How do you make up your bottles?

[eve21]

Hi ladies, please help me.

When my 4 year old daughter was born i would boil the kettle let it cool for 30mins then add the water to the bottles & leave at room temp, add the formula when needed. She was never sick, she was fine with this. The health nurse told me not to do this, always make up fresh. Then i heard i could make up 4 bottles at a time & store at the back of the fridge take out & heat a bit in a bowl of hot water.

Just saw on loose women not to do this as can make the baby sick? Im lost now, dunno what to be doing now?

Thanks for reading x

 

[MindUtopia]

I either made them fresh or made with hot water, cooled quickly and stored in the fridge (usually for the overnight ones). During the day, making them fresh was usually easiest, it saved having to make them, cool them all and then re-heat. We didn't really switch to formula until 10 weeks, so by then it was easy to predict roughly when she would likely be hungry, so I would boil the kettle 20-30 minutes before I planned to make the bottle and then they are fine at room temp for 2 hours before you need to discard them, so I knew she would always want it at some point before it got too old.

For the overnight ones when I didn't have the luxury of doing that, in the evening before bed, I would do the same, boil the kettle, leave for 20-30 minutes, then make a set of bottles for overnight and the first morning one, set them in a big bowl of ice water to quickly chill then store in the fridge and warm in a bowl of boiled hot water as needed.

You definitely shouldn't use room temp water to make the bottles as it needs to be hot when it first comes in contact with the formula powder in order to sterilise it. The idea is that you boil the water not to sterilise the water or the bottle, but the actual formula, so it needs to be hot when you make it. It is less ideal to store them in the fridge for use later because it can risk bacterial growth, especially if your fridge isn't clean and you aren't good about keeping raw meats or things far away from where you'd store the bottles, so cross contamination is one concern. But I think also some people just make the bottles hot and shove them in the fridge, but you actually need to rapidly cool them to a point below like room temp pretty quickly because there is a temperature range that really encourages bacterial growth in milk products, and it can take a long time to cool just sitting in the fridge. So it ends up just being like feeding a bottle you've left out sitting on the counter for 8 hours, which can be dangerous if bacteria has been able to grow.

I think basically just be sensible. If you're going to make them in advance, just do it with hot water and then cool them quickly in ice and water and put in the fridge right away so they stay cold until you need them. Then just don't leave them in there forever. I always made sure I used the refrigerated ones within 8-12 hours.

 

[Witchrose]

I made all my bottles every morning and then stuck them in the refrigerator until it was time for a feed. I knew that was a controversial method now, but after reading up on it, I felt comfortable doing it that way. I think it's important to remember that no one, not even experts, ever agree on anything, so ultimately you just have to use your own judgement. Odds are, if you use basic common sense and hygiene (as Mind Utopia mentioned about such things such as making sure refrigerator is very clean, no raw meat nearby, etc) that no matter which method you use to make the bottles, your baby will be just fine.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

Id make them and keep in fridge, then heat. OR use the room temp formula.

 

[Fruitmash]

Have you considered buying a perfect prep machine? It's expensive but I've only heard good things about them. Makes a perfect bottle in 2 minutes! I got one on sale ready for this little one's arrival

 

[Nibblenic]

We are now using prefect prep.
But before that we were making in advance, rapid cooling, storing in fridge and warming on demand. My Lo is on prescription milk and this is how they do it on ward at the hospital, yes its ina sterile room with someone who looks like theyre on breaking bad, bu you get the idea

 

[csto]

Boiling and cooling water is only necessary if your water comes from a questionable source. (Like a well)

Typically, I use tap water in a formula pitcher (the Dr. Brown's one from amazon) and mix up a full days worth of formula all at once. Then just store it in the fridge and pour into bottles as needed. Mixed formula is good for up to 24 hours if stored in the fridge. We never heated the bottles, my son doesn't mind cold formula.

 

[sayshaa]

Boiling and cooling water is only necessary if your water comes from a questionable source. (Like a well)

Typically, I use tap water in a formula pitcher (the Dr. Brown's one from amazon) and mix up a full days worth of formula all at once. Then just store it in the fridge and pour into bottles as needed. Mixed formula is good for up to 24 hours if stored in the fridge. We never heated the bottles, my son doesn't mind cold formula.

Do you mean you add cold water to formula powder? Boiling water before adding to formula powder has nothing to do with where the water comes from. It's to kill bacteria that can be present in formula powder, which cannot be properly achieved by using water below 70 degrees.

While that method may work for you and hasn't made your baby ill, that's not to say that somebody (including yourself) who follows this method may not buy formula that has been contaminated. There's no way of knowing if the formula is contaminated or not.

 

[broodymrs]

We had a perfect prep and it was great. You can get them fairly cheap on eBay, swap and sell etc now.

 

[minties]

I wouldn't ever make formula in advance, my daughter went onto it at 11 months and at her her age I wouldn't risk it let alone with a very small baby.

 

[csto]

Boiling and cooling water is only necessary if your water comes from a questionable source. (Like a well)

Typically, I use tap water in a formula pitcher (the Dr. Brown's one from amazon) and mix up a full days worth of formula all at once. Then just store it in the fridge and pour into bottles as needed. Mixed formula is good for up to 24 hours if stored in the fridge. We never heated the bottles, my son doesn't mind cold formula.

Do you mean you add cold water to formula powder? Boiling water before adding to formula powder has nothing to do with where the water comes from. It's to kill bacteria that can be present in formula powder, which cannot be properly achieved by using water below 70 degrees.

While that method may work for you and hasn't made your baby ill, that's not to say that somebody (including yourself) who follows this method may not buy formula that has been contaminated. There's no way of knowing if the formula is contaminated or not.

