How to Warm a Baby Bottle: Comprehensive Guide for New Moms

Becoming a mother for the first time is a joyful and exciting experience, but it is also a whole new life and responsibilities that bring up a lot of questions. You might wonder, what are the best diapers, when it is safe to introduce toys, should you read to your child from day one and so on.

There have been a lot of discussions, even among experts, on whether baby milk bottles should be warm or not and the opinions are usually opposite to each other. Some of them say that it is perfectly fine if the baby milk bottle you are giving to your child is at room temperature. The others, however, disagree claiming that it is only natural to provide babies warm milk considering that breast milk is quite warm. Since we understand that this kind of contradictions can be rather confusing, we decided to look into the topic of bottle feeding and try to break the mystery.

With such opposing ideas regarding whether we should heat baby bottles or not is entirely possible to feel unsure about it. We have talked with different specialists to understand better what is best for our kids and what are the benefits of warming our kids’ food. Here’s what we found out.

Newborns and babies up to six months will surely prefer a warm baby milk bottle, and moreover, it is better for them. One reason lies in the fact that breast milk is naturally warm, so babies are simply used to it. The temperature of the mother’s milk is 98 degrees Fahrenheit or around 36/37 degrees Celsius, which is way higher than your average room temperature. So if you for whatever reason need to stop nursing and switch to bottle-feeding, you might find yourself in a situation that your kid rejects the bottle if it’s cold. Babies who are used to breastfeeding prefer their food at body temperature. But when you think about it, no one likes cold meals. Second, during the first months, babies cannot regulate their body temperature well. Warming newborn bottles are essential to prevent issues like upset stomach or feeling cold.

Another important point is that by warming the milk, you will easily provide your kid with nutrients that are necessary for healthy weight gain. Plus, it will keep your kid satisfied for a longer time.

Furthermore, we discussed this with numerous parents, and they told us they noticed that their kids sleep much better after they had warm beverages. They say that warm liquid relaxes their kids and makes her or him feel safer.

One more thing is essential to think about. Most of us, of course, sterilize and wash baby items regularly. Nevertheless, warming breast milk or formula can be a way to make sure to destroy any germs that possibly managed to reach your kid’s food.

After the first six months of your kid’s life, warming milk can become optional. When they begin to eat solid food, some children prefer to drink milk that is at room temperature or even directly from the fridge.

But before they are six months old keep in mind that giving warm bottles of milk to your kids can only be beneficial for her or him.

There are few methods of heating so you have safer baby bottles to give to your kid and we will discuss them in the following section.

When you are heating babies drinking bottles, you have to think about the possibility of chemical leakage. This can happen with plastic bottles, but thankfully glass is coming back to fashion as a way safer option, and there are a lot of cool glass bottles on the market.

When it comes to heating bottles, lots of people tend to think that the fastest way is just to put them in the microwave oven. However, you must avoid it! Microwave doesn’t heat equally so, as a result, the center is still cold while the part of the milk is super hot. This can cause serious harm to your baby’s digestive system.

Warm Water

This is a simple process as you just need to warm the water on the stove or in a water heater or microwave. The water doesn’t need to boil, just to be warm. After that just put the bottle in the warm water, and that’s it. You can turn the bottle to make sure the content is equally heated. If your kid began to drink tea or prefers warm water, you can do this also with a toddler water bottle or baby water bottle. This method is cost-free, but it can take some time.

Using a Bottle Warmer

The bottle warmer is a cool and convenient little machine that will make your life much more comfortable. Unlike microwaves, they heat the milk or solid food quickly and evenly. Therefore, it’s perfectly safe to give food to your child right away. The great thing is also that its super easy to figure out how to use a bottle warmer. Operating it is quite simple as you just need to put the water inside paying attention that the water doesn’t overflow. Then you turn on the heater and let the water reach the right temperature. After that, put the bottle and let it heat. The excellent news is that these little appliances are relatively cheap, so everyone can afford them. There are a lot of options out there, and it is essential to get well informed to know how to choose the best bottle warmer.

Prepare Formula Bottles With Warm Tap Water

If you are preparing formula for your child, it is unnecessary to go through an additional effort to warm the best glass baby bottles. Just mix the formula with warm tap water from your home, and that’s it. Now some people have concerns regarding the quality of water in the area they live in. In that case, boil the water on a stove for a minute or two to destroy any potential microbes. After that let it for some time so it can reach adequate temperature, which is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 Celsius and mix with a formula

Warm Milk Bags Under Tap Water

This is another uncomplicated thing to do. Just put the bottles or bags with frozen milk in the sink and let the hot water run. This is most effective with bags of frozen expressed milk because they are thin, so the heating goes quite quickly.

Even if many people are saying that there is no need to warm babies’ food, there are still lots of benefits that come from doing it. Babies are quick learners, and if you keep offering them cold food, they will adjust to it. However, most of them would, if they could speak, tell that they prefer warm liquids. That’s why it is best to heat milk safely and quickly. Now you know how to warm a baby bottle and why you should do it.

We hope that you have enjoyed and found useful the post we prepared for you. We want to remind you that there is plenty of other interesting information at parenthoodroutine, like for example what the best bottles for breastfed baby are.