Following your baby's cues for bottle feeds
This page belongs to collection of short articles and videos in plain language, called When baby cries a lot in the first few months of life. Together, these articles and videos will give you a brief and simple summary of the Possums 5-domain approach to the crying baby. For comprehensive information on this topic, please consider reading The discontented little baby book.
The following can help to turn on your baby's feeding reflexes. You can do this by brushing the teat over your baby's lips or resting the teat on their chin. When feeding reflexes are turned on, you will see your baby open their mouth and 'search' for the teat.
Tilt the bottle so the milk covers the narrow end of the teat tip, which will ensure your baby gets milk, not air. It is ok to see air in the wider part of the teat. If you hear your baby sucking air when the bottle is emptier try tilting the bottle up a little more to fill the teat's tip with milk.
The aim is for your baby to take a 'big mouthful' of the teat. This will mean that the end of the teat is quite far back in your baby's mouth as your baby relaxes into a suck/swallow pattern. You don’t want to push the teat in, but you will see baby draw the teat back while you are supporting the bottle. If the teat is just in the front of your baby's mouth, the milk may pool in the front of their mouth, and they will be gulping the milk. This is not as comfortable for your baby.
You may notice your baby stops sucking from time to time. This means your baby is pausing for a breath. You can gently lower the bottle at this time so your baby can rest and then return them to the feeding position when your baby is ready. Use your judgement as to whether this is necessary or not. If your baby is gulping and guzzling, or their hands and fingers are splaying, they may be telling you they are needing a rest. If they are relaxed and drinking comfortably continue at their pace.
Cues that the feed is progressing well may include
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Rhythmical sucking and swallowing
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Calm state
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Regular body tone (not rigid or stiff)
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Eye contact and smiling as you and your baby communicate.
If your baby is irritable or fussy when feeding or is having difficulty feeding, we suggest that you seek the assistance of your GP, Maternal and Child health nurse, or NDC Accredited Practitioner.
Acknowledgements
These pages on bottle feeding in the Brief & simple summary of When baby cries a lot were co-written with Renee Keogh RN IBCLC, Founding NDC Educator.
I'm grateful to Professor Sophie Havighurst, Ros June, and Caroline Ma at Mindful, The University of Melbourne, for their feedback on the articles and videos in When baby cries a lot in the first few months of life. They helped me keep the language plain and the concepts as accessible as possible, for this brief and simple version of the Possums 5-domain approach to the crying baby.
Recommended resources
Your baby's position when bottle feeding
Building a positive relationship with food through paced bottle feeding
When does a baby have conditioned dialling up with the bottle and what to do about it?
