Offering a bottle to breastfeeding baby may influence their breastfeeding.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t offer bottles if you want, nor that every baby who is bottle fed go on to develop challenges with breastfeeding. However, I do want to share this information you can introduce bottles in the most protective way in order to continue to breastfeed your baby in the way you want to!

Starting solid foods is an exciting time. It is a new phase in your baby’s development one that you understandably want to embrace, but how do you do it? What are the practical steps you need to take?

Bottle refusal in breastfed babies is a common phenomenon and for those families who choose for a bottle to feature as part of their breastfeeding journey it can be highly frustrating to be met with a baby who won’t take the bottle.

Carrying or babywearing is typically used to describe the act of supporting your child on your body using fabric or other means giving you your hands back. Although sometimes you may support them with your hands as well so that is usually called in arms carrying. Essentially carrying is a tool and it is something that can be useful for everyone.

Breast fed babies do not need to learn to bottle feed. However there may be circumstances where for personal reasons they may prefer their infant to take a bottle here and there. And this blog is for families who have made that choice but who are struggling to get their baby to accept a bottle.

I support families of children who have feeding difficulties, I also support many parents, usually mothers, who feel low and isolated and who tell me they feel they feel helpless or that they are failing. It is important to me to always talk to families about how they are feeling and the journey they have been are on as I strongly believe that families can be traumatised by challenging early feeding experiences and that part of my role is to listen and help.

What is a tongue tie?

A tongue tie, also known as ankylogossia is where the small strip of tissue known as the lingual frenulum, which connects the tongue to the floor of mouth, is too short, too tight or too close to the gum ridge.

When this occurs, it can impact on tongue movement, which in turn can impact on the feeding process.

There are two types of tongue tie, anterior and posterior

If you are struggling to feed your baby who you think may have reflux then this article is for you.

Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) is a normal process where the contents of the stomach can come back up out of the stomach into the oesophagus and mouth. This affects babies, children and adults. In babies this can look like the effortless positing and regurgitation of feeds. In some cases, the symptoms are much more severe and may need treatment of some kind. This is known as Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD).

Elevated side lying is a bottle-feeding position that’s being used more and more for preterm babies and infants who have feeding difficulties In this blog post I’ll tell you why I like it for all new born babies. I’ve put together a visual step by step guide for you so go ahead and give it a try…