Feeding with Calma®
Calma: Designed exclusively for breast milk feeding, Calma is designed to complement, not replace, the breast as the primary source of breast milk and comfort for baby!
Helpful tips during feeding
- Place a small pillow on your lap to help support baby as needed.
- Put baby on his or her side with head slightly elevated, bottom towards your belly. 1, 2
- Baby’s head should be up, lined up with his or her body, and chin slightly forward.3
- Baby’s arms and shoulders should be forward and rounded.4
- Tickle baby’s top lip with the nipple and stroke downward, trying to tease out the tongue.4
- Promptly place the nipple into baby’s mouth and watch for lips to flange outward on the wider part of the nipple.5, 6
- Listen for swallowing as baby sucks.4
- Halfway through the feeding, turn baby to the other side. Alternatively, baby can sit upright with back rounded and elbows forward.4
- Do not put baby on his or her back to feed.4, 7, 8
Troubleshooting- If baby resists or does not begin sucking right away, try squeezing, and then releasing Calma while covering the opening with your finger. This will pull a few drops of milk down which may give the baby a little reward to get him started sucking.
- Point Calma up into the palate, then center on the tongue.
- Between sucking bursts, you may notice a few drops of milk spilling from baby’s mouth. This can occur in babies who have not yet mastered the ability to keep the tongue forward and around the teat while breathing between suck bursts.
- You can help baby overcome this by keeping his chin jutting outward rather than tucked against his chest.
- As your baby becomes comfortable with Calma, be patient and DON’T GIVE UP!
Watch the Calma video
Why choose Calma?
Calma product details
1Infants need to be cradled in the parent’s arms to promote comfort and safety. Caregivers should hold the bottle at a 45° angle to ensure the nipple is full of formula and to avoid excessive ingestion of air. Hancock, M. & Brown. J.(2010).
2Formula feeding safety: what nursing need to teach parents who choose to formula feed. Nursing for Women’s Health, 14, 303-309.
3“Hold the baby during feedings in the cradle of your arm, partially upright. This makes baby feel secure, helps you to read baby’s cures and helps the baby from coking during feeding.” http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/feedinginfants-ch5.pdf
4“The infant is positioned in the feeder’s arms or placed semi-upright in the lap and is held with the back cured slightly .....”
“Prodding techniques to encourage sucking can increase the risk of aspiration,”
“Like Breast fed infants, bottle fed infants need to be held on alternate sides of the lap to expose them to different stimuli.”
The infant is positioned in the feeder’s arms or placed semi-upright in the lap and is held with the back cured slightly….” Wong p.358
“Prodding techniques to encourage sucking can increase the risk of aspiration,”
“Like Breast fed infants, bottle fed infants need to be held on alternate sides of the lap to expose them to different stimuli.”
The infant is positioned in the feeder’s arms or placed semi-upright in the lap and is held with the back cured slightly….” Wong p.358
5Correct suckling position for breast-feeding, which is similar to the Calma system, includes “wide open mouth, tongue under the areola…” Wong, p. 293
6AND: “Flanged position of infant’s lips on the areola. The lips should gently grasp most of the areola, with the lower lip covering more of the areola than the lower lip.”
Wong, p. 294
7“Feed a baby while he or she is awake. Do not offer the bottle in bed at nap or sleep time." http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/feedinginfants-ch5.pdf
8“The baby may aspirate formula into the trachea and lungs while sleeping.” Wong, p. 295.