Can you make up bottles with boiling water?

[bumblebeexo]

Quick question..

I make up my bottles for the day in the morning. I was told by my HV to leave the kettle for no longer than 30 minutes after it's been boiled. I usually leave it for 15 - 20 mins, but can I make them up as soon as the kettle has boiled? I always forget I've boiled the kettle, so a lot of the time it takes a few attempts to actually get the bottles made up!

 

[skunkpixie]

Yes you can. The reason they say to wait a little while for the water to cool slightly is to avoid serious burns. Also be aware of your bottles warping. Ive heard that Tommee Tippee bottles especially have a habit of losing their shape if you fill them with just boiled water. xxx

 

[star1]

I've read that it can kill some of the vitamins and nutrients in the formula if you use boiling water so I always leave it at least 10 min just in case. I set the oven timer to remind me

 

[bumblebeexo]

Oven timer - good idea!

 

[Lady_Bee]

I did a lot of reading about this a while back and came to the conclusion that the killing nutrients thing is mostly myth (exceptions are some formula types that will specify on the label that you should make with cooler water in order to preserve strains of beneficial bacteria). Most vitamins and minerals are pretty heat stable and even the heat sensitive ones would need to be actually boiled for about 20 minutes in order to do a significant amount of damage. So I do use water that is close to boiling with no concerns. I usually leave the kettle lid open for 5 minutes before I make up the formula so it's not quite boiling but def well over 70*C.

 

[Eala]

I read a report from the Infant Nutrition Council (from Australia) on this a while ago, and this part stuck out for me:

Nutrients most destructible by heat are the vitamins; thiamin, folate,
pantothenic acid and vitamin C. For example, thiamin is destroyed at 100°C.

You can read the whole thing here - https://infantnutritioncouncil.com/...fant-formula-and-safety-around-70-degrees.pdf

To be fair they don't provide a reference for this, and at the moment I'm sat with bandages on my nose following surgery and don't really have the wherewithall to do a search myself.

 

[mamas_melon]

I actually emailed sma about this and this is what they said:

Thank you for your enquiry.

We would expect boiling water to adversely affect the nutritional value of Vitamin C, followed by Vitamin B1 and B6. We would not expect any of the other nutrients to be adversely affected, but we don't have any data to support this position.

We would also be concerned about the risks associated with using boiling water and the potential for accidental scalding.

At home, or out and about, boiling water can be put into a vacuum flask, as the flask will keep the water above 70 for several hours. Please note there is a risk of scalding as water still hot.

It is important to follow good hygiene practices when making up infant formula and you should always prepare the milk in accordance with instructions on the specific pack of infant formula that you feed your baby.

Boiled water should be allowed to cool to no less than 70 . This means using water that has been left in the kettle for no more than 30 minutes after boiling.

A freshly made feed can be kept at room temperature for a maximium of 2 hours however, if your baby has started drinking from the bottle then it should be discarded after 1 hour.

I hope you find this information suitable for your needs but should you have any further questions please feel free to contact the SMA Careline again.

Kind regards,
Jacqueline Haines
Careline Advisor

 

[skunkpixie]

I actually emailed sma about this and this is what they said:

Thank you for your enquiry.

We would expect boiling water to adversely affect the nutritional value of Vitamin C, followed by Vitamin B1 and B6. We would not expect any of the other nutrients to be adversely affected, but we don't have any data to support this position.

We would also be concerned about the risks associated with using boiling water and the potential for accidental scalding.

At home, or out and about, boiling water can be put into a vacuum flask, as the flask will keep the water above 70 for several hours. Please note there is a risk of scalding as water still hot.

It is important to follow good hygiene practices when making up infant formula and you should always prepare the milk in accordance with instructions on the specific pack of infant formula that you feed your baby.

Boiled water should be allowed to cool to no less than 70 . This means using water that has been left in the kettle for no more than 30 minutes after boiling.

A freshly made feed can be kept at room temperature for a maximium of 2 hours however, if your baby has started drinking from the bottle then it should be discarded after 1 hour.

I hope you find this information suitable for your needs but should you have any further questions please feel free to contact the SMA Careline again.

Kind regards,
Jacqueline Haines
Careline Advisor

Wow, thats a different story from what Cow and Gate said! They never said anything about how it can affect any of the nutrients. Just about the scalding. I might email them again and see if the advice has changed. xx

 

[Lady_Bee]

Same here skunkpixie, when I asked Aptamil about using boiling water and heat destroying nutrients they just wrote me a response about the risk of scalding too.

 

[stephanyox]

I used to use boiling water and it was absolutely fine!

 

[biliboi2]

I use boiling water too

 

[Louisey80]

I use boiled water. I tested the boiled water once poured into the bottle and it was only 80 degrees. I make my bottles with 2oz boiled water 1/2oz cooled boiled water which I tested is 70degrees add the powder and when it's fully dissolved I top up to 5/6oz with cooled boiled water. This way I have a bottle pretty instantly x