Baby feeding

Breast milk is widely accepted as the most appropriate and nutritious food for infants. Breast-feeding of newborns and infants has many important medical benefits including enhanced nutrition and immunity to certain illnesses. A mother’s breast milk changes with the needs of a growing infant so as to satisfy these health needs of the infant through several development stages. Human breast milk includes immunoglobulins that increase a baby’s resistance to many bacteria and viruses. Despite the many benefits of breast-feeding an infant and the many concerns of the mother that their infant may forget the proper breast-feeding technique, many breast-feeding mothers must return to work or otherwise be away from their infant for extended periods of time. Under certain circumstances it is not practical to breast feed an infant, such as when the infant has difficulty sucking. It is possible to collect milk from the mother’s breast, store it and feed it to the infant from a suitable feeding apparatus. Artificial feeding systems may be desirable or necessary in some circumstances. These include medical situations such as premature births, mothers who have had mastectomies or who are unable to lactate sufficiently, infants who require dietary supplements, and health problems such as cleft pallet or breast abscesses.

Accordingly, many mothers try to use baby bottles in conjunction with breast-feeding, or switch to bottle feeding altogether. A large number of baby feeding bottles and nursing units have been developed in the past. Typically, these feeding bottles comprise a main body with an integral threaded neck, and a collar for securing a nipple to the threaded neck. The baby bottle comprises a vessel and a rubber nipple configured in size and shape for the baby’s mouth. A number of different kinds of vessels are available, including rigid glass vessels, substantially rigid synthetic polymer composition material vessels, squeezable polymer vessels, and thin-walled polymer bags which are often employed in a holder. Baby bottles are typically generally cylindrical in configuration and are necked down slightly at the neck end of the bottle. Some such bottles are generally polygonal in transverse cross-section through the main body. Baby feeding bottles having flexible nipples are commonly used to feed infants and children milk, formula, juices and other fluids. Nipple members for baby bottles typically have a circular mounting flange portion and a nursing portion that is designed to fit in an infant’s mouth. The two portions are formed together in a single, unitary piece and are fabricated from the same type and grade of flexible material, usually latex, vinyl, silicone or thermoplastic elastomers (TPE’s). There are many different types of infant-feeding nipples available on the market, most of which must be attached directly to the container or bottle which supplies the liquid to the infant. At present there is no baby bottle nipple on the market that even closely approximates the attributes of the human breast nipple, which delivers a continuous supply of milk without entrained air and without hard sucking until the reservoir is empty.

Breast pumps and storage containers require a user to pump breast milk into a rigid, reusable container and then pour the breast milk into a separate storage sac. The storage sac is typically sealed with a clip or twist tie and then placed in a refrigerator for storage. Bibs are commonly used on newborn babies and young children to protect the chest area, especially clothing that the baby wears while eating, from food stains. Naturally, the process of learning to eat with fingers or utensils is messy and the baby tends to soil his arms with food as well. During the first few months of life, an infant is exclusively fed either breast milk or formula. Formula fed infants are generally fed by placing the infants head in the crook of a care givers arm, and feeding the formula to the infant with a bottle. As the baby grows, his feeding is supplemented with “solid” foods. These foods are not really solid, but are semi-fluid in nature. These foods include smooth oatmeal, smooth fruit, smooth vegetables and smooth meat, usually chicken. These food materials are pureed and adjusted in viscosity. When the baby is first switched from milk to solid food, the transition is more easily achieved when the solid food is warmed to body temperature.

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May 26, 2008 | Filed Under Baby feeding