Confused about making up bottles

[Scarlett_paws]

Looking for some advice really please. I am currently combination feeding but my milk is drying up. I have been using the premixed aptimal, but now it's looking like I need to use more formula I have been looking at the powder version. Here is where I get stuck.

It says on the box to boil the kettle and then let it cool for 30 mins before adding the powder and feeding to baby. It says to make it as you require, which seems a little crazy to me as how do you tell a screaming baby to wait 30 mins.

I was wondering what other people do, do you make it up as you go? Or boil the water and leave it ready to add the powder as you go during the day.
I was thinking about making up the bottles (powder and water) and leaving in the fridge anything which is older than 24 hours throwing away but I don't want to do anything which might hurt my baby.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[Kino]

We boil a full kettle of water each day, put it in a sealed container in the fridge and as baby needs a bottle, we just pour the water in and then the powder so really doesn't take very long.

Some people will day not to make up feeds in advance but on the formula manufacturers website it says that you can premake bottles in the fridge and they are good for 24 hrs

Hope that helps

 

[adrie]

Yeah, the above suggestion is great.

IMO, there are all sorts of crazy directions for making formula.
I have concentrate and so make up a whole can (4 feeds of 6oz each) and they keep for 48hrs in the fridge.

But I also don't spend 5 minutes at 3am with a screaming baby to heat up a bottle, it's done in under half a minute.

 

[Scarlett_paws]

Thanks ladies.i was getting myself all confused especially when googling for advice it said that the milk powder its self is not sterile so you could not use cold water from the fridge.

 

[Popples1]

Stalking. I've been wondering the same thing as I'm in a very similar situation. I'm still mostly using ready-mixed but when faced with a shortage and a screaming baby, I've sometimes booked the kettle, made the feed up after ten mins or so then cooled it by running under cold water or sitting it in a cup with water & ice cubes in it for a couple of mins.

 

[dgirllamius]

I used to make up a batch when LO went to bed for the night and store them in the fridge.

The way I did it was to boil the kettle and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Add required amount of water to bottles, add formula, shake well and store in fridge.

We used to do it when LO was screaming her head off and it took ages to sort it out. In the end we just did it like that and had no problems. It was quicker to warm the milk up than to sit about a wait for water to cool down etc.

 

[Rachel_C]

When we used formula, I made it up with cold water (boiled it and poured it into sterilised bottles in the morning then added powder as needed) but having read a lot more since that, I wouldn't do it again. People normally get less careful with their second child but I think with milk, knowing more would make me more cautious. I feel bad now that we risked not using hot water.

What I'd probably do is experiment with different temps/quantities of water to work out how to make it the right temp while still adding powder to 70 degree C water. Something like 2 oz freshly boiled water, add 0.5oz pre-boiled water from the fridge, then add 4 scoops of powder and mix, then add a final 1oz of pre-boiled chilled water to cool it a little and make it up to the right volume of water (would need to be measured from another bottle as you'd already have added the powder). That would still be too hot but it would be a lot quicker to cool under running water than starting from 70 degrees. If the bottles were bigger you might be able to add more cold water at the end to get it right quicker. My experience is only with Aptamil though which is quite easy to dissolve; with powders that are more difficult I don't know if it would work. A bit of a faff but there are so many babies get sick from incorrectly made up formula that I just wouldn't risk it again.

 

[The2mums]

I have a 3 week old baby that is formula fed I can not recommend highly enough the tommy tippy perfect prep bottle making machine I bought it from mothercare for around £65 which might seem expensive but it's the best money I have spent baby product wise.
It makes a perfect bottle in less than 2 minutes no boiling a kettle waiting for it to cool storing bottles in the fridge etc.
Saves your sanity especially when little one is screaming his head off at silly o'clock in the morning.

 

[MrsTT]

Agree! I just purchased the perfect prep from asda for £65.

 

[cocosianelle]

Yup, perfect prep still going strong here after 10 months. I love love love it! My #1 baby purchase.

