How to Feed a Baby

Unlike most tasks that you’ll do with your baby, learning how to feed a baby may not be one that you’ll have to do in the first few weeks of your baby’s life.

If your wife decides that she wants to breast feed exclusively and you don’t buy a breast pump for her, you won’t feed your baby at all initially.

So the first part of this may not be applicable to you, if so then skip to the next part.

If she is breastfeeding and you want more information check out this.

www.Breastfeeding-BFF.com Learn more about "How to Breastfeed" and help your wife. When your wife is learning how to breastfeed, the books make it sound so simple – but what about those topics they just don’t discuss? Here is your resource for answers to your not-so-traditional nursing questions. Working Mothers, schedules, breastfeeding-logs, etc. All the little things that help both our wives - and our sleep schedule.

I am going to provide you with information on how to feed a baby during different times throughout the first year of your baby’s life.

Note that the ages I’m giving you below are just suggestions – if your baby is ready sooner or later then what I put it’s no big deal.

As a disclaimer – please consult your pediatrician before feeding your baby anything that has not previously been authorized by the doctor.

Newborn to 4 Months

So the question is how do you feed a baby a bottle? The answer, stick it in his mouth.

Ok, so it’s not quite that simple, but it’s close.

When feeding a baby a bottle you’ll have to hold it. From our How to Hold a Baby section you’ll recall two techniques that work well for this type of feeding – the cradle hold and the football hold.

Both of these holds will have the baby on his back and will allow you a free hand to hold the bottle in the baby’s mouth.

During the first week of your baby’s life you may have to coax him into opening his mouth and taking the bottle. You can do this by gently rubbing the nipple on his lips until he opens up.

After that first week, he’ll figure out that when he sees the bottle he has food coming and may try to reach for it as you bring it to his mouth.

That’s all there is to it.

At this point we’re going to take a quick side bar and discuss how to burp a baby.

Whenever you feed a baby, it is important to burp him to help relieve him of the gas in his body. When sucking on a bottle, babies will ingest air along with the milk and this is what causes them to need burping.

So in order to burp a baby all you need is a gassy baby and a burp cloth. There are two ways in which I recommend for burping your baby.

Number one – place the burp cloth on your shoulder and hold the baby in the shoulder hold position. Gently pat the baby on the back until you get a burp. This is the tried and true way of burping a baby – I’m sure you knew how to do this before I told you.

Number two – sit the baby on your lap facing left (again if you want to do it the other way go for it – this is just how I did it). Take your left hand and place the baby’s chin on the webbing between your thumb and index finger to support the baby’s head and let the head lean over your hand.

This will look like a choke hold, so be sure not to squeeze your hand around the baby’s throat.

With your right hand, start at the bottom of the baby’s back and run it, slowly, but firmly, up towards the top. Do this a few times and also pat the baby’s back like you would if he were on your shoulder.

There were times when this was the only way I could get my daughter to burp, it isn’t as pretty, but it is effective.

4 to 6 Months

You don’t want to feed a baby cereal if he has trouble holding his head up. It’s best if he can sit in a high chair without your support to start this.

So again there is no rocket science here when you feed a baby cereal. Simply take the spoon and put it in his mouth.

Since your baby is used to the taste of the breast milk or formula he will be happy to eat it, even though the consistency is new to him.

There is also a good chance that for the first spoonfuls, anything you put in is going to come right back out. This is a new experience for your baby so be patient – he may not get it right away.

If you have a bib nearby, put it on him to help keep his clothes from getting messy. It won’t take you long to learn how to catch the food as it comes back out of his mouth – and when I did this I stuck it right back in.

The good news here is that the cereal will fill the baby up more than the milk and will allow you to stretch out the time between feedings.

6 to 8 Months

This is where you’ll go to the store and start buying actual baby food. It comes in little jars from 2 ounces up to 6 ounces. More or less depending on how much your baby needs.

At this point, some people opt to make their own baby food. This is actually very easy and can save you money - not to mention the fact that you'll know exactly what your baby is eating.

If you're interested in doing so check out Homemade Baby Food Recipes for ideas and suggestions for making your own baby food.

There isn’t really anything new on how to feed a baby here then what we discussed with the cereal. You’ll again use a spoon and again will need to catch the part that comes back out.

The big thing to note here is whether or not your baby has any allergies to any of the food. Most doctors recommend introducing new foods no sooner than every three days.

This simply helps you identify which foods your baby may be allergic to. Once you know that there are no allergies you can feed a baby that food anytime.

You’ll also start to see what tastes your baby has. My daughter loved orange foods; carrots, sweet potatoes, and peaches were some of her favorites.

8 Months to 1 Year

It is very important that when you feed a baby food that requires chewing that you supervise this very closely. All his life, your baby has been used to simply swallowing what you put in his mouth. Now he has to learn to chew it before swallowing – a very big step.

On a personal note – the first few times I gave my daughter cheerios she tried to swallow them before chewing. This caused her to choke and she ended up spitting up. I was right there the whole time and fortunately her body’s natural reflexes took over and forced the food out, but it could have easily turned much worse.

Your baby may struggle the first few times you feed him solid food, but don’t let that discourage you – keep trying and it won’t be long before he gets it.

So what types of foods can you feed a baby at this stage? Well the baby food companies have solutions for you. There are little finger sized foods that you can buy made especially for babies.

You can also feed a baby things like yogurt or soft cheese. Cut and mashed fruits and vegetables are also options. Even ice cream works (though not any with chunks or nuts) the facial expressions when the cold hits his mouth are priceless.

By the time your baby is a year old you can feed him almost anything. There are some things you should avoid as well as make sure you monitor the size of pieces you give him to help prevent choking. Check with your doctor on these things.

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