Does anyone use all ready-made cartons?

[erikab922]

I have been exclusively pumping for 4 months now and I'm bloody exhausted. I am slowly giving LO formula for 1-2 feeds a day and then BM the rest of the time. I have been using ready-made cartons as they are dead easy but started looking into formula today. Well, forget it! I know there are a million threads about this but it seems to me the only way I can be absolutely sure to kill any contaminates from the manufacturing process is to boil the kettle, let it sit to 70C (and how in the heck would I know when it reaches 70C?) mix it and then cool it. Apparently if it's too hot it will kill nutrients and if it's too cool it won't kill any contaminates. Ugh. But I won't take any chances.

So if I am combi-feeding then the way I figure it I will only need at most 3 cartons a day. Three cartons at 61p a carton times 30 days = roughly £55 a month. Child benefit is £80, so that will easily pay for it and I don't have to worry about it. I work from home full-time and honestly I will forget how long the kettle has been boiled for, or I will forget to boil it full-stop, and right now with doing BM in bottles my husband knows he just has to warm it a bit but the 'formula rules' will wig him out.

Just wondering if anyone else has relied solely on ready-made formula cartons?

 

[Liesje]

At 4 months old, you don't need to worry too much about sterilization unless you live in an area with questionable water quality. I just use bottled water for my formula now and powder. At this point everything is going in their mouth anyway, not much point in sterilizing everything anymore.

 

[skunkpixie]

We used 100% ready made cartons for 8-10 weeks out of convenience and also the sterility gave me piece of mind. It was very expensive as we were totally FF.
But to be honest I would say that a baby of 4-6 months doesnt really need the security of sterile ready-to-feed cartons. From 4-6 months you can begin weaning, and baby food, especially home made is not sterile. You can also give tap water as a drink from 6 months without boiling it, which again is not sterile. Your baby will also be becoming alot more mobile and baby habbits such as licking the carpet is definalty not sterile!
So yeah cartons are great, especailly in the first few weeks when you are just getting into the swing of things, but I think their sterility is unecissary for an older baby with no health problems. xxxx

 

[Bex1408]

Hiya! I sometimes use cartons but normally make up formular as and when she needs it. Personally I don't leave the kettle to cool down for 30 mins all the time, tend to just leave it a couple of mins then make it up then. My health visitor said that was fine! It seems a bit of a nightmare at first but I can now make one up in seconds with my eyes closed lol.!my friend uses ready made all the time as her little boy doesnt like the powdered one! Which formula r u using? Some of them have started doing the ready made in 1 litre bottles which may work out a bit cheaper? Xxx

 

[Lady_Bee]

I used to just use the packets of premade stuff but they are sooo expensive longterm. Powdered formula can be really quick to prepare, even following the WHO guidelines, if you use a cunning system, mwaha.

It seriously takes me about 5 minutes to make up a bottle when I do it this way:

- At the beginning od the day, pre-fill all your bottles but one with HALF the needed amount of slightly cooled, freshly boiled water (e.g. My LO takes 6 oz feeds so I fill to 3 oz) then put the teats and lids on and leave the bottles to cool on the side. You should have one empty bottle.
- Chill the bottles in the fridge.
- Whenit's time to make a feed, boil the kettle, open the lid, and wait a couple of minutes (I usually change LO's nappy while I wait)
- Grab the one empty bottle and one half-filled bottle from the fridge
- Fill the empty bottle with half the needed amount of freshly boiled water (should still be very hot!)
- Add all of the powder to the HOT water and shake or stir. This gives you a bottle with double concentration.
- Pour in the CHILLED water from the other bottle, give a brief shake, and with any luck it should be about the right temperature to drink! Sometimes I have to put it under the tap for 30 seconds.
- The new empty bottle goes back in the fridge for next feed

It may seem convoluted but it is sooo quick, I hated waiting for the kettle too, it was ridiculous in the middle of the night.

By all means though if you afford it use rtf. Personally I could not spend that much every week but it was very easy and convenient it's true.

