Cooled, boiled water for making up formula?

[nightkd]

Why do people use cooled, boiled water for making up formula? If the formula itself isn't sterile to start with, then does it really make that much difference (unless you're using well water which hasn't been treated)? I've just been reading that the fluoride levels (and potentially lead) in the water are the things to really worry about unless your water is untreated....

I'm only wondering because we've been giving RTF formula and we're thinking about switching to powdered (we have some samples to try and it's cheaper overall) and DH doesn't see the point in boiling the water... We don't sterilise our bottles either; we just sterilise them when they're new (as recommended on the bottle pack) and wash with very hot, soapy water... So is there any point boiling the water too?

I was considering as an alternative, at least for a couple of months, using bottled water as it is lower in potentially harmful minerals....still has minimal amounts of bacteria like tap water, but she's sticking her hands in her mouth and chewing on things ANYWAY (and I don't sterilise her hands/clothes/playmat etc ) - does anyone do that?

I'm going to get DH to ring our paediatrician to ask for his or her advice, but I pestered him for WEEKS to ring up about LO's gas pains and he didn't...so it could be a while =/

 

[BrookieG]

ive never really thought about it but i sterilise all his bottles and dummies (borderline ocd with it after he had oral thrush lol) i dunno that id just rather do it than not n him end up with a sore tummy :S i thought you boil the water so it kills off any bacteria in the formula??? prob wrong though hun....as for his hands n that i see your point but there's good bacteria n bad bacteria i suppose....i agree entirely that kids needs to build up a resistance to it by experiencing it but i guess there are the sterilizing guildelines until they're 6 motnhs for a reason :s xxx

 

[nightkd]

ive never really thought about it but i sterilise all his bottles and dummies (borderline ocd with it after he had oral thrush lol) i dunno that id just rather do it than not n him end up with a sore tummy :S i thought you boil the water so it kills off any bacteria in the formula??? prob wrong though hun....as for his hands n that i see your point but there's good bacteria n bad bacteria i suppose....i agree entirely that kids needs to build up a resistance to it by experiencing it but i guess there are the sterilizing guildelines until they're 6 motnhs for a reason :s xxx

But you don't add the formula to boiling water and don't you have to boil something for a few minutes for it to actually be sterilised?

Thing is though, we don't sterilise EVERYTHING, she's breathing bacteria in, putting it in her mouth and so on.....soooo.... I just don't really see the point... I don't sterilise my boobs and she puts them in her mouth But at the same time I'm questioning DH's attitude, just incase!

I also read the American Association of Paediatrics or something (I can't remember if that's right.....that official organisation though!) said to use boiled water for the first couple of months, just to be safe... Well what happens after the first couple of months? If everyone's saying that at 6 months they suddenly get a better immune system.... =/ I'm confused. Lol.

Surely if you boil and cool the water, then add the powdered formula...you're just adding bacteria back into the water...

ALSO I'm reading a lot of people on Baby Center using gallon bottles of water for their formula....I don't know about other people, but my baby doesn't drink a gallon of formula a day!! So those bottles are sitting around for a couple of days open....

Then if she starts weaning at 3/4/5 months she's consuming bacteria in food and from bowls/feeding utensils - or are we meant to sterilise those too?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I wish I had a phone with credit to call the paediatrician myself... =/

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm arguing (potentially with myself ) just trying to clarify why people recommend to boil the water and if we need to. I mean the formula packaging saying to ask the paediatrician - obviously not ALL babies NEED to have the water boiled depending on their health etc and what the paediatrician recommends...otherwise it wouldn't say that, right?

Just looking for people's opinions before we get the paediatrician - I want to be as fully informed as possible on everything really, not just going blindly with what one side or person recommends.

I'm just going to go and find some info on our tap water - fluoride levels and the such.

 

[rihanna]

even though the boiled water is cooled it is not cold, it is still hot enough after 30mins to kill the germs.

I think anyway!

 

[BrookieG]

even though the boiled water is cooled it is not cold, it is still hot enough after 30mins to kill the germs.

I think anyway!

thats what i thought....its left to cool for a certain amount of time so that its still over something like 70 degrees which is still hot enough to kill the bacteria....each to their own id just rather do it than my wee one have a sore tummy n me feel i was the cause :S x

 

[nightkd]

Surely that means really hot tap water would kill the germs (our tap water scalds...)?? Why do you have to rolling boil bottles for 5 mins if that's the case?

