concerned about how my friend makes up formula.

[eulmh82]

Ok I have in the past made up formula and stored it at the back of the fridge which goes against guidelines but lots of us do it. However my friend makes up the formula and keeps it in a bottle warmer - a tommy tippee thing that looks like a cool bag with a zip and everything - it's material - but it;s supposed to keep the formula warm. So she makes several and then keeps them in the bottle warmers all day. She said it doesn;t keep them that warm just to room temp - so the milk is sat out all day at room temp. i did say that I thought you needed to fridge them immediately but she thinks not. I am wrong?

 

[HellBunny]

She's wrong, if pre made bottles should be chilled immediatley xx

 

[babyfromgod]

I would tell her and maybe show her the guidelines or her baby could get very sick x

 

[ClairAye]

It should be put in the fridge as soon as it's cool!

 

[.rollinn.]

What the other ladies said,i know we aren't suppose to judge. In THIS case that's a real risk to the babies health....

 

[tmr1234]

i have them bags and they are crap they don't keep the bottels warm or cold. Like outhers have said she is putting her baby at risk

 

[eulmh82]

so how do I approach this with her?

 

[lozzy21]

Iv used those things for one bottle if im going to be using it in the next hour or so but wouldent do it with a whole days worth. Id just ask her outright if she knows what shes doing can make her LO ill, if she doesnt know she will thank you for telling her, if she does and just doesnt care then what you say wont matter.

 

[ke29]

so how do I approach this with her?

You could print off the world health organisation guidelines and leave them lying around. If she asks why you have them just say that its for your own reference.

 

[Mummythree]

nothing wrong with this i have done this. but not made several up and kept them in it all day im talking 1 at a time.

 

[Noelle610]

Eesh I would chat with her, just approach it as a concerned friend and without judgement. The "rules" in the US are a bit more relaxed and I still find this concerning. Her LO could get sick.

 

[brokenbits]

Crikey. She's putting her baby in danger, bacteria multiplies at astounding rates in room temperature formula. Maybe suggest she just puts the water in the bottles and keeps that at room temperature/in the bag and when she's ready to feed she can add the formula and feed straight away. If she's at home there is no excuse and she can make the bottles up fresh. When I go out I take a bottle of boiled water in a thermo bag and a measured pot of formula (specific pots with spouts can be bought from baby stores), when LO is due to feed I add the formula and feed straight away. IMO far far safer than feeding a bottle that's been made up and sat lingering for hours.

 

[babydust1990]

I keep my bottles for night in a coolbag with an icepack by the bed at night and just pop them in the bottle warmer... Is this really bad?

 

[skunkpixie]

I keep my bottles for night in a coolbag with an icepack by the bed at night and just pop them in the bottle warmer... Is this really bad?

This method is ok, but the bottle must only be stored this way for upto 4 hours I believe. xxx

 

[MissR]

I would suggest to her that instead of keeping ready made formula in these bags, instead keep the boiled water in sterillised bottles in the bags and then add the powder when needed. This is how I make all my bottles up for my LO as she likes her bottle at room temp. My health visitor said this method is fine as the bacteria only starts to build as soon as the powder is added to the water. Good luck!

 

[youngwife20]

[QUOTE brokenbits;20349659 Maybe suggest she just puts the water in the bottles and keeps that at room temperature/in the bag and when she's ready to feed she can add the formula and feed straight away.[/QUOTE]

hello im very new to this but i have been told adding formula to room temp water wont kill the bacteria But i gues this is better than her present way of doing it

 

[brokenbits]

The formula isn't sterile which is why it should be added to hot water, as you said, adding the formula to room temp water is better than letting a made up bottle sit for hours before feeding.
I always make up bottles fresh as I feed when at home, if I go out i'll take a bottle of water and heat it in microwave/jug of hot water before adding formula. It's never caused issues with LO.

 

[eulmh82]

I'll see - she;s coming over today so I'll see what she does in terms of feeding him. She does know as she rang me up when she was just out of hospital as she had been breastfeeding but has had serious issues and couldn;t carry on so she rang to see how to make it up so i told her what we did which was in the day make it fresh but at night we used to make the next bottle up when he was having a feed ie: at his 10.30 feed we'd make up the next feed for his 2.30 feed etc but I did say that technically that was wrong and we just made sure we cooled it quickly and put it at the back of the fridge and I remember saying this so she does know - I did explain the milk's not sterile - but she had just come out of hospital and probably wasn;t really with it. When she comes over hopefully my Alex will want a feed and i'll make a big deal of what I am doing so she gets it. Her LO is a good feeder and he drinks a lot and then goes 4 hrs and he's predictable so it;s easy to do it properly.

 

[eulmh82]

so she came and fed him with a ready made up bottle kept in the tommee tippee warmer. I said oh wouldn;t you find it easier to use the ready made stuff when you're out and she said no and then I suggested to bring the powI didnder separately and she said well they wouldn;t make them if they were dangerous. I wanted to say but i think you aren;t using them for their intended use but didn;t. i said did the instructions say how long they were safe in there for and she said no. So apart from saying you are making the bottles wrong I didn;t know what else to say. I made a big thing of saying to mine oh are you getting hungry let's go and make you a fresh bottle and she was in the kitchen with me and saw me make it so I'm hoping I've put some doubt in her mind and she'll re think what she's doing. Her sister has a 3 yr old so I'm wondering why she's not saying anything. Even my mum who made up bottles totally different in her day knows that it needs fridging!

 

[skunkpixie]

I dont know whether it would be too blatant but maybe try posing a link on facebook to the feeding advice page of the brand of formula you use? You could put something like "Learned some really helpful stuff reading this site today". Hopefully she will have a browse over and see that feeds cant be kept warm/room temp for more than 2 hours before you need to chuck them. xx