Parent Library

Bottle Feeding

How to Bottle Feed a Baby: Tips & Techniques

Looking for bottle feeding advice? We’ve got you. Whether you're a new parent or simply looking for some extra tips, we've written this handy step-by-step guide to bottle feeding techniques and tips to help you bottle feed your baby.   

What equipment do you need to bottle feed? 

When you're getting ready to bottle feed, you'll need several bottles, teats, a bottle brush, some sterilising equipment and perhaps a breast pump.  

Head to our baby feeding glossary to learn more about what you'll need to feed. 

Sterilising and bottle feeding, what you need to know  

It's recommended that anything that goes into a baby's mouth is sterilised for the first 12 months of their life.  

Rinsing (to get rid of any milk residue), and then sterilising your baby's bottles and feeding equipment thoroughly before each use is a must. It protects them from infections (especially while their immune system is still developing). Not sterilising can lead to stomach upsets like diarrhoea. 

Bottle feeding safety 

Making up a baby bottle with formula or breast milk  

If you're bottle feeding, you'll either be giving your baby expressed breast milk or formula, or feeding using both (but not at the same time in the same bottle).   

This is sometimes called mixed or combination feeding. The NHS has lots of information about mixed feeding.  

How to make up a bottle with expressed breast milk  

If you're going to give your baby breast milk in a sterile bottle, you'll need a breast pump (or to be able to express by hand), and some sterile pouches to store your expressed milk in the fridge or freezer.  

How to make up a bottle with infant formula  

When making a bottle of formula you should always follow the preparation instructions of the infant formula you're using carefully, and always use sterile water that's been boiled and left to cool to no less than 70°C.  

It's worth noting that too much water can dilute the formula, meaning your baby won't get the optimal amount of nutrition from their feed. On the flip side, too much formula can lead to constipation and dehydration.  

Only make up a formula feed when needed, and make one feed at a time, never in bulk.   

Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep® machine means no boiling. No cooling. Less waiting. And less to clean up.

These bottle prep machines are scientifically proven to make a fresh feed as safely as the NHS  method and up to 10x faster*. ​​

*For verification see tommeetippee.com/perfect-prep-explained.