Infant feeding

In the first six months, the best nutrition for your baby is your milk. Visit our breastfeeding/chestfeeding section to learn more.

For a few parents wanting to breastfeed/chestfeed their baby, supplementing, for personal or medical reasons, may be needed. Your own milk is best for your baby but sometimes donor milk (where available) or formula are needed or chosen.

Sometimes feeding babies away from the breast/chest makes it hard for babies to go back to the breast/chest. It may also decrease your milk supply. Hand expression or pumping each time the baby gets formula will help protect the milk supply.

If you are considering use of a supplement at some point, it is important to first establish breastfeeding/chestfeeding. 

There may be medical or personal reasons for using formula. If you are using formula and/or supplementing your breastfed/chestfed baby with formula, talk to your public health nurse or health care provider.

Formula must be prepared and stored properly to prevent contamination with harmful bacteria. Find instructions and tips:

• Formula feeding your baby: Getting started
• How to choose, prepare and store infant formula
• Video on safely preparing infant formula

If you use well water for drinking, cooking, or preparing infant formula be sure to have your well water tested regularly for bacteria and for chemicals such as nitrates, arsenic and manganese. Find drinking water safety tips for private well owners.

• Switch sides with each feed just as you would when feeding at the breast/chest.
• Spend time skin-to-skin daily with your baby (naked with only a diaper). This improves your baby's development and supports bonding.
• The goal for responsive bottle feeding is to mimic breastfeeding/chestfeeding as much as possible.
• Feed your baby holding them close and in an upright position. Use a slow-flow nipple.
• Allow baby to know the bottle is there by touching the lips with the nipple, inviting a wide-opened mouth/gape. When baby's mouth opens, guide the bottle gently, deep into the mouth with baby’s lips flanged around the base of the nipple.
• Watch baby’s sucks, tip the bottle up so milk covers the hole in the nipple. The bottle should be nearly horizontal.
• Often babies will take a rest break. If they stop sucking, tip the bottle down slightly.
• Continue feeding in response to baby’s cues, always leaving the bottle in baby’s mouth, just as the breast/chest would be. Take time for burps, as needed.

Babies know when they are hungry and how much to eat. Responding to your baby's cues will ensure proper growth and help them develop a healthy relationship with food.

If you are bottle feeding, never force your baby to empty the bottle. Stop offering when you see the signs of fullness such as decreased sucking or turning away from the bottle.

Signs a baby is hungry include becoming upset when the feeding stops, opening their mouth, and wiggling their arms and legs.

If your baby is still hungry after finishing a bottle, offer your baby another bottle of your milk or formula and let them drink until they show signs of fullness.

It is normal for infants to wake up at night as they need to feed often (every 1.5-2 hours). Nighttime feeding also helps to establish breastfeeding/chestfeeding and increase milk supply.

For the first six months, feeding your baby your milk and/or formula, with supplementary vitamin D, is all your baby needs.

Introduction of solid foods can begin at about 6 months or when child shows the following signs of physiological and developmental readiness:

• Better head control
• Ability to sit up and lean forward
• Ability to pick up food and try to put it in their mouth
• Ability to let the parent/caregiver know when they are full (turns head away)

Babies do not need additional water or other fluids in the first six months.

Avoid honey, including pasteurized or cooked honey, until after 12 months. Your baby's stomach is still developing, and they can get sick if they are exposed to the bacteria found in honey, which can cause a type of food poisoning called infant botulism.

Some cultural traditions involve giving a new baby a small amount of honey. You can still uphold traditions by offering a safer alternative. Speak to a trusted healthcare professional about safer options such as sugar (dextrose) solution, or a small amount of sterilized water (2ml) with sugar mixed in.

Vitamin D helps your body use calcium for strong bones and teeth. It also helps muscles, nerves, and your immune system work properly.

Children who don’t get enough vitamin D may not grow to their full potential. They also have a chance of developing a rare disease called rickets, which causes weak bone.

Give your baby a liquid vitamin D supplement of 400 IU (10 mcg) each day if:

• Your baby drinks human milk, or
• Your baby drinks both human milk and infant formula
• If your baby drinks only infant formula, they do not need a vitamin D supplement.

Vitamin D supplements

Choose a liquid vitamin D3 supplement That has 400 IU (10 mcg) per dose. Some supplements have 400 IU in 1 drop, and some have 400 IU in 1 mL.

Pharmacies and grocery stores sell vitamin D supplements. Ask the pharmacist if you are unsure of which supplement to buy.

Always check to make sure the supplement has a Natural Product Number (NPN), especially if you buy it online. Look for the NPN on the bottle. This number tells you that Health Canada finds the product safe and useful if you follow the directions on the package.

Start a daily routine that allows you to remember when to give the supplement at the same time each day, for example, before or after a feeding.

Read the label carefully to make sure you give the right amount.

If you are using the supplement that is a 1 mL dose (400 IU):

• Always use the dropper from the supplement box.
• Hold your baby so they are leaning back slightly and you are supporting their head.
• Place dropper between baby’s cheek and the side of your baby’s tongue and squeeze slowly, or place vitamin D on a spoon and let your baby suck it off.

If you are using the supplement that is a single drop (400 IU):

• Place a drop on the nipple or clean finger and let your baby suck it off.
• Do not drop the supplement directly into their mouth.

• Allergies tend to run in families and can show up as food allergies, eczema, asthma, or hay fever. If your baby, or someone in your family, has allergies, eczema, asthma or hay fever, your baby may have an increased chance of developing food allergies. Speak to a registered dietitian or your family doctor to learn how you can reduce the chance of your baby developing a food allergy.
• Avoiding certain foods while breastfeeding does not prevent your baby from developing food allergies.
• Symptoms of food allergies can be mild or severe. Reactions to foods usually happen within minutes of exposure to the food. Find more information on allergy symptoms.

• allergycheck.ca: A tool to find information if you think you might have a food allergy 
• Eczema and food allergy in babies and young children