 

[moonitee]

- At the beginning od the day, pre-fill all your bottles but one with HALF the needed amount of slightly cooled, freshly boiled water (e.g. My LO takes 6 oz feeds so I fill to 3 oz) then put the teats and lids on and leave the bottles to cool on the side. You should have one empty bottle.
- Chill the bottles in the fridge.
- Whenit's time to make a feed, boil the kettle, open the lid, and wait a couple of minutes (I usually change LO's nappy while I wait)
- Grab the one empty bottle and one half-filled bottle from the fridge
- Fill the empty bottle with half the needed amount of freshly boiled water (should still be very hot!)
- Add all of the powder to the HOT water and shake or stir. This gives you a bottle with double concentration.
- Pour in the CHILLED water from the other bottle, give a brief shake, and with any luck it should be about the right temperature to drink! Sometimes I have to put it under the tap for 30 seconds.
- The new empty bottle goes back in the fridge for next feed

.

This is basically the same way i do it. So much easier!!!!

 

[erikab922]

I used to just use the packets of premade stuff but they are sooo expensive longterm. Powdered formula can be really quick to prepare, even following the WHO guidelines, if you use a cunning system, mwaha.

Loooooove it! This is going on the fridge Thank you!!!

And thank you to all the other ladies who responded - I was just freaked out about killing any nutrients by putting freshly boiled water in the powder or by it not being hot enough to kill any nasties from the manufacturing process. All good points as well about the sterilisation issues, I hadn't considered her age at all. Thank you!

 

[bubbles123]

I used cartons for the first few weeks with mine until they fell into a feeding pattern. I have also used cartons for longer periods when away, for example I used them for 2 weeks when we were on holiday as the cottage we were staying in had a private water supply and I wasn't too sure if it was OK for formula. The only difference I have noticed between the two is that (sorry to be gross!) their poo is more paste like and brownish with cartons and more yellow and scramabled eggy with powder. Doesn't cause any problems though. I still use cartons when I'm out.
There are a whole load of ways to make up powdered formula and the ladies have given you some great ideas. Personally though I have always preferred to do it exactly as it says on the tin, then I can be sure I am getting any nasties in the powder. When they were having night feeds, I boiled the kettle before I went to bed and left it to cool and put the water in a thermos flask to keep it at that temperature and used that for night feeds. I'm lucky though that I am a very organised person and have/had 2 babies that feed (of their own choosing) on a regular schedule. So, my daughter feeds roughly every 4 hours at 7,11 and 3 etc so I put the kettle on half and hour before, let it boil, make a cup of tea (the important bit, ha ha!), let it cool for 30 mins, then make it up, pop it in iced water for 5 mins and hey presto. I have been doing this for so long now that it is permanently embedded in my brain. I can do it half asleep and without thinking (and frequently do!).
Good luck with whatever method you choose! I agree also that that sterile cartons are not needed for older babies, powder is just fine.
In terms of sterilisation of bottles etc that it is recommend for 1 year in the UK. Many other countries have different rules but it's one year here. You sterilise bottles to kill old milk bacteria and make powder with hot water to kill any bugs in the powder. It's got nothing to do with water quality. Again though, whatever you choose to do is up to you X

 

[cat lover]

I used to combi feed and after a while switched to only useing cartons when I FF. As I mainly BF it wasn't that expensive. To me the ONLY downside would be cost so if thats not an issue I would go for it if I were you xx

 

[Ju_bubbs]

My toddler was FF from 5 weeks, I used ready made cartons until she switched to cows milk at 12 months.. very expensive, but was totally worth it with 4 other kids, a dog and being pregnant!! Mucking around with water temps and measuring out powder etc just seemed like too much hassel!

 

[Fliss]

Nathan's 3 months old and we're still using the ready-made bottles - we use SMA and it now comes in litre bottles which are good for 48 hours from opening - but he uses it within 24 usually.

I kept meaning to switch to powder but DH and I sat down and worked out that yes its twice as expensive, but the ease and time spent is MORE than worth the money.

It costs us about £1.50 a day more than tins and I reckon my time is worth that!

We sterilise the bottles but that's just for peace of mind as he was 5 weeks prem.

 

[Liesje]

Wow compared to our prices in Canada, you ladies have it pretty good! Ours is about $1 per 60ml so to actually feed a baby with it costs about $20 a day!
It was so much extra work for me because I'd split it into 60ml servings and just keep picking up extra bottles until he was done and put the leftovers in the fridge so not as much went to waste.