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The role of the Registered Nurse or Newborn Care Provider is to feed, soothe, bathe, change & provide all other gentle care to baby through the night.

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How to Offer a Bottle to A Breastfed Baby

Question: I will be returning back to work soon, and my breastfed baby refuses to take a bottle of breastmilk or formula.  Help! Amy Black, IBCLC answers this common question in how to offer a bottle to a breastfed baby.

How to Offer a Bottle to A Breastfed Baby
photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash

How to Offer a Bottle to A Breastfed Baby

When attempting to offer a baby a bottle for the first time, there are a couple things to remember. First, your baby is very smart! Since s/he connects food with mom, sometimes it is best for mom to leave the house. Second, it’s widely advised to introduce a bottle only after breastfeeding is fully established, usually after 4 weeks. This avoids confusion and ensures your supply remains at the level baby needs. La Leche League recommends starting with pumping after one feeding session a day, when you feel like your breasts may still be a little full. As LLL says, Remember you are pumping “leftovers” and should only expect a small amount.

Additionally these tips can help:

  •  Offer the baby a small amount of food when the baby is not too hungry and perhaps a little sleepy. In other words, when baby is in a good mood and more open to change. 🙂
  •  Let someone other than mom feed the baby in a location that is not the normal nursing spot for mom and baby.
  •  Tickle the baby’s lips with the nipple of the bottle to get the baby to open his mouth wide.  Let baby take the lead in drawing the nipple into the mouth.
  •  Hold the baby in an upright position with the bottle at a horizontal position to the mouth.  This will mimic breastfeeding and allow baby to eat at their own pace without overfeeding.
  •  Once the baby starts drifting off and letting go of the nipple, cease feeding.  Follow the baby’s cues and be finished when he or she is done. Don’t force the last bit of milk by jiggling the nipple or waking him up.
  • If the bottle has been in the refrigerator, don’t forget to warm the nipple as well as the milk. You can run the nipple under warm water so it’s not too shocking to your baby.

How Should the Bottle be Given?

Caregivers can practice a method of feeding called paced bottle feeding ensures that your baby receives the right amount of milk. This feeding method slows down the flow of milk into the nipple and the mouth, allowing baby to eat more slowly and take breaks the way s/he would when nursing. Milk is slowed because 2 things are happening:

  1. Your baby is being held upright, the way s/he might be during a nursing session.
  2. Milk should only filling the bottle’s nipple about halfway. This makes sure baby isn’t being overfed. By not overfeeding the baby, mom will be able to keep up with pumping at work and maintaining milk supply. Here’s an excellent video showing paced bottle feeding.

Of course babies are all different and will accept a bottle in their own time. Even with all of these tips the best way to make sure bottle feeding is successful is to be consistent and patient.

Guide to Hiring the Perfect Babysitter


Updated July 26, 2021 If you’ve never hired a babysitter or nanny, it can be hard to know what makes a great candidate, especially if you have a newborn or infant. Here’s our guide to hiring the perfect babysitter!

Guide to Hiring the Perfect Babysitter – Basic Questions to Ask Potential Sitters:

  • Have you had experience babysitting an infant before?
  • How old are the children you have worked with before?
  • If you’re breastfeeding, ask your sitter if they have experience in preparing breastmilk. If you feed by formula, make sure they know how to prepare/heat the formula.
  • Are you familiar with how to put an infant to bed?
  • Do you know First Aid? Are you CPR certified?
  • What types of activities do you do with children?
  • How do you help a fussy baby?
  • Do you have your COVID and flu vaccines or other immunizations recommended by my pediatrician?

Trust Your Gut

When you meet someone for the first time, get a read on them. Do they seem interested in your child? Do they answer your questions with enthusiasm and confidence? Are they distracted by their phone? Parental instinct is very strong and your own instincts are almost always correct.

Check References

We’re SHOCKED at the number of times people don’t check references! Ask for at least two references of non-family members that you can contact by phone; a references’ tone of voice can be as telling as the actual answers. Don’t feel uncomfortable asking questions; you are your child’s advocate and protector.

Are Credentials Important to You?

Many sitters take the Red Cross Babysitter Certification. Is this a requirement for you? How about CPR or First Aide Certification? If these are qualifications you’d like your sitter to have, ask those questions in the interview.

Guide to Hiring the Perfect Babysitter – Now What?

Guide to Hiring the Perfect Babysitter
  • Once you hire the sitter, make sure that you have all of your emergency info in an easily accessible place. You can copy our Emergency Info Sheet here if you need to!
  • If you have a landline, show the sitter where it is.
  • If you don’t use a landline, make sure you have a both iPhone and Android chargers in the house. The babysitter’s phone should be charged at all times.
  • It’s perfectly fine to use a nanny cam while you’re out and it’s your legal right to have a camera anywhere except the bathroom or other places where there is an expectation of privacy (like the bathroom).  Please be considerate to your babysitter and let them know you’re recording. You never know- if baby has an accident or spits up, your sitter might need to do a quick clothing change! 

