The baby will need infant formula milk up until the age of one year. Iron is critical for your baby's healthy growth and development during the entire first year and a baby's iron reserves run out at around 6 months.
There are advantages of bottle feeding:
• You can see exactly how much milk your baby is getting at each feed.
• The dad can help feed his baby – and he gives you a break at the same time.
• Formula milk is harder to digest than breast milk and stays in a baby’s stomach longer so babies tend to go longer between feeds.
• You have more freedom as you are not the only person able to feed your baby.
Made to provide your baby with vitamin k as 1; 10,000 (NHS statistics) babies suffer from vitamin k deficiency.
There are disadvantages of bottle feeding to especially as it’s not the natural way:
Babies who are bottle fed using formula milk are more likely to develop illnesses, such as diarrhoea or a chest, ear or urine infection.
When making formula milk, it is possible to get the mixture wrong and make it too strong, too weak or too hot.
There is a lot of work involved in washing and sterilising all of the equipment that is needed for bottle feeding.
In studies that compared breastfed babies with those who were bottle fed, bottle fed babies were found to have an increased risk of obesity.
Bottle feeding can be expensive.
Once you have decided not to breastfeed your baby, it is difficult to reverse the decision and begin breastfeeding.
Breast milk has living cells in which bottle milk can’t supply.
Choosing the right formula for your baby can be difficult.
Sterilizing and bottles
Another issue in bottle feeding is the sterilisation, getting it the right temperature and finding the right size teats which I will raise in my article.
Bottles are available in all different shapes and sizes. They usually have a wide neck for easy cleaning and a lid to protect the teat. Teats are available in different shapes too. The hole in the teat must be the right size, if it’s too big the milk is let out fast enough to choke the baby, if it’s too small the baby sucks too hard and swallows air. Everything needs to be sterilised- bottle, teat, bottle brush, the lot. There are 3 main types of sterilization chemical steam and electrical. Babies are very vulnerable to food poisoning. The bacteria which causes food poisoning grows well in milk. It’s important to keep everything sterile when making up formula milk feeds. One way to sterilise feeding equipment is to use a steam or microwave steriliser, these are quick and easy to use. You can also sterilise bottle by boiling them for at least 10 minutes in a full saucepan of water or you can soak them in a solution of cold water and special sterilisation tablets.
Making up formula
Boil kettle. Water needs to be at least 70ºc so you shouldn’t let it cool for more that 30 minutes
make sure you wash your hands to get ready of any bacteria left on your hands
use sterile equipment
add right amount of water
Add right number of scoops of formula. Level the scope out with a sterile knife
shake until thoroughly mixed (preferably with the cap on)
Run bottle under cold water to cool. Test on inside of your wrist it should be at 37ºc
Use the bottle within 2 hours or throw away the milk.
Questionnaire
1. How many children do you have?
2. If you have more than one child state how you fed each one below otherwise continue to question 3
Answer all questions about youngest child
3. When you were pregnant how did you want to feed your baby?
Bottle
Breastfed
Bottle and breast combined
4. Were you able to feed your baby in that way?
Complete questions 5 – 10 if you breastfed
Complete 11 – 17if you bottle fed
All answer questions, 19, 20
5. What were the disadvantages of breastfeeding for you?
6. What were the advantages of breastfeeding for you?
7. How long did you breastfeed for?
8. Did you breastfeed for as long as you wanted to?
Yes
No
9. Why did you stop breastfeeding?
10. Would you recommend breast feeding to new mums?
11. Was bottle feeding your first option for feeding your baby?
Yes
No
12. Why did you decide to bottle feed?
13. What were the advantages for you?
14. What were the disadvantages for you?
15. If you had another baby would you bottle feed it again?
Yes
No
16. How long did you bottle feed for?
17. Would you recommend bottle feeding to new mums?
18. People say that babies can get ill or more susceptible to illness if bottle fed did you find this the case?
19. Are you aware of the health benefits of breast feeding?
Yes
No
20. If so did this influence your decision on how you feed your baby?
Yes
No
Answer to questionnaire
How many children do you have?
Person 1 – 2
Person 2 -1
Person 3- 1
If you have more than one child state how you fed each one below otherwise continue to question 3
Person 1 – both breast
Answer all questions about youngest child
When you were pregnant how did you want to feed your baby?
Person 1 - breast
Person 2 - breast
Person 3 – breast
Were you able to feed your baby in that way?
Person 1- yes
Person 2- no
Person 3- yes
Complete questions 5 – 10 if you breastfed
Complete 11 – 17if you bottle fed
All answer questions, 19, 20
What were the disadvantages of breastfeeding for you and your baby?
Person 1 –Became very tiring as I was breastfeeding so there for was the only person getting up to feed the baby for its night feeds also baby was unsettled and didn’t latch on well for the first few days.
Person 2- N/A
Person 3- breast were sore at the start of breast feeding but did wear off also found it hard to know if the baby was getting enough milk.
What were the advantages of breastfeeding for you and you baby?
Person 1- I knew it provided my baby the best protection, it helped me bond with my baby quicker and I there was no risk of it becoming unsterile and was always at the right temperature. All so got back in to shape quicker
Person 2- N/A
Person 3- knowing that it was best for your baby, no bottles or sterilising and a lot cheaper than bottle feeding.
How long did you breastfeed for?
Person 1- 6 months
Person 2 – yes
Person 3 – 6 months
Did you breastfeed for as long as you wanted to?
