Related Articles About Infant Formula Formula Choices Milk Allergies Soy Beverage Warning Warming Infant Formula Vitamins, Yes or No? Bottle-feeding may not be as easy as it seems. Below are some tips to make feeding your baby formula a bit easier.
	Check the Temperature of the Formula - See Warming Infant Formula.
	Be Consistent in Preparation - When preparing infant formula, make it the same way each time. It is preferable to use distilled or spring water or change your home water filter frequently.
	Relax - Your baby can sense your being tense, so make the mood right. Dim the lights, play soothing music, get physically comfortable in a well padded chair with arms, position yourself so you can easily look into your baby's eyes. You may want to turn off the television, radio and telephone ringer as well. This is your time to bond with your new baby and get to know each other. Avoid interruptions.
	C-Section Births - After a cesarean birth, Mom's tummy is sore. Try the football hold or a pillow across your lap to help support the baby.
	Hold the Baby and the Bottle - Hold your baby securely, but not tightly. Bonding will occur more naturally if you imitate positioning for breast-feeding. Holding the baby in a semi-upright position and holding the bottle. This will help keep air bubbles from being swallowed by the baby. Bottle propping can lead to the baby choking as well, so avoid propping.
	Alternate Sides - As with breast-feeding, alternate hold positions from side to side. This will help your baby's eyes and neck to develop more equally. Try alternating halfway through the bottle after burping your baby. By doing this from the very start, your baby has a better chance of not choosing a preferred side.
	Burp Your Baby - Get into the habit of burping about half way through the feeding and after feeding. This may help prevent spitting up.
	Don't Ounce Count - At least in the beginning. As with breast-feeding, your baby's appetite will vary from day to day, hour to hour. Just because he ate 3 ounces yesterday at noon, doesn't mean he will want the same today. It is difficult, if not impossible to put a new baby on a feeding and sleeping schedule, so go with the flow. You're baby will fall into a pattern all his own soon enough. As the first few weeks pass, your baby will let you know if he is not getting enough. In the meantime:

	If your baby is 0-1 month, start with 2-3 ounces in the bottle and offer every 3-4 hours. In the first month, wake a baby who sleeps more than 5 hours and offer a bottle.
	Older babies will require more formula. For 2-6 months, start with 4-6 ounces of formula every 4 hours.
	Over 6 months may require up to 8 ounces along with food on a regular schedule of meals and naps.
	No more than 32 ounces in a 24-hour period is recommended.

	Water Supplementing - It is not necessary to supplement water, however, during very hot weather, water bottles are fine. Do not worry if your baby rejects water though. Check with your pediatrician on the amount of water to feed your baby especially during illnesses with fever.
	Pacifiers are fine - Pacifiers offer your baby an outlet for her sucking reflex without over eating or using your breast as a human pacifier. Offer the pacifier between meals. Never use a pacifier to replace a feeding. Babies are supposed to be chunky. Your pediatrician will determine if your baby's weight is within normal limits. Pacifiers can be used until 4-5 months of age, when your baby's sucking reflex subsides.
	Spitters - Some babies are spitters by nature. The valve that prevents the back-flow of food from the stomach and esophagus is not fully developed and the baby will spit up a considerable amount of formula. Not to worry. Most spitters will outgrow this condition. It could take several months or several weeks depending on the child. If you have serious concerns about the amount your baby spits up, contact your pediatrician. Vomiting and spitting are distinctly different. If your baby is vomiting, contact your pediatrician immediately.
	Never Put Cereal in a Baby's Bottle - Never add cereal to an infant's bottle. The myth that this will make him sleep longer is just that, a myth. (See Introducing Solids)
	Does my Baby have Colic or a Milk Allergy? - See Colic and Crying and Milk Allergies.
	Just Weaned from Breast to Formula - Weaning can occur at virtually any age in the first year from breast to formula. Keep with your child's breast-feeding schedule at first and offer the bottle frequently. You may notice that your baby will be full for longer periods of time with formula. That is because formula tends to have a heavier consistency. Try adding formula to cereal as an introduction for babies over 4 months of age. (See Weaning your Baby - Breast-Feeding)

Related Articles
About Infant Formula
Formula Choices
Milk Allergies
Soy Beverage Warning
Warming Infant Formula
Vitamins, Yes or No?

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Bottle Feeding - Getting Started