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Bottle Feeding

Bottle feeding your baby is an opportunity to both nourish and connect with your baby by being sensitive to their cues or signals. Bottle feeding can be used to offer expressed breastmilk or formula feeds to your baby. Here, we’ll walk you through the essentials, including preparing equipment, feeding tips, and answers to frequently asked questions. You and your baby are learning together. Be patient with the process and create a flexible pattern that works for both you and your baby. 

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Overview

Bottle feeding your baby is an opportunity to both nourish and connect with your baby by being sensitive to their cues or signals. Bottle feeding can be used to offer expressed breastmilk or formula feeds to your baby. Here, we’ll walk you through the essentials, including preparing equipment, feeding tips, and answers to frequently asked questions. You and your baby are learning together. Be patient with the process and create a flexible pattern that works for both you and your baby. 

Karitane Tip:
The only safe alternative to breastmilk for a baby under 12 months is infant formula.

Preparing for Bottle Feeding

Choosing and Preparing Equipment

  • Bottles and Teats: Choose bottles and teats that are designed for your baby’s age. Many options are available, so you may need to try a few to find the best fit for your baby’s feeding style.
  • Sterilisation: Before each use, clean bottles, teats, and any other feeding equipment in hot soapy water. Sterilise all equipment until your baby is 12 months old to prevent bacteria. Store sterilised equipment in the fridge until ready to use.

Sterilisation options include:

  • Boiling: Submerge bottles and teats in boiling water for 5 minutes, ensuring the water is boiling before you start timing.
  • Dishwasher: You can also run bottles through a dishwasher on a hot cycle, ensuring all items are completely dry before use.
  • Steriliser: Electric or microwave sterilisers are an effective way to sterilise bottles.

Feeding your Baby Formula

  • Choosing Formula: Any formula sold in Australia meets Australian Standards. We recommend using a cow’s milk-based formula as the first choice. Some babies may not be able to tolerate this and may need a special formula that is recommended by a health professional.
  • Water Quality and Temperature: Use cooled, boiled water for formula preparation. Always check the temperature on your wrist to ensure it’s not too hot for your baby.
  • Follow Instructions: Follow the instructions on the formula packaging carefully, as the correct water-to-formula ratio is essential for your baby’s health. Avoid adding extra water or formula powder.
  • Storage: Prepared formula can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Discard any unfinished milk left at room temperature for over an hour, as bacteria can grow and will upset your babies stomach.

Feeding Your Baby with a Bottle

  • Hold Your Baby Close: Always hold your baby when bottle-feeding. Cradle them in your arms in a semi-upright position comfortably, making eye contact and supporting their head. Talk gently to your baby while feeding.
  • Paced Feeding: Hold the bottle at a semi-upright angle to allow the milk to flow slowly, watch for when your baby needs to take a break from sucking and swallowing. This can prevent overfeeding and will help baby’s digestion.
  • Responsive Feeding: Watch for your baby’s hunger cues, such as rooting, sucking on their hands, or turning their head toward you. If your baby is older,  they may begin looking at or reaching for food, if they see the bottle they may become excited and open their mouth or make a sucking sound as a clear sign they’re ready to drink. 

Karitane Tip:
Always avoid propping the bottle or leaving your baby unattended during feeding, as this increases the risk of choking and ear infections
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Bottle Feeding FAQs

Between 3–12 months, most bottle-fed babies will feed about 4–6 times a day. The timing depends on their age, appetite, and whether solids have been introduced. Watch for hunger cues like reaching for the bottle or making sucking motions.

Prepare the formula according to the directions and amounts suggested as a guide only.  Follow your baby’s cues to know when they have had enough to drink. Give your baby a short break in the middle of the feed if needed and reoffer the bottle. They don’t need to finish all of the bottle. Watch for signs they are full including turning their head or pushing the bottle away, closing their mouth, arching back, or crying.

As solids are introduced around 6 months, milk intake may gradually decrease. Expressed breastmilk or formula milk are still the main form of milk to be offered under 12 months of age.

Cow’s milk should not be offered as the main drink until after 12 months. Before then, breastmilk, infant formula, or a combination of both can be used to meet your baby’s nutritional needs. Cow's milk can be used in cooking or mixed with foods once solids are introduced to your baby.

Around 12 months, encourage your baby to have milk from a cup in place of a bottle. Start by replacing one bottle feed with a cup of milk and gradually phase out bottles.

From around 6 months, you can offer cooled, boiled water in a cup with solids.  Before this age, formula or breastmilk provides all the hydration your baby needs.

Signs include:

  • Eating a wide variety and quantity of solid foods.
  • Being able to last longer between milk feeds.

By 6–12 months, some babies can sleep longer without needing a feed. Gradually reduce the amount offered at night or try settling your baby using responsive settling techniques such as rocking or patting to sleep.

  • Check the temperature of milk in the bottle by tipping some milk from the teat on the inside of your wrist, it should feel warm, not hot
  • Experiment with different bottle types or teat sizes.
  • Ensure your baby is not full, tired, or unwell. If they keep refusing the bottle, talk to your baby’s healthcare provider.

Spitting up small amounts is normal, especially if your baby swallows milk quickly or swallows air. Feeding in an upright position and paced bottle-feeding can also help prevent gas. Try feeding your baby their bottle over 20-30 minutes to make digestion easier.  Hold your baby upright after feeds for a short period allowing them to bring up any wind. If your baby is bringing up a lot of milk constantly, cries or is unsettled, speak to your health care professional for guidance.

You can, but prepare the formula separately first. Avoid wasting breast milk. Make sure the bottle contains an amount your baby is likely to drink. You can always offer more if your baby is still hungry.

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Karitane acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work and live. We celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of NSW. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

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