Having done a bit of your own research, you’ve found that bottle-feeding offers various benefits that really suit your family’s needs, and so you’ve decided to go down this route.

And that’s great! But you’ll likely have rather a lot of questions, such as, what equipment do I need to buy? How much milk will my baby need?

And what exactly will bottle-feeding look like?

What does bottle-feeding look like?

First of all, let’s cover what you’ll need:

A few bottles with caps and teats designed for baby feeding.

A breast pump.

Formula if you aren’t using breastmilk (discuss with your paediatrician which is best).

A bottle brush for cleaning (only use this for bottle cleaning).

A special teat brush (don’t use this brush on any other items).

Sterilising equipment.

Your baby should be taking in about 60 to 90 ml per feed or 2 to 3 oz. It’s still a little too early to start any sort of feeding routine, so simply follow your baby’s hunger cues, feeding them whenever they want it and for however long they need it. Most babies will feed between 8 and 12 times a day. If you’re using breastmilk, you will likely have rather a lot of excess milk after pumping that you can pop in the freezer or simply throw away.

Once you’ve started and gotten organised with bottle-feeding, it should prove fairly straightforward, but one of the more frustrating and complicated aspects is the cleaning process. Though that doesn’t make it any less important.

Why is it important to properly clean breastfeeding bottles and equipment?

By not properly cleaning bottles after feeding, you risk infecting your baby, as leftover warm milk makes for the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. And because their immune systems are still very weak, we need to be extra careful.

So, how do you properly and thoroughly clean breastfeeding equipment?

How do I clean my baby’s bottle and other breastfeeding equipment?

Clean bottles and other equipment in hot soapy water or the dishwasher. Take apart and thoroughly clean any bottles, caps and teats in hot soapy water as soon as possible after feeding. Use the brushes to make sure no milk is left to dry on the bottle, and then rinse in clean, cold running water. Then it’s time to sterilise. You can also pop them in the dishwasher, but again, they’ll need sterilising after it’s done. The same goes for any breast pump equipment.

Choose a sterilising technique that works for you. There are a couple of options when it comes to sterilising, so have a go at a few and settle on that which suits you best.

Sterilising tablets. Besides boiling, this method is supposedly the cheapest. Based on the tablet’s instructions, you’ll need to place a tablet in a non-metal container of cold water. Then place all the equipment inside and make sure they’re fully submerged for at least 30 minutes. Once your baby is ready to feed, clean your hands and remove a bottle, cap and teat and rinse off any solution with boiled and cooled kettle water (not tap water). Fill the bottle with milk immediately. Sterilising solution should be changed every 24 hours but check the tablet packaging.

Boiling method. Firstly, buy a new saucepan and tight-fitting lid (you won’t be able to use them for anything else). Boil any equipment in the saucepan for 10 minutes at least and make sure the items remain below the water’s bubbling surface. You should also check your bottles and equipment won’t be damaged by boiling water. Once 10 minutes or so have passed, turn off the heat and leave the items to sit in the water until you need them. Teats especially can quickly become damaged by boiling, so be sure to keep checking them.

Electric steamers. With one of these devices, plug it in, add a little water to the relevant compartment, place washed equipment inside and then turn it on. The steam it produces will sterilise your equipment for you, ready to be used when you need it. Read the device's instructions very carefully before you begin.

Microwave steamers. These are fairly similar to electric steamers, except that they’re non-electric containers placed in your microwave with the clean equipment inside. They clean less equipment at a time and can take around 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave.

What does bottle-feeding and cleaning look like? (Week 1)

Unii shares some helpful tips on using and maintaining baby bottles.