What is pace feeding and why is it done?
Pace feeding is a way to mimic feeding the infant directly from the breast. You (mama, caregiver, etc) control how much the baby eats so they don’t over eat and stretch their stomach.
How is it done?
Use a slow flow preemie nipple. You want to start my having baby sit up at an angle (NEVER EVER LAY BABY FLAT WHILE EATING!!). Tickle their lips with the bottle so they can latch themselves. Don’t force it in or it can make it that much harder. Tilt the bottle so there is just enough milk in the nipple to come out without a ton of air. Let them eat for a minute or two (unless they are guzzling it), remove the bottle and take a burp break or just talk and play for about 30-60 seconds. Then later rinse and repeat. You want it to take 10-15 minutes or about the time of a normal nursing session from the breast.
How much should they be eating?
The biggest rule of all is babe only needs 1-1.5oz per hour and NEVER more than 5 oz at a time (with the rare exception of growth spurts where you would give half an ounce at a time at most one extra ounce) at normal feeding times. So if baby eats every 3 hours stick to that. You would give 3-4.5 oz. but it’s easiest to start with 3 (or the minimum) and add as needed. Freezing in small and varied increments helps a lot so there is no waste!
My baby WILL NOT take a bottle from the caregiver. What can we do?
One thing that helps is having a shirt with mom’s scent on it. Wear a shirt all day. Sweat in it. Or sleep on/with a special blanket or item. Have the caregiver put this item on their chest while feeding the bottle. Smelling you a lot of the time will help. If baby straight up refuses, you may need to syringe or cup feed so they are getting their nutrition and hydration.
It’s been a few months and I’m just finding out. What’s wrong with not pace feeding?
Over time your infants stomach will stretch to an unhealthy size. Even if they’re rolls galore and a chunky baby that doesn’t change their stomach size. This can lead to childhood obesity. What and how much you feed your child NOW matters. Childhood obesity leads to risk of diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and it can damage their growing bones. The list goes on.
Ok, so how do I change it? Will their stomach ever be a normal size again?
The easy way is over time cutting the amount back little by little. Let the baby take 15-20 sucks or eat for a minute or so and remove the bottle for a minute. Do that for the remainder of the bottle. If you are giving large amounts remove half an ounce per feed (or if babe is not having it every other feed) every couple days. A more extreme way of doing this for babies that quickly guzzle is take the bottle after 5 sucks. Remove the bottle for 30 seconds and repeat.
Their stomach can repair itself and with time will shrink!
My baby holds their own bottle. Should I not let them so I can pace feed?
This isn’t necessary. When they hold the bottle themselves they in a way pace feed themselves since they are usually sitting or tilted at an angle. They also are used to the amount they eat and usually have solids at this point as well so feeling hungry isn’t as big of an issue.
