How to bond with your baby while bottle feeding
If you’re looking to make the most of feeding time, we’ve got some easy things that you can do to boost the baby bonding while bottle feeding. This isn’t just for Mom either – partners can practice all these tricks to connect and build a bond with their little one, especially in the early days.
Keep eye contact
Something as simple as locking eyes with your baby while you’re bottle feeding them can have huge benefits for your little one. As well as increasing the bond between the two of you, it can also improve their non-verbal communication and boost their social skills.
Skin to skin contact
We’ve all heard of this one! But stripping off a little while bottle feeding your baby can be a great way to improve your relationship. Skin to skin contact releases oxytocin (the love hormone) which warms up the feeder’s body and makes your baby comfortable and relaxed – how adorable?!
Pay attention to your baby
We know you sometimes have a million things going on and multi-tasking during bottle feeding can seem attractive to get some extra jobs done. But taking a few minutes to hold your baby close and paying extra attention to them while they’re enjoying their meal can be a really special bonding experience.
Talk and sing to your baby
Talking and singing to your little one while bottle feeding creates a powerful and emotional bond with them, even from a young age. As well as this, it can help to develop their language and thinking skills and improve their learning when it comes to school time!
Follow your baby’s feeding cues
Your baby can’t talk but they sure can communicate. Following feeding cues like stirring, stretching, crying or putting their hands to their mouths (among other cues) can make your baby feel secure. Bottle feeding also makes following cues a whole lot simpler as you can rely on a bottle instead of relying solely on Mom.
If you’re at all worried about disturbing the bond between you and your baby from not breastfeeding, you just have to remember that, whichever way to end up feeding your little one, you’re still pretty much guaranteed to be their all-time favorite person.
Formula-fed babies don’t automatically have a worse relationship with their parents, and even if you do breastfeed, that doesn’t mean that your bond will be stronger from the get-go. It all depends on how you tackle feeding – making sure it’s a special and calm time for you and your little one.
Helpful bottle-feeding products
There are a bunch of bottle-feeding products that can make feeding time a whole lot simpler. From nipples that your baby will love, to prepping perfection – these gadgets will save you time and sanity while bottle feeding your little one.
Bottles and Nipples
Our Closer to Nature baby bottles are perfect for introducing your baby to bottle feeding. Designed to feel just like mom, these award-winning bottles feature the most breast-like nipple ever made. These really will give you your best shot at making the switch!
Bottle Feeding Starter Sets
Complete with all the feeding essentials, our starter sets are designed to give you the very best chance of bottle-feeding success. This newborn set is the perfect thing to prepare babies for the next stage of drinking. The bottles even come complete with slow flow nipples to prevent overfeeding. Genius!
Sterilizer Set
Whether you’re feeding your baby formula or expressed breast milk, you’ll want to ensure the bottle is sterilized. This micro-steam sterilizer uses the natural cleaning power of steam to protect your baby bottles from bacteria. It kills 99.9% of harmful germs within minutes, making it one of the quickest, most convenient ways of keeping your baby safe.
