Bottle Feeding


In the 1950s and 1960s, bottle feeding was made very fashionable by a number of Hollywood film stars who were photographed feeding their babies the "modern way". The companies which manufactured artificial baby milk spent large sums of money promoting their product, not only in the industrialised countries but also in the poorer countries of the world - with awful, sometimes fatal, consequences for millions of babies, who suffered from poor nutrition and from diseases spread by lack of hygiene and unsterilised equipment. Today, we can be confident that, while breast milk remains the best food for babies, infant formula or artificial baby milk is a good second choice - and far superior to ordinary animal milks or soybean milk.

Advantages:

  • Infant formulas are manufactured to very strict standards and are as close to breast milk as it is possible to get.
  • Anyone who is caring for baby can be responsible for feeding.
  • An exhausted mother can sleep and relax while someone else takes care of her baby.
  • The mother can still bond with her baby.

Disadvantages:

  • Does not contain the antibodies against infections and illness which are found in breast milk.
  • Does not change from feed to feed or within the feed, as breast milk does.
  • Is time-consuming as bottles and teats must be washed and cleaned after use, then sterilised.
  • More equipment to carry around with baby - bottles of boiled water and containers of milk powder.
  • Formula and equipment make bottle-feeding more expensive than breastfeeding (even allowing for the cost of breastfeeding mother's increased food intake).  



  • Text source: Parenting Guides - Baby Food