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Giving Your Baby the Bottle: How to Support Oral Motor Skills
The art of bottle feeding
Whether you choose to bottle-feed exclusively or combine the bottle with breastfeeding: the way you give the bottle is at least as important as the bottle itself. A good latch and a calm drinking pace (flow) are crucial for healthy development of the mouth muscles and a smooth transition between breast and bottle.
Choosing the right bottle
For optimal development of the mouth muscles, look for a bottle that comes as close as possible to breastfeeding:
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A wide latch: Choose a bottle with a wide neck and a teat that gradually widens. This encourages your baby to open the mouth wide, just like at the breast.
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A calm pace: Preferably use a small teat size (slow flow or preemie). If the milk flows too quickly, your baby has to put in less effort. This can lead to choking or a strong preference for the 'easy' bottle.
Exercise for the mouth muscles
By choosing a wide teat and a slow milk flow, your baby has to suck actively and use the tongue properly. This is good training for the muscles that will later be important for eating the first bites and for speech development.
Tip: Make sure your baby's lower lip curls out nicely around the base of the teat. This creates a good seal.
Therapeutic or responsive feeding
How you hold and offer the bottle determines how hard the mouth muscles have to work. Do you notice that drinking does not come naturally? For example, because of restlessness, severe reflux, a short tongue-tie, or because your baby often chokes?
Don't keep it to yourself. Ask for tailored advice, so that feeding time becomes relaxed again for you and your baby.
- By An Hermans - Midwife and Lactation Consultant
