Breast milk is the best food for your baby. Health Canada recommends that babies be fed breast milk for two years and beyond and breast milk is recommended as the only food for the first six months of life (breastfeeding only).
If for some reason you can’t provide breast milk for your baby and donor breast milk is unavailable, an iron-fortified cow's milk based substitute can be used to feed most babies.
There are a few things to think about when giving your baby a breast milk substitute (formula):
- Check the label for the type of substitute (ready-to-feed, liquid concentrate, powder).
- Read instructions on the packaging to find out if you need to add water, and how much you should add. Adding more or less infant-formula or water than instructed could make infants very ill.
- Ensure that the infant-formula has not expired.
- Ensure that you throw away any unused infant-formula.
- Ensure that the water you use with the infant-formula is safe. (No bacteria or nitrates)
- Sterilize all bottles, feeding equipment, and water for formula for babies of any age. There is no research that says when to safely stop sterilizing. That means it is safest to sterilize water and bottle feeding supplies as long as your baby is drinking formula.
- Ensure that you are safely storing the infant-formula.
For further information on sterilization and preparation visit Best Start's Infant Formula: What You Need to Know.
Contact Us:
1-800-563-2808 ext. 5351
Infant Feeding Survey
Do you have a baby under the age of six months? The Health Unit wants to hear from you! We are doing a study to learn about how people feed their babies in the first six months. This will help us improve services for new parents and babies in our community. Learn more on our Infant Feeding Survey webpage.