Feeding your baby

• Breastmilk is the best food for most babies.
• Try to breastfeed your baby for the first 6 months of life.
• Babies are ready to start solid food at about 5 or 6 months.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you only give your baby breast milk for at least the first six months. Breastfeeding is free and convenient, and it helps you bond with your new baby. It may help protect your baby against SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and some diseases and infections. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to be overweight and to have asthma, diabetes, and some cancers as adults. If you cannot or choose not to breastfeed, you can give your baby formula. Do not give her cow's milk.

Shopping tips

• Choose a formula that is fortified with iron, unless your health care provider tells you otherwise.
• Ask your baby's health care provider to recommend a brand of formula.
• Once you find a brand that your baby likes, use only that brand. Do not switch back and forth between brands.
• Call your baby's health care provider if your baby has gas, a rash, or diarrhea, is vomiting, or has other signs that the formula is not agreeing with her. You may need to change brands or switch to a hydrolyzed or soy-based formula.
• A breast pump can be very helpful for mothers who are nursing. Use a breast pump to express breast milk. There are many kinds available, including large, hospital-grade pumps, midweight personal-use automatic pumps, and small, lightweight, and easily portable manual models. Choose a pump that works best for you. If you are going back to work outside of your home, choose a fast and efficient midweight personal-use automatic breast pump.

Breastfeeding

• Put expressed breast milk in the refrigerator or freezer. Write the date on the container before you freeze it. You can store breast milk for up to three months in a freezer that has a separate door. If you have a freezer compartment inside a refrigerator, you should store the milk there for no more than two weeks. This is because refrigerator doors get opened and closed more frequently than freezers. If your refrigerator is kept between 32-39°F, you can keep breast milk in the refrigerator for up to eight days. The bottom line is that you should taste or smell milk before giving it to your baby, just to make sure it is OK.
• Warm bottles of breast milk under running hot water or in a bowl of warm water. Shake the bottle and then test the temperature of the milk on the back of your hand.

Bottlefeeding

• Wash your hands before you prepare you baby's bottle.
• Boil bottles and nipples for five minutes before you use them the first time. Then wash them for one minute in hot, soapy water and rinse after each use. Once a week, boil them for five minutes. Then check that they are not torn, cracked or sticky.
• Follow the directions on the formula package. If you use a powder, ask your baby's health care provider if you should boil cold tap water or use sterilized bottled water to prepare it with.
• Use only the scoop that comes with the brand you use. Different brands have different size scoops.
• Do not freeze formula.
• To keep from exposing your baby to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical whose safety is currently under debate, you can use glass bottles or BPA-free plastics. For example, you can use plastic bottles made of polyethylene (which may be marked with recycling codes 1 or 2).

Safety tips

• Do not heat breast milk or formula in the microwave. Some parts can heat up more than others and burn your baby. Microwaves also destroy some of the benefits of breast milk.
• Do not leave breast milk or formula out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, as bacteria may grow.
• Do not use formula that is beyond the "Use By" date on the package.
• On hot days your baby may seem thirsty. Give him breast milk or formula, not water.
• Do not add extra water to formula to make it last longer. Your baby will not get the nutrition she needs. And she can have seizures, become unconscious, or even die from too much water.
• Prepare fresh formula each time you feed your baby. Throwing out breast milk or formula from unfinished bottles protects your baby from bacterial contamination.

For more information, visit Babies & Kids on the Consumers Report Web site.

June 2008