Breast feeding vs bottle feeding — what’s best for the baby?

The perils of bottle feeding from an expert. A must read!

World Breastfeeding Week is from 1st August to 7th August.

Handling your infant or even your toddler a bottle of milk is a common practice. But did you know that the bottle is doing more harm than good to your baby. Here’s why you should give the bottle a miss:

Bottles can cause nipple confusion: If you are planning to keep shuttling between bottle feeding and breastfeeding, it isn’t a great idea. ‘Breastfeeding is tiring and draining for new mums, but if the baby gets acquainted with the silicon nipple, she might refuse to take feeds at the breast. This would keep the baby off breast milk which is a rich source of nutrients and enzymes needed for your baby’s good health,’ says Sonali Shivlani, an Internationally Certified Pregnancy, Lactation and Child Nutrition Counsellor.

Bottles can lead to overfeeding: While it is good to feed your baby well and keep him nourished, overfeeding is not insisted. ‘When you feed your baby with the bottle you are constantly monitoring the quantity of milk intake and might end up feeding him more than what he actually needs. While at the breast the baby suckles happily and can monitor his intake on his own,’ says Shivlani. Did you know breastfeeding is good for the mother too?

Bottles can cause colic:Experts believe that intake of air during feeds can lead to colic (severe pain the abdomen caused by wind or obstruction in the intestines). ‘When the baby suckles from the bottle he takes inairalong with the milk too, hence the colic,’ says Shivlani. Here’s what you should do when your baby cries due to colic.

Bottles can cause infection: The bacteria in the air can get inside the bottle through the nipple or just take refuge on it if kept open for a long time. Hence cleaning the bottles right is important. ‘If not sterilized properly they can be the cause of a host of infections,’ says Shivlani.

Bottles can pose to be an inconvenience: Now think of this,breastfeeding is natural and instant, but all those instant formula feeds would need you to do more work. Boiling water, mixing the right quantity, cooling the mixture and then proceed to feed. Being a new mum is too much of work anyway, why add more, don’t you agree?

Bottles can lead to dental troubles: ‘Constant use of bottles can lead to improper dental development leading to orthodontic intervention, such as braces in the future,’ warns Shivlani.

Bottles can lead to ear infections: ‘In bottle feeding the chances of milk pooling through to the ear canal is higher. If it goes unnoticed this can lead to painful ear infection in the baby,’ says Shivlani.

Bottles can hamper aesthetics: All that suckling on the silicon nipple right from infancy can also lead to improper development of facial muscles.‘Bottle suckling comes in the way of facial development and restricts the facial muscles to be enhanced correctly,’ says Shivlani.

 Bottles can come in the way of bonding: ‘Bottles are artificial and they do not have the personal touch and warmth of the mother. Breastfeeding gives more skin to skin contact that also contributes in bonding with the baby, a bottle fed baby misses out on that,’ points out Shivlani.

Bottles can cause burns:Even though this is unintentional but accidents can happen with bottles. ‘If the temperature is not checked correctly you might end up handling your baby milk that is too hot for him, and it won’t spare his delicate lips and tongue for sure,’ cautious Shivlani.