I'm not arguing, just curious And I know you'd rather be safe than sorry - that's why I don't want to get Chi vaccinated...if she gets hurt by them it's basically my fault.. I never really imagined making parenting decisions would be this hard

My hubby appears to have vanished off the face of the Earth, so no idea if he's rung the paedi or not yet....I think we're just gonna stick to RTF until he does....much less confusing!!!

 

[Lara310809]

From what I understand, tap water before it's been boiled is actually unsafe for a baby to drink, because it has bacteria and other minerals that baby cannot digest. I don't really know, but I make up formula cold. By that I mean at room temperature, not warm water. I never make a bottle with freshly boiuled water, but I pre-boil it, store it in a glass bottle with a lid, and dispense into a baby bottle when I need it. I may warm it in the microwave for 20 seconds, but that's the closest I get to hot weater these days. I've been doing it this way for a few months now, and it's had no adverse effect on LO.

The way I see it is, I dont' sterilise the dummies and she sticks her toys in her mouth; what's the point in sterilising the formula? It's not exactly dirty to begin with, since it's packaged in a safe environment. If you take the sterilising of everything very seriously, you should ask yourself how clean LO's fingers are. I bathe my LO every day, and I may baby wipe her hands if I see they're dirty, but they're going in and out of her mouth all day, and in the meantime going wherever else she sees fit to put them, and so she gets a lot of germs that way. Just doesn't make sense in my mind to sterilise bottles when you can't sterilise LO's fingers.

 

[bky]

Basically before a certain age their intestines are still being colonized by various forms of bacteria. After whatever that 'cutoff' point is it should be mostly stabilized and they should be able to defend against most errant microbes. While water is treated in most places to be below a certain coliform (fecal bacteria) count (with chlorine which will be removed by boiling or allowing to sit out for some time), there will still be bacteria in the water and since they don't have a fully developed gut community they have less defense over anything that would run rampant in there. As for hot water, well, there are lots of bacteria that like it warm and the inside of a hot water heater is pretty gross. For me it would be more of a yuck factor as those aren't likely to make a person sick.
The rolling boil for 5 minutes kills the tough spore forming bacteria (often found in soil etc).
While formula isn't 100% sterile it is pretty clean, and the 70C water will kill the majority of problem causing bacteria. Bacteria aren't likely to grow in the dry stuff as they need some moisture to multiply. The bacteria in formula can be hard on the insides of some babies, but it's usually more of a problem in premature or otherwise having difficulties babies.

 

[nightkd]

Thanks for the replies!! DH actually rang the paediatrician today shock and the nurse said to just use hot water from the tap.... Which will make it a hell of a lot easier. I still haven't had a chance to check the fluoride content etc in our local water (it comes from a lake (treated before it reaches us ) down the road...) so I am going to do that before we go giving her the tap water....

xx

 

[bambino156]

I think the guidelines in the US are a lot different to those in the UK. I read before that in the US formula can be made with water straight from the tap. Here they say boiled water needs to have cooled for a max of 30 mins before being added to sterilised bottles and then adding the formula. It needs to have cooled enough so that it doesn't wipe out the nutrients in the milk, but needs to still be above 70 degrees to kill off any potential bacteria in the formula.
I can see what you mean about the fact we don't sterilise playmats etc and lo's always putting thier hands in thier mouths, but milk residue in bottles is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria so I guess thats why they say to sterilise them x

 

[mrsthomas623]

I had just always though the water was not treated like it is in the US. I never understood "the formula has bacteria so boil the water then let it cool" rule I have always used tap water and LO seems to be fine

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

Yeah I think the guidelines in the US are different to UK. I PERSONALLY would never use hot tap water. It's just not clean enough. The same as I wouldn't use hot tap water to make a cup of tea. Powder isn't sterile that's why they say boil the water (to kill the germs) & then put the powder in water that's a not cold.... Each to their own though

 

[Eve]

When I had my son I didn't give him water NOT boiled until 6 months, and even then it was bottled, but that is what the guidelines were provincially then, not just one doctor.
I'm glad I don't have to deal with it now lol... I live the easy life