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Self Care Plan for Moms & Caregivers

As a counselor to new mothers and caregivers, Christina M. Schultz, MA has seen many women experience, “caregiver burnout” or complete fatigue, exhaustion, depression, resentment, loss of identity, and sense of low self-worth.  To help those who may be at risk of burnout, Schultz has created this Self Care Plan for Moms & Caregivers.

Self Care Plan for Moms & Caregivers

I often hear women who devalue their self-worth and chose to take care of others as their first and foremost priority.  I work to encourage women who are mothers and caregivers to place self-care as their top priority to prevent burnout, to provide resilience and empowerment, and because it helps women to maintain appropriate boundaries in the spousal, parenting, and/or caregiving relationships and roles. 

For any women attempting to balance role demands of parenting, work, caregiving, marriage, and relationships with family-of-origin, self-care and boundaries are your key to balanced living.  A whole self-care plan needs to integrate the four aspects of you – which includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health. Below are a few key suggestions for any self-care plan.

Self Care Plan for Moms & Caregivers

  1. Build a Support System or Network Outside of Your Spouse, Children, and Parents (Social and Emotional Needs). This is important in order for you to not over rely on the emotional and social needs from your immediate family, and help you to not be over-preoccupied on the needs of your family.  I encourage you to find or create your own peer support group of moms, caregivers, and so forth. 
  2. Ask for and Accept Help. Clarify and Strengthen Relationship and Responsibility Boundaries and Division of Labor of the Household, Parenting, and Financial Admin Duties (Emotional and Physical Needs). This is important for you to reduce your role demands and overload if you have the tendency to do too much.  This is also your chance to assertively communicate your needs and desires with your spouse and negotiate a win-win for you both.  Your spouse should want to find a middleground, and if not, you need to consider how you may be selling your needs short.  If you lack the time and have the financial resources, you and your spouse have the option to hire more help with cleaning, childcare, and financial planning and investing duties.
  3. Assertive Communication of Needs.  Learn how to assertively and appropriately ask for help and the love you need with “I” statements (Social and Emotional Needs).  If you ask for help clearly, assertively, and appropriately, you will be received with respect and people will tend to meet your needs. It is suggested to encourage children as young as toddler-age to help with chores, and to increase their responsibility over time.  It is also suggested to communicate your needs for emotional and sexual intimacy from your spouse, and specific help you need from your spouse since your partner is not a mind-reader.  “I” language assertively communicates your feelings with a specific need.  As one example:  “I feel upset that I make dinner every night each week.  I would appreciate it if you cooked Mondays and Fridays or if we ordered take out those nights.  What do you think about this?”
  4. Make time for yourself to exercise, sleep, and eat several balanced meals each day, and attend your annual health appointments (Physical Needs).
  5. Learn how to say no and prioritize (Emotional and Physical Needs).  If you are someone who tends to err on “doing too much” than you have to learn how to say no and dig further on what you may be avoiding with your business.  Sometimes business has a secondary gain, such as the avoidance of people rejecting our requests for help and/or avoidance of feeling lonely. 
  6. Pray, meditate, and/or read something grounding once a day for a few minutes (Spiritual Needs).  Research has established that people who engage in positive religious and spiritual coping, whether tied to an organized religion or not, tend to be mentally healthier and approach distressing life events with increased resilience.  Whether you find calm and strength from attending Church weekly, praying each day, engaging in mindfulness meditation, or reading a powerful deep quote each day, it is an important way to keep yourself in-touch with your deeper values and meaning, beyond the trivialities of life.
  7. Write down or verbalize three things you are grateful for each day to build more appreciation in your life. (Emotional and Spiritual Needs).  This positive psychology exercise is linked to increased feelings of meaning and satisfaction in the here-and-now, and reduced depression.

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Night Nanny or Postpartum Doula

Considering hiring help when your newborn or twins arrive? Before the interview, it might be helpful to think about what aspects of baby care will be most helpful to you. Questions to Ask When Hiring a Night Nanny or Postpartum Doula is a starting point for families considering in-home care of their newborns, infants or twins.

Baby Nurse Joy at a certified newborn care training
Joy, LPN has lots of experience with twins and multiples!

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Night Nanny or Postpartum Doula – Overview

Family preferences to consider before you begin the search for newborn care:

  • Daytime nanny versus overnight newborn care
  • Importance of supporting your feeding and parenting choices
  • What type of infant care experience or certifications matter to you
  • What are your goals and expectations for infant sleep?

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Night Nanny or Postpartum Doula

Would daytimes or overnight newborn care be more helpful for my family?

A daytime nanny who can do household tasks and help look after older kids as well as the newborn might be your perfect postpartum solution. A night nanny whose goal is for you to get as much sleep as possible could also be your main support. Day or nighttime care are both enormously helpful of course, and the decision usually comes down to personal factors. For example, a parent whose partner is returning to work may opt for a night nanny if they are “on” 24 hours a day. Parents with older kids might opt for a daytime nanny so they can have one-on-one time their older children.