 

[Emma&Freya]

I usually boiled the kettle and poured the water into the bottles, then let them cool, when needed put formula in then heated bottle up

 

[KAH1990]

When we used formula, I made it up with cold water (boiled it and poured it into sterilised bottles in the morning then added powder as needed) but having read a lot more since that, I wouldn't do it again. People normally get less careful with their second child but I think with milk, knowing more would make me more cautious. I feel bad now that we risked not using hot water.

What I'd probably do is experiment with different temps/quantities of water to work out how to make it the right temp while still adding powder to 70 degree C water. Something like 2 oz freshly boiled water, add 0.5oz pre-boiled water from the fridge, then add 4 scoops of powder and mix, then add a final 1oz of pre-boiled chilled water to cool it a little and make it up to the right volume of water (would need to be measured from another bottle as you'd already have added the powder). That would still be too hot but it would be a lot quicker to cool under running water than starting from 70 degrees. If the bottles were bigger you might be able to add more cold water at the end to get it right quicker. My experience is only with Aptamil though which is quite easy to dissolve; with powders that are more difficult I don't know if it would work. A bit of a faff but there are so many babies get sick from incorrectly made up formula that I just wouldn't risk it again.

Why wouldn't you use your previous method? What are the cons of doing it this is currently how I have made my 6 months old since birth so just curious

 

[Mypreciouskid]

I always just poured room temp filtered water into the bottle, added powder, and fed. Is that no longer recommended?

 

[PoppyPainting]

We boil the kettle, let it stand for 30 mins the pour it into a flask, ready to use. We also boil kettle, leave Col for 30 mins then make a few bottles of formula up. Chill in iced water then store on top shelf of the fridge until needed. Don't keep them for more than 24 hours as others have said.

 

[amytrisha]

Your not actually told to let it cool for 30 minutes, you shouldn't let it cool for more than 30 minutes cos then it is no longer hot enough to kill bacteria.

I put boiling water in the bottle, add powder then prop it under the tap and blast cold water on it. Takes 4 minutes to cool.

 

[Loui1001]

I make up dd's bottles using boiling water. My HV and MW both told me you didn't *have* to wait the 20 mins for the water to cool but that it was advised to reduce scalding risks. The milk isn't sterile and the water needs to be not enough to kill any bacteria that might be in it. I make the bottles then cool in a jug of iced water while I'm changing her, it's fairly quick to do

 

[AJCart]

Honestly, when she was first born I boiled the kettle, poured it in to the bottle, added formula and then ran it under cold water until it was a good temp. After a couple of weeks of that though it just wasn't working for us. Then switched to 2 flasks, one with cooled boiled water, and one with hot boiled water, shot of hot water, formula, top up with cooled water, good to go.

In the last few weeks though we have just switched to using cooled boiled water.

 

[miraclebaba]

AJcart flasks are awesome, i also pour cooled boiled water in the flask, the water is warm enough, i dont want to feed him a cold bottle, takes a minute to do a bottle, we good to go.

 

[BabyMamma93]

when i first brought my LB home, luckily he would need to be waken for a bottle every 2 hours, so i would sort his bottle half hour before he was due, and when its cool wake him and give him it..
on a night for the first 2 nights i made up a few bottles and (i know its wrong, i was wrongly advised at the time) left them at the side of the bed and gave him when he needed, then i decided to take a flask of hot water to bed, his powder and make the bottle up then cool it..

the things you read do confuse you.. here is the problem i had..
one thing i read says not to use water above 70 degrees as it takes the goodness out of the powder, below 70 doesnt kill the bacteria. 30 mins in the kettle should bring it to 70 but it depends on your kettle..
then on the tub of formula i have (c&g) it says to use cooled boiled water??

so what really is the best? IMO i think most of the things are a fob off, i use water from the kettle when its settled for 5, or as said above i use a flask.

the perfect prep machine sounds a god send, i havent even used it and i would recommend it, im debating getting one if i get my sure start grant..

 

[Kino]

I have the Dr browns pitcher...our lo getting about one to two bottles of formula a day as I am pumping the rest so we boil the kettle, let it cool for 30 and pour it up and mix in the formula. Its perfect and much cheaper than the perfect prep. It holds about 32 Oz and is good for 24 hrs.. The amount of time it'd take to heat the bottle would be how long it'd take to use the perfect prep. I'm glad I discovered it!!