In Your Eyes.  The time spent feeding your baby is one of the strongest bonding experiences of parenting.  Looking down into your baby's face while feeding - that cute little nose, those pink little lips, and those eyes! – can send a wave of love crashing through your entire body.  It's really is one of those cloud-parting, sun-beaming, bolts-of-warmth moments reminding you life is good.  No.  Life is great!

If you haven't already heard – breast is best.  However, at some point during a baby's feeding days, most parents turn to a bottle to help them get the feeding job done.  Bottle feeding allows fathers to experience the bond created between parent and baby during the feeding process, and gives mom a chance to take some much deserved time to do whatever she pleases (translate: eat, shower, and on those lucky days, nap).

So far so good, right?  Not so fast.  What happens if feeding your baby isn't as easy as you thought it would be?  Do you have a plan in place to address feeding issues should they arise?  Let's face it - there are few things in life as important as feeding your baby.  If this doesn't go well, nothing goes well.

In my job as co-founder and vice president of Green to Grow, a company that produces safe feeding products for families, including a line of BPA-free baby bottles, I have spent countless hours on the phone coaching new parents (yes, dads call too) through the infant feeding process.  Through this experience, I have come to understand how complicated this seemingly simple, yet critical task can be, and how few parents are prepared to troubleshoot the many problems that can occur. 

The feeding complications you may be confronted with are unlike preparing the nursery for your new baby's arrival home or selecting a safe car seat.  You're going to have to wait to meet your baby face to face to discover what, if any, feeding issues you may be dealing with.  But this doesn't mean you shouldn't do your homework beforehand and educate yourself about the most common problems and how to address them. Chances are you won't need to draw upon this knowledge, but as we say at Green to Grow, "Peace of mind is everything."  And even if you don't personally use what you've learned, at some point you will likely have an opportunity to help out a friend. 

So do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes reading through the infant feeding articles listed here at nesting.com – a tremendous resource for new and seasoned parents.  What you learn today could be that which bails you out of a tough spot in the future, or prepares you to begin seeking solutions to potential problems.