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Bottle feeding

Formula or expressed milk, with confidence.

Quick summary

What's happening: Bottle feeding works best when it's slow, responsive and held close.
What helps: Paced feeding, slow-flow teats, upright cuddles, and watching the baby's cues.
When to get help: Persistent refusal, forceful vomiting, blood in stool, or slow weight gain.
One tiny next step: Try paced bottle feeding at the next feed — pause halfway and offer a break.

What's going on?

Bottle feeding — whether with formula, expressed breastmilk or a mix — is a perfectly valid way to feed your baby. Babies bottle-fed with love and attention grow up healthy, attached and well-fed.

Bottles give you a measurable amount of milk and let other people share feeds, which can be a lifeline. But because the milk flows whether the baby is actively asking for it or not, bottles can lead to overfeeding if we're not following the baby's cues. Paced bottle feeding closes that gap.

Babies still need closeness, eye contact and a calm pace at the bottle. Feeding is not just nutrition — it is also one of the main ways your baby learns the world is a safe place.

Common signs and symptoms

Very common

Babies vary hugely in how much milk they take per feed.
Smaller, more frequent feeds in the early weeks.
Pausing, slowing down, turning away from the teat when full.
A few minutes of fussing partway through a feed — often wind.
Spit-up after feeds, especially if a feed has been large or fast.

Less common

Refusing the bottle persistently.
Choking, spluttering or arching with every bottle.
Drinking the whole bottle in a few minutes and looking distressed.

Suggested amounts on tins are population averages. Your baby's appetite is the better guide.

Is this normal?

Newborns often take small amounts (30–90 ml) frequently, then settle into larger, less frequent feeds as their stomach grows.

From around 6 weeks to 6 months, many babies take 150–220 ml per feed, but there is a wide normal range. Trust your baby's cues over the printed schedule.

Once solids start at around 6 months, milk feeds gradually reduce. Throughout the first year, milk is still the main source of nutrition.

Practical things that help

Hold baby fairly upright, supported and snug
An upright posture lets the baby control the flow and protects against milk pooling at the back of the throat.
Use paced bottle feeding
Keep the bottle horizontal so the baby has to actively suck. Pause every minute or two, let them rest, and offer again. This mimics breastfeeding and helps prevent overfeeding.
Let baby end the feed
Turning away, falling asleep, pushing the teat out — these mean done. Try one offer back, then accept the no.
Choose a slow-flow teat for newborns
Fast teats overwhelm babies, cause gulping and wind, and can teach them to take much more than they need.
Keep prep simple but safe
Follow the formula maker's instructions, use fresh-boiled water cooled to around 70°C for powdered formula, and don't reuse warmed leftovers.

What can accidentally make it harder?

Tipping the bottle high to keep the teat full
It forces faster flow than the baby can pace themselves with, which leads to overfeeding, gulping and wind.
Pushing the teat in to keep the baby sucking
It overrides the baby's pause-and-rest rhythm. Pauses are part of how they regulate intake.
Finishing the last bit so it isn't wasted
Waste a little milk before you teach the baby to ignore fullness.
Propping the bottle so they can drink alone
This is a choking and ear-infection risk and removes the closeness that feeds are also for.

These are gentle observations, not blame. None of us avoid all of them all of the time.