Person 1- yes
Person 2 – N/A
Person 3- No
Why did you stop breastfeeding?
Person 1- fed up to 6 months which is the recommended amount and then I went back to work.
Person 2- N/A
Person 3 - back to work.
Would you recommend breast feeding to new mums?
Person 1- yes, it is the natural way to feed the baby although can be challenging at times when leading a busy lifestyle.
Person 2- N/A
Person 3- yes of course it’s the natural way.
Was bottle feeding your first option for feeding your baby?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – no
Person 3 N/A
Why did you decide to bottle feed?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – originally wanted to breast feed but struggled due to a suzerain, I was overtired and lead a busy life style also wanted the dad to have a chance to bond with the baby
Person 3 N/A
What were the advantages for you?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – both parents could feed the baby and easy to know how much milk the baby was getting
Person 3 N/A
What were the disadvantages for you?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – sterilising and heating was a pain and also was expensive.
Person 3 N/A
If you had another baby would you bottle feed it again?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – I would try to breast feed for the experience but maybe for only a short while as my lifestyle and over tired.
Person 3 N/A
. How long did you bottle feed for?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – till 2 years old.
Person 3 N/A
Would you recommend bottle feeding to new mums?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – I would persuade new mums to try and breast feed as I believe that provides the best protection and is the natural way, but if you do decide to bottle fed don’t feel guilty as it had negative effects on my baby at all.
Person 3 N/A
People say that babies can get ill or more susceptible to illness if bottle fed did you find this the case?
Person 1- N/A
Person 2 – No
Person 3 N/A
Are you aware of the health benefits of breast feeding?
Person 1- yes
Person 2 – yes
Person 3 - yes
If so did this influence your decision on how you feed your baby?
Person 1- yes
Person 2 – yes
Person 3 - yes
Conclusion from the questionnaire
From the questionnaire I found that all 3 mothers would have liked to breast fed but only 2 of them did when their babies arrived. There were clearly advantages for both breast and bottle but the overriding advantage was that breast is best for you and your baby as it provides antibodies which formula milk simply can not provide.
Website research
Planning the
The article
To see how my article should be set out I have looked at other articles from parenting magazines to see some examples. Most of the articles appeared to have the same structure and only the content and information was different. In my research I found that a good article needs:
Lots of relative pictures – catches people eye and gives you a idea of what the article is about
Colour- gets peoples attention
Bold headings- organises the article with out making it look boring, shows clearly what the article is about
Big title to attract peoples attention and to tell them what the article is about
Making my article
I am going to make my article using Microsoft publisher. I will use light blues and pinks as they are normally the colours for baby boys and girls. I will use relevant pictures so people can see quickly and easily what my article is about. I will use bold headings so people can see what section is about breast feeding and what section is about bottle feeding and will also set it out in columns. My article will be 3 A4 pages long.
The first page will introduce my article and give a quick summary of what my article includes. I will use a bold title and lots of pictures to draw attention and it will inform the reader of what the article is about.
My second page will be the advantages and disadvantages of breast feeding. It will contain lots of facts about breastfeeding and the advantages and the disadvantages of breast feeding. I will use my research from my questionnaire, websites and school work. Putting this in my article will help the parents make an informed decision because they have all the necessary facts and information.
On the last page I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of bottle feeding and may include some facts about sterilizing and then conclude my article. I will use my research from my questionnaire, websites (especially the formula and bottle company websites) and school work. Putting this in my article will help parents make an informed decision and they have all the necessary information to decide weather to bottle feed or breast. I will then conclude my article.
Bibliography
School books
Notes made in class
Mothers
Evaluation
In the planning I found that making a list of what I would need and where could get my information from was helpful as when I ran out of ideas of where to look it gave me ideas. The least helpful part of my planning was the plan of action as I found it very hard to stick to so I just ended up writing it as I did the task. I found the questionnaire useful as they gave me opinions and what people actually thought instead of just facts. The least help was the research on how to make a bottle feed up as I didn’t use this information in my article anyway. When planning the article I found it very helpful to look at other article to see how to set mine out e.g. colours and headings. When I showed a mother she thought my article was very informative and it would give people facts to help them make there decision easier. She thought the lay out looked professional and bold headings made it clear and easy to read. She thought I answered the brief well. I think my article was eye catching and gave mothers the information they would need to make the decision that was right for them. Next time I would spend more time researching to get more opinions. In my planning I would try and write my plan of action first and stick to it. I would also include breast feeding positions in to my article as this would help mothers who were having problems breast feeding their baby. Overall I think I completed the task well and to the best of my ability I did this my producing an article highlighting both the advantages and disadvantages without it being one sides. I hope my article would help new mums make an informed decision.
Date
Class work
Home work
29/02/12
Introduction to task 2 what should be included.
Design front cover and write introduction.
7/3/12
Brain storm sources of information. Research leaflets and magazines for breast feeding information.
Research breast feeding and bottle feeding (advantages and disadvantages, reasons for choice and advice given) 5 sites- write short summary of the information you found.
4/3/12
Look for questionnaire information.
Type questionnaire up.
21/03/12
Analyse and plan an article.
Create your article.
I wanted to find more information about what was in the formula milk and peoples opinion on it so I decide to look on the SMA website, popular bottle milk. Before entering the sight you have to agree to this notice making all mothers who visit the website aware that breast is best and nothing compares to it.
Georgina Butler