Bottle feeding may be best if you are going right back to work or are uncomfortable about nursing. The choice is completely yours.
The positive side of bottlefeeding is that it frees you up a little, and gives your husband and the baby special time together including, if your lucky, that 2 a.m. feeding. A good stretch of sleep at night will give you back your energy quicker than anything else.
On the negative side, there is the cost and the trouble. Regular milk would be the easiest but it has the wrong kind of fat, too many minerals and too little sugar, and it's much harder to digest and more allergenic than formula. Formula comes in three choices, all which are fine, as long as you buy them before the expiration date. The easiest will be those ready-mixed bottles that need no refrigeration and are great for traveling, but they are expensive. This leaves you to make the formula with liquid, which is much cheaper, or powder, which is the cheapest of all.
Whether you bottlefeed your baby right from the start or after a few weeks,you will discover a bottle baby needs a fairly well-organized mother. You have to keep formula and bottles, or plastic bottle liners, in the house at all times, and make up a bottle of water, which you probably won't use, and about eight bottles of formula a day. This will give you a twenty-four hour supply, which is as long as you should keep formula anyway.
The most time consuming is the sterilization of all the bottle-making equipment for the baby's first six month's. Which is recommended by a pediatrician even if you have a dishwasher with extremely hot water.
This job can seem hugh to a new mom, but a new dad sometimes handles it with ease. It won' seem so time consuming once you get you strengh back, but even then you'll need a postive attitude. Bottles should always look half full, not half empty.
To sterilize, put a rack in a pot, fill the pot with two inches of water and add the glass or plastic bottles- if you use them instead of liners- as well as the caps and discs, the measuring cup and spoons, the tongs and a knife and then boil, covered, for at least ten minutes. The water you'll need to make formula should be boiled in another pot for at least ten minutes and the nipples in a third pot for at least three minutes, but no longer or they will get gummy.
To make formula, use the tongs to lift out everything to air dry on a paper towel, and then make up bottles when they are cool enough to handle. Pour the water into the measuring cup and add either the liquid or the spoonfuls of powder, leveled with the knife, so you don't add too much. This would give your baby too much fat, protein and minerals, including salt which would make him thirsty and cry. You also don't want to open the can of formula until you first rinse the top with hot water in case the lid should fall in.
Put the nipples upside down in the bottles and cover them with the discs and then screw on the tops and refrigerate immediately so bacteria can't breed. Once they are cold you can transfer them to an insulated container if you are going out, but wherever you feed your baby, try to warm the bottle first. An infant will take it cold, but they really don't need the shock to their young system. Since a microwave may get the formula to hot, heat the bottle in a saucepan half filled with water. Then test the temperature on your wrist.
When you feed the baby, put a bib on. Formula stains are tough to remove. Hold the baby in the crook of your arm, with the bottle at a forty-five degree angle, so the whole nipple is full of milk. If it isn't he'll get air bubbles in his belly, and bubbles hurt.
You also want to hold the baby as closely and as gently as you would if you were breast-feeding, rather than prop the bottle which can lead to ear infections. This will give you a sense of tranquility to your baby and give you the chance to gather your thoughts.
