Artificial Feeding
Let’s start with an advice: Do not feel guilty if you decide to switch to bottle-feeding. It always requires a large excerpts from the mother and courage, so if you are unsure of your decision, please follow the maternal instinct and do not be afraid of the condemnation of others.
In some cases, artificial feeding is more appropriate for the child than breastfeeding, especially if the mother smokes, drinks or takes harmful drugs (certain drugs, alcohol and nicotine can be transferred to the child with the mother’s milk). In addition, bottle-feeding is the only acceptable solution for women living with HIV or suffering from other serious diseases, such as anemia, tuberculosis, or kidney disease. Also, switch to bottle-feeding is recommended for mothers taking certain medications.
Milk for the artificial feeding will provide your child with all necessary vitamins and minerals, and its nutritious properties are close to the properties of breast milk. Typically, milk for replacement feeding is an ordinary cow’s milk, only it has received special treatment and is easy to digest.
However, today one can find an alternative to this milk. For example, soy milk is specially designed for infants who are not carrying lactose, or kids with allergies to milk. However do not get involved in new developments: use a standard milk formula, if the doctor had not recommended otherwise.
When making milk for replacement feeding, it is important to accurately follow the instructions on the package. Feeding from a bottle can cause cramps, if you cook too weak or heavily concentrated milk or feed baby milk, heated to the wrong temperature.
Ready milk packaged in cardboard boxes or bottles will help you on the trip, but it is almost twice the price of conventional milk powder for artificial feeding.
You can keep the milk with a margin of 24 hours, leave it in the refrigerator and use as needed. However, after 24 hours from the time of preparation any unused milk should be discarded. Never reuse the remaining milk – it is popular place for breeding bacteria!
The temperature to which you need to heat the artificial milk to feed baby is individual – some kids love milk, heated to room temperature, and some like warm milk. To warm up the milk put the bottle in a pot with boiling water for a few seconds and then check the readiness of milk for feeding, dropping a few drops on your wrist.
If your baby swallows the milk too quickly, find the dummy smaller, and vice versa – if the child is not in a hurry to swallow, look for big dummy.