I make formula this way because after speaking with my pediatrician and the doctor who cared for my son in the NICU, and they both told me boiling was unnecessary.

 

[mum22ttc#3]

It was the same when dd1 was a baby, it was recommended to make in advance and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Since it's changed (can't remember on which baby) I've been making them up fresh. I leave some boiled water to cool, put in a shot of boiling, add formula and then top up with the cool boiled water. Hope that makes sense, pretty much a homemade tommee tippee prep lol

As he's not classed as newborn now though it won't be long before I start making them in advance and storing them in the fridge. Never done my other any harm and hv didn't seem phased in the slightest when I told her that's how I'm doing them and planning to continue

 

[noon_child]

Boiling and cooling water is only necessary if your water comes from a questionable source. (Like a well)

Typically, I use tap water in a formula pitcher (the Dr. Brown's one from amazon) and mix up a full days worth of formula all at once. Then just store it in the fridge and pour into bottles as needed. Mixed formula is good for up to 24 hours if stored in the fridge. We never heated the bottles, my son doesn't mind cold formula.

Do you mean you add cold water to formula powder? Boiling water before adding to formula powder has nothing to do with where the water comes from. It's to kill bacteria that can be present in formula powder, which cannot be properly achieved by using water below 70 degrees.

While that method may work for you and hasn't made your baby ill, that's not to say that somebody (including yourself) who follows this method may not buy formula that has been contaminated. There's no way of knowing if the formula is contaminated or not.

I make formula this way because after speaking with my pediatrician and the doctor who cared for my son in the NICU, and they both told me boiling was unnecessary.

I don't know, but think this might be a difference between countries. I know UK has much stricter food hygiene and prep rules than USA (hence why US moms often told no deli meat in pregnancy but in UK it would be more regulated, therefore allowed). So maybe what counts as a sterile product differs between countries? It is definatrly NHS guidance to treat formula powder as not sterile so needs to be made with hot water.

 

[sayshaa]

Boiling and cooling water is only necessary if your water comes from a questionable source. (Like a well)

Typically, I use tap water in a formula pitcher (the Dr. Brown's one from amazon) and mix up a full days worth of formula all at once. Then just store it in the fridge and pour into bottles as needed. Mixed formula is good for up to 24 hours if stored in the fridge. We never heated the bottles, my son doesn't mind cold formula.

Do you mean you add cold water to formula powder? Boiling water before adding to formula powder has nothing to do with where the water comes from. It's to kill bacteria that can be present in formula powder, which cannot be properly achieved by using water below 70 degrees.

While that method may work for you and hasn't made your baby ill, that's not to say that somebody (including yourself) who follows this method may not buy formula that has been contaminated. There's no way of knowing if the formula is contaminated or not.

I make formula this way because after speaking with my pediatrician and the doctor who cared for my son in the NICU, and they both told me boiling was unnecessary.

I'm really surprised by that. I don't understand how you kill bacteria that could be present in formula powder without boiling water. Unless they meant that the high temp is ineffective at killing the bacteria and there's no point.

Very unusual advice though. But, as in most things, go with your own common sense and research.

 

[bjl1981]

With my older two (I'm still BF at the moment), I would do a basic version of what the fancy new machines do. I would boil the kettle and fill sterilised bottles with the boiled water. Put lids on and leave to cool on the side.
When I wanted to make up a bottle I would add the formula powder to a fresh sterilised bottle, add a small amount of freshly boiled water (to kill bacteria), and then top up to the amount I needed with the cooled boiled water. No waiting around to cool a full bottle of formula, everything has been sterilised.

My personal opinion is that the rules are getting tighter to try and stop people doing things which are dangerous, but most people would use common sense anyway. If they said you could make 24 hours worth of bottles and put in the fridge (which was fine when I had my eldest!) then some people would leave them 48 hours, and if they said you can leave them for 4 hours once made up, then some people would leave them 6-8 hours to try and not waste it. So they make the rules stricter to try and prevent people pushing the boundaries. That's my opinion anyway!

 

[Lollipopbop]

With my DS, I just made up in the morning with boiling water and added powder when it came to his feed but I've been advised not to this time by mw so I'm taking the advice just to be careful. We bought a perfect prep machine after being told by so many people how good they are. We set it up a few days ago to see how it all works and it's so easy and quick xx

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

We use a perfect prep machine but if we're going out then I boil the kettle first thing in the morning and pour the water into the bottles, let it cool and then add the powder at room temperature as needed.

My DD2 is on nutramigen which is prescribed for dairy allergy and my dietician (and the milk tub) say not to add the powder to warm water because there's a "good" bacteria in nutramigen that dies in warm water so only to add the powder to room temperature water.

 

[caz_hills]

We too are using the perfect prep machine. I've not been out much as my daughter is so young and I had a section. But when we do I planned to take a made up bottle if I plan to use it in the next hour or a sterilised bottle and ready made formula.
With my son (now 5) we made bottles in advance by boiling water, adding powder then cooling and keeping in the fridge. We then re heated when needed but I understand that this isn't recommended now in the U.K. X

 

[xprincessx]

We boil the kettle (we don't leave it for 30 minutes though), pour the water in the bottle, add the scoops of formula, shake it and then put in bowl of cold water until it's the desired temperature.

For the night feeds we make in advance using same method as above but cool it right down then fridge it and just heat up otherwise we end up with a whole house full of awake children.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

We boil the kettle (we don't leave it for 30 minutes though), pour the water in the bottle, add the scoops of formula, shake it and then put in bowl of cold water until it's the desired temperature.

For the night feeds we make in advance using same method as above but cool it right down then fridge it and just heat up otherwise we end up with a whole house full of awake children.

Same