How to Dadda
How to Dadda
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Paced bottle-feeding

The short definition

Paced bottle-feeding means holding the bottle so bub controls how fast the milk comes, the way they would at the breast.

What it actually means

  • Here is the problem it solves. A breastfed baby is used to controlling how much milk they take. They come off the breast when they have had enough. From a bottle they have less control, and may take more milk than they need. Tipping the bottle up means gravity sets the pace instead of bub.
  • It applies whatever is in the bottle — expressed breast milk or formula, either one. And anyone feeding bub by bottle can do it, which means it is genuinely Dadda's to learn.

It goes like this: feed on hunger cues rather than by the clock. Hold bub upright, supporting their head and neck. Use a slow-flow teat. Let bub take the teat rather than pushing it in. Keep the bottle mostly horizontal, tipped just enough to fill the teat. Pause often. Let bub finish when they are ready, even if there is milk left in the bottle.

That last one is the hard part. Leaving milk in the bottle feels like failing at the task. It is the task.

Where Dadda will hear it

From a midwife, a lactation consultant or a child health nurse, usually the first time he is the one doing a feed. Sometimes not at all, which is why it has an entry.

He will also find it under "paced feeding" and "responsive bottle feeding", which are the same thing.

Not to be confused with

  • A feeding schedule. Paced bottle-feeding is about the pace within one feed. It says nothing about when feeds happen — the first step is in fact to feed on hunger cues rather than by the clock.
  • A slow-flow teat on its own. The teat is one of the steps. How the bottle is held is the rest of it.

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