Baby Feeding

As the proud parents of a newborn baby, you will have many choices to make as they grow and the feeding method you choose is one of the most important ones. Prior to the last century this was not even a question that mothers had to worry about and it was as simple as feeding your baby with breast milk, there were no alternatives.

When science and technology introduced baby formula, mothers were taught that they had an easy choice between two options and were even at some point led to accept that bottle feeding with formula was better for the babies’ health than breast-feeding.

Baby Feeding

Breast Feeding Babies

Fortunately, common sense has prevailed and now it is widely accepted by all paediatricians and other qualified medical professionals that newborns benefit most from breast feeding, not least for the loving bond that it automatically creates between mother and child. Apart from the natural bond, that breastfeeding creates; there are so many other reasons that all women, who can, should breastfeed.

Advantages of Breast Feeding

• Protects your child from many illnesses and infections that non breastfed babies develop.
• The colostrum that is present in your milk in the first few days after childbirth is extremely nutritious and full of antibodies that provide the best resistance to infection.
• Provides the perfect food, full of the necessary vitamins and minerals, which your baby needs.
• Your baby’s eyesight, speech and intelligence will develop much better.

Disadvantages of Formula Feeding

• If your baby is not breastfed but is rather bottle fed with infant formula, there may be a higher risk of cot death.
• There will be more chance that they will develop an allergy even later on in their life.
• Using formula is more expensive, for not only the formula itself but also all the baby products that you will need for feed times and for sterilising.
• Babies that are not breastfed are more likely to end up needing medical attention, which is a further expense for medical bills.

Sometimes it may take a while for both of you to learn how to breast feed, but you will have many qualified people at the hospital to get you both comfortable with the idea of how to do it. A few women will experience discomfort at first, but this will go away quickly once the baby learns to latch on properly. Apart from advice you will receive when your baby is born, the Australian Breastfeeding Association is a wonderful organisation that is extremely helpful and there are so many mothers who are part of it that are eager to help anyone who is experiencing difficulty.

Bottle Feeding Babies

For many women, especially for those who have careers and need to support their family, total breast feeding may not be an option. However, many women have managed to work and give their baby breast milk by bottle feeding. When at home you can continue to breast feed and then use one of the many breast pumps that are available to extract the milk for your baby to drink during the day. Babies learn fast and a feeding from a bottle and from the breast will soon be something that your new baby will accept, during the night they can breast feed and then when you need to work they will know that they have bottle feeding. This way you can still be sure of giving your child the best that nature has to offer ensuring their nutritional needs are take care of for at least the first six months.

Formula Feeding Babies

Using the correct formula is a healthy option and it will contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals that your child needs. Your biggest decision that you need to make is what type of baby formula you will give your child. Your child’s doctor will be the best person to seek advice from before choosing to start your baby on formula. The choices that you will find on the shelves can be overwhelming and although most of them have similar ingredients, your child’s specific nutritional needs are not always automatically provided for. Just because an infant formula is expensive or one of the top brands does not guarantee that, it will provide your baby everything that it needs.

Feeding Babies Solid Foods

It is important to wait at least six months before starting to introduce solid food to your baby. Introducing solid foods too early may create intolerance to some food, as the digestive system is still too immature to digest certain food types.

Your baby will start giving you a few signs that they are ready to try solids and are ready to be weaned off of breast milk or formula. They may start showing an interest in what you are eating and some babies will even start chewing when you are eating. The extrusion reflex, when babies push their tongue forward and upwards, will disappear and they will be able to start eating from a spoon and you can eventually unpack that baby feeding set you bought when they were two days old.