Bottle Feeding Tips

Bottle Up author Suzanne Barston provides some insightful bottle feeding tips and talks about different formula types.
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Bottle Feeding Tips

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- A lot of formula-fed parents are very confused on the amount and frequency of what they should be feeding their baby, and this is because there's really no good information out there. But, on the other hand, I personally do not believe that we should be treating formula-fed babies that differently from breast-fed babies. And when I say that, I mean that we should be feeding based on hunger cues and not on what a chart tells us to be feeding. There are some basic guidelines, so for example, they say 2.5 ounces of formula approximately for every pound of body weight. So if you have a 10 pound baby, that means about 25 ounces of formula a day. But just like adults, there are some babies who have faster metabolisms or smaller appetites, so your baby may only drink 20 ounces of formula a day and still be growing and thriving perfectly well. Or you may have a baby who needs a little more. And I think there's a danger, because there's this meme that's been perpetuated that formula-fed babies are more prone to obesity. The studies on this are actually not that clear as the media's making them out to be, and in addition to that, we need to be careful not to underfeed, especially newborns, because babies need food to live. You really can't overfeed a newborn, unless you're forcing them to finish a bottle, or you are answering every single cry with feeding them instead of comforting them. You're probably gonna be okay. And newborns will throw up any excess formula that you give them. They don't have the capacity to comfort feed at that age, so just feed on demand, and try to learn hunger cues the same as a breast-fed mother would, breast feeding mother would, and you should be just fine.


Bottle Up author Suzanne Barston provides some insightful bottle feeding tips and talks about different formula types.

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Suzanne Barston, CLC

Blogger & Author of Bottled Up

Suzanne Barston, CLC is the former Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Family Magazine, a Certified Lactation Counselor, and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, women’s interest, and science/health topics. She is the author of Bottled Up: How the Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, and Why It Shouldn’t and blogs as her alter ego, the "Fearless Formula Feeder". "FFF", as it’s known to an international fan base representing over 40 countries, supports parents dealing with issues of guilt, fear, conflict and uncertainty regarding infant feeding difficulties and choices through critical assessments of research, pithy commentary, practical advice, and a weekly series allowing parents to share stories in a cathartic way. She is also the co-creator of the #ISupportYou movement. 

Barston was raised outside of Boston and earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in 2000. After living and working in Chicago and London, she now resides in Los Angeles with her husband, the photographer Steven Barston, and their two obnoxiously cute children. She and her husband were featured on two award-winning online reality series for Pampers.com, A Parent is Born and Welcome to Parenthood, about their pregnancy and first years as parents. Suzanne's writing and her work with FFF and Bottled Up have been featured in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, SheKnows.com, Babble.com, Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, Parenting, Babytalk, OhBaby!, Fit Pregnancy, The Observer, Yahoo Shine!, Australia's Good Weekend magazine, and on a variety of radio programs including KPCC's "Take Two", numerous NPR affiliates, "Parenting Unplugged", "Positive Parenting", "Mom Enough", "For Crying Out Loud", "Voice of Russia", and more. Suzanne was honored to be one of the keynote Voices of the Year in 2012 for the annual BlogHer conference.

She currently works both as a writer and as an Infant Feeding Counselor. 

 

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Transcription: 

- A lot of formula-fed parents are very confused on the amount and frequency of what they should be feeding their baby, and this is because there's really no good information out there. But, on the other hand, I personally do not believe that we should be treating formula-fed babies that differently from breast-fed babies. And when I say that, I mean that we should be feeding based on hunger cues and not on what a chart tells us to be feeding. There are some basic guidelines, so for example, they say 2.5 ounces of formula approximately for every pound of body weight. So if you have a 10 pound baby, that means about 25 ounces of formula a day. But just like adults, there are some babies who have faster metabolisms or smaller appetites, so your baby may only drink 20 ounces of formula a day and still be growing and thriving perfectly well. Or you may have a baby who needs a little more. And I think there's a danger, because there's this meme that's been perpetuated that formula-fed babies are more prone to obesity. The studies on this are actually not that clear as the media's making them out to be, and in addition to that, we need to be careful not to underfeed, especially newborns, because babies need food to live. You really can't overfeed a newborn, unless you're forcing them to finish a bottle, or you are answering every single cry with feeding them instead of comforting them. You're probably gonna be okay. And newborns will throw up any excess formula that you give them. They don't have the capacity to comfort feed at that age, so just feed on demand, and try to learn hunger cues the same as a breast-fed mother would, breast feeding mother would, and you should be just fine.