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Writer's pictureNaomi

Paced Bottle Feeding


When bottle feeding, you might hear us or your provider use the term ‘Paced bottle feeding’. This is a way of positioning your baby while bottle feeding that mimics breastfeeding & makes Baby “work” to get the milk in. It allows your baby to drink more slowly and take breaks, helping to prevent rapid overfeeding and tummy troubles. 




Why we recommend Paced Bottle Feeding 

  • The first reason is that it makes it easier for a baby to go back and forth between the bottle and the breast, because the feeding methods are similar and the baby won’t be as confused or tend to prefer one source over the other, because the bottle is faster, for example. 

  • The second is that the milk flow will be slower and more manageable for a small baby with paced bottle feeding, which leads to less digestive issues for them (gas, burping, spit up, milk coming back out of their mouth or nose, general discomfort). This second case is true regardless of whether you are breastfeeding or feeding human milk or formula from the bottle. 


In paced bottle feeding, rather than holding a baby lying down in the crook of your arm while feeding, we support them in a more upright position, almost sitting up, and hold the bottle more or less horizontally for them. The idea is that they are pulling milk in, rather than having it pouring down their throat, which is what sometimes happens when gravity and a not-slow-flow nipple are involved! They are more in charge of the feeding in this position, because they are sucking rather than gulping from a fire hose, and they also have the ability to turn their face away, because their head is not trapped in your arm as it would be if they were lying down. 


We also want to watch for the baby’s cues - if they appear to be gulping or breathing heavily while drinking, or are pulling away from the bottle, then you can give them a break by either tipping the bottle down so there is no milk in the nipple, or pulling it out of their mouth. This is part of the ‘pacing’ - we don’t want them to drink too quickly, because we are trying to have more of a peaceful, methodical flow. You can help your baby learn to slow it down or take a break when you see they need one. 


To see an example of how this is done, you can check out this video. She’ll show you the technique of lowering the bottle tip, but you can also remove the bottle from your baby’s mouth if they need a break. And she is sitting holding the baby in one particular position, but the great thing about paced bottle feeding is that as long as the baby is in that general upright position, you can hold them in any position that is comfortable for you - utilize pillows or the nursing pillow, or wedge yourself into the corner of the sofa. Bottle feeding for a newborn can still take up to 20-30 minutes - it should not be longer - but we definitely don’t want it to be in the 5 minute range, because that’s far too fast for them to get used to getting their meal, and they may be uncomfortable afterwards. If you have questions about how this is going for your baby, it’s something we’re happy to talk about!


~ Naomi, Infant Feeding Expert*


*If you need help to schedule your bundled Infant Feeding session with Naomi…email Elizabeth Parish

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