Breast vs. bottle for feeding your baby

Many new mothers struggle with the decision whether to breastfeed or bottle feed their new baby. Here is some guidance to help you choose what's right for you:

Breastfeeding baby

Breast milk is the perfect food for baby, with numerous advantages over infant formula, especially in the first six months or so. Here is why:

• It is always available.
• It is free.
• It contains active infection-fighting white blood cells and natural chemicals that give increased protection against infections in the first months, when these can be the most serious.
• It contains the perfect proportion of nutrients that your baby needs, including protein, carbohydrates and calcium.
• It is easily digestible.
• It may protect against allergies and asthma in the future.
• It may decrease a baby's risk of obesity in the future.
• It may contain some fatty acids that promote brain development.
• Breastfeeding can help new mothers lose weight more easily.

Additionally, there are probably other beneficial components of breast milk that we are not aware of and so are not added to formula.

Bottle feeding baby

With all these advantages of breast milk, should you feel guilty if you choose not to breastfeed? Absolutely not!

• Infant formulas have got better and better at matching the ingredients and their proportions to that of human milk.
• While breastfed babies may have relatively fewer infections, the vast majority of infants won't get a serious infection in the first months whether breast- or bottle fed.

A happy, unstressed mother is the best mother. If you feel that bottle feeding best fits your needs, then it is the best for meeting your baby's needs as well.

Tips for bottle feeding baby with formula

• There is no need to heat the formula for your baby. Drinking it at room temperature is fine.
• Once a bottle has been used but there is still milk in it, it is OK to store it in the fridge until the next feed, but the milk should be thrown away after that.

Tips for choosing a formula

• Do not hesitate to pick a less expensive brand of formula if finances are a factor. Most formulas are pretty much the same. More expensive does not necessarily mean better.
• Select an iron-fortified formula. There is a lot of evidence that iron deficiency in the first years adversely affects brain development. And side effects from iron (gas, constipation, discomfort) while much discussed, are actually very rare.
• Pick whichever type of formula -- powder, concentrate or ready-to-feed -- best suits your needs. There is no nutritional difference between them.
• Choose cow's milk formula over soy to start with.