or her in the native breastfeeding position again.

On the other hand, there are also some people who advocate keeping the baby in a natural position when breastfeeding so that he feels much more relaxed. In the end, you can completely determine the choice of technique depending on the results obtained with your baby.

Be careful with mixing breast and industrial milk

Did you know babies can smell their mothers within six meters? The ability of children to recognize their mothers is amazing.

For this reason, it is important not to allow someone else to give the baby the first bottle. In this way you will prevent the baby from acquiring possible confusion by giving him only milk from your breast. In this way, the child will be able to differentiate perfectly the sensory experience and thus quickly get used to the smell and taste of breast milk.

Of course, getting a baby used to a bottle is not a simple task, it takes time. In addition, you will need to put in a lot of effort, and have patience and perseverance. However, we are sure that with all these tips, you will be able to make this transition in less time and more calmly. Do you have another practical tip that worked for you during your breastfeeding period? Share it with us and the entire Improve Your Health community!

Giving your baby both breast milk and formula in the same bottle can be good for breastfeeding. However, there are some factors you should still consider before choosing mixed breastfeeding. We tell you more in this article. Discover all our tips and share them with other moms!