Do I want help breastfeeding, pumping or bottle feeding?

Newborn breastfeeding support can be invaluable to new parents as breastfeeding is about more than just “the milk.” If you’re open to nursing, it will only help to have lactation teaching in place before your baby arrives. If using formula, having a caregiver who is nonjudgemental and well versed in bottle feeding is vital too. Infant feeding decisions may evolve over time and don’t have to be all or nothing either.

Newborn and Postpartum Experience and Philosophy

What kind of newborn and postpartum care experience matters to me? 

The care of babies 0-1 year old is a specific area of expertise. Whatever name you use, postpartum doula, newborn care provider or night nanny, the caregiver should be able to easily demonstrate thorough knowledge of newborn and infant care. This means swaddling, safe sleep, reducing the risk of SIDS, appropriate feeding and soothing techniques.

Learning about a postpartum doulas or newborn care providers experience is perhaps the best way to know if they’re a fit with your family. For example, just because someone has taken a newborn care training class doesn’t mean they have ever held a real baby. On the same note, there are many experienced twin nannies who have never had formal training!

It’s important to pause here and note that only professionals who have completed Registered Nursing, Licensed Practical Nursing, Certified Nurse Midwife or other higher level Licensed Nursing degrees should be called “nurse” or “baby nurse.” While the term is a colloquial norm, it’s actually illegal in most states for a newborn caregiver to use the “baby nurse” title without clinical licensure.

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Night Nanny or Postpartum Doula

Approaches to Infant Sleep and Daily Care

Do I want someone to help my baby sleep through the night, or will I be more of a ‘go with the flow’ type when it comes to infant sleep? 

Sleeping through the night is often seen as the “finish line” in infant care, especially when newborn twins arrive. This is because parents are returning to work, have older kids they need to be present for or simply can’t function safely if sleep deprived. On the other hand, a baby-led approach to sleep is also fine (and completely normal in many other parts of the world, but that’s for a different blog)! Either way, a newborn caregiver who understands and supplements your sleep philosophy means consistency of care. It will be helpful to think about how you feel about sleep training, attachment parenting or getting baby on a schedule before baby arrives.

There are many titles for your support person; postpartum doula, newborn care provider, night nanny and baby nurse. Unless a Registered Nurse or medical care is specifically needed, the title your newborn support person uses probably isn’t that important. The most important thing is that you have helpful and reliable care during the postpartum phase; for you, your infant and your family.

Tummy Time Troubles Solved

updated, Sept 15 2023 – Parents often hear about the importance of tummy time, yet overwhelmingly report their babies don’t want to do it! Tummy Time Troubles Solved has tips to help baby enjoy tummy time.


Why Does Your Newborn Need Tummy Time?

Newborns and infants often seem uncomfortable with being placed on their bellies when they’re awake, so why do we do it? Babies spend a LOT of time sleeping. And since it’s been proven that placing babies on their backs to sleep for the first year is one of the best ways to minimize the risk of SIDS, they also spend a LOT of time on their backs. Because of this, we need to give newborns and infants opportunities to exercise their next and shoulder muscles. Stronger muscles = healthier and safer babies!

So yes, tummy time is your baby’s workout and just like us, sometimes they don’t feel like working out! With slight but important adjustments though, infants can have comfortable, yet productive play and exercise.  

Infant expert Terri Lee Weatherholtz, M.A, CCC-SLP, CDA says: “the time an infant is awake on the floor should consist of 50% back and 50% tummy time.” There’s no exact rules on when to begin tummy time sessions with your baby. Chances are it’s something you and your baby are doing together naturally anyway! As a guideline however, the NIH says you can start with 3-5 minute sessions 2-3 days after baby is born, and this is an accepted rule of thumb.

Tummy Time Troubles Solved
RN Noelle explains, Tummy Time Troubles Solved

Tummy Time Troubles Solved – Steps for Success

  1. Roll a thin baby blanket long ways (no more than 3-4 inches thick)
  2. Place it on the floor
  3. Place your baby, tummy down, on the blanket so that his arms are out in front of him on one side of the blanket.  His chest (nipple level) should be resting on the blanket with the sides of the blanket under his arms. Makes sure his neck is not on the blanket! This little lift redistributes his weight backwards off his tummy and makes tummy time a little more comfortable. You want his arms out front bearing weight.
  4. With an open hand stroke firmly from the back of their head all the way down to their tush. This stimulates the muscle that helps them raise their head!
  5. Get down on the floor for some face to face time and encourage head lifting with smiles and talking!

Another way to help tummy time be a fun activity is to lay on your back with baby on your chest, so you’re face to face. With a gentle hold on baby for safety of course, baby will be motivated to look “up” at your face. 

It’s perfectly fine if tummy time only lasts 5 minutes or less some days.  Eventually continuing the routine a few times a day for longer periods though, helps your baby equate “tummy time” with happy, social time. For answers to more early care questions, visit our new parent resources.

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