How to do night feeds

[Willow82]

I thought I would post here as there doesn't appear to be much traffic in the formula feeding forum.

My DD is 4 weeks old and is suffering from pain during and after feeds. Her poos are also a dark olive green. She is combi fed but due to a low supply she's not getting much from me. She's been on aptamil so far.

I took her to the doctors today and they've prescribed a lactose free formula in case it's a lactose intolerance. I'm not sure how to do the night feeds with this as thus far we've used ready made formula when she wakes up in the night. I don't fancy having to soothe a hungry baby at 2am whilst waiting for the formula to cool down. I'm considering making up a feed prior to going to bed and putting it in the fridge. I know this is contrary to the guidelines but would one feed a day be ok? I'm not sure what to do.

 

[jodilee6]

We have milk that needs to be mixed at room temp (tho DS refuses it cold)

I fill a bottle with 5oz cool boiled water and then I take a thermos of boiling water

When he wants his feed I add 3oz hot water to the cold water add powder then mix, this makes it the perfect temperature

I'd check the instructions for your specific milk as some prescription milks cannot be made up in advance

 

[zorak]

My combi fed baby also never got on with Aptamil, we switched to cow and gate and the problem was solved completely. I'd be inclined to try another formula before going lactose free.

Re. Night feeds I boil water then measure it out in his bottles. I then pre measure or out the formula into a dispenser. The bottle is room temp by the time I give it but it doesn't bother baby. I just mix the powder in when needed so it's a fresh bottle and I can keep everything needed by the bed.

 

[Jbree]

If your little ones in pain try the aptimal comfort milk its for constipation and wind - it has less lactose in it so is easier to digest. I have a perfect prep machine so its made in less than 2mins ( try get one second hand) as they are pretty pricey but totally worth it! But a friend of mine done the whole cooled boiled water to bed and her lg is just fine! Xx

 

[Willow01]

If you are looking for a quick way to make a bottle have you thought about the tommee tippee perfect prep machine? I know they are expensive but makes a bottle in 3 minutes, any formula can be used of course! Expensive but a life saver in the middle of night in my opinion !x

 

[justplay91]

I formula fed my son and if I were to formula feed again, I would definitely get a perfect prep machine! That would have made everything especially night feeds so much easier!

 

[suzanne108]

I used lactose free milk with my first baby, I did just make up a bottle for the night, leave it in the fridge & warm it up when she needed it. Not what you're "supposed" to do but it's what I did & no harm was done.

 

[captainj1]

I made up in advance for DS, who was on nutramigen. It actually said on the tub you could do this, as long as you store them in the fridge once made up and use within 24 hours. I used nutramigen again more recently with DD and the tub still said the same thing.

 

[Blu10]

I made up feeds in advance for DS. DS #2 is now 3 days old and we were given a perfect prep machine by a friend - its worth every penny at 2am! If you can afford one i would definitely invest x

 

[Becky1987]

We have milk that needs to be mixed at room temp (tho DS refuses it cold)

I fill a bottle with 5oz cool boiled water and then I take a thermos of boiling water

When he wants his feed I add 3oz hot water to the cold water add powder then mix, this makes it the perfect temperature

I'd check the instructions for your specific milk as some prescription milks cannot be made up in advance

This is exactly as I do, I pre fill all bottles day and night with 4oz of cool boiled and have a flask with boiling water and when it comes to feed time I just add 2oz of boiling and then add the milk and it's perfect temp to drink. X

 

[weedle]

I pre make my bottles for day and night. I put the night ones in a cool bag with an ice block and stick in a bottle warmer by the bed

 

[Willow82]

We have milk that needs to be mixed at room temp (tho DS refuses it cold)

I fill a bottle with 5oz cool boiled water and then I take a thermos of boiling water

When he wants his feed I add 3oz hot water to the cold water add powder then mix, this makes it the perfect temperature

I'd check the instructions for your specific milk as some prescription milks cannot be made up in advance

This is exactly as I do, I pre fill all bottles day and night with 4oz of cool boiled and have a flask with boiling water and when it comes to feed time I just add 2oz of boiling and then add the milk and it's perfect temp to drink. X

She's having 4 ounces at the moment so would 3 ounces of cooled boiled water and 1 ounce of boiling water be the right proportion? Also, my OH just asked why a flask is needed. Is it not possible to boil the kettle and add the right number of ounces to the cooled boiled water instead? I could then cool the bottle down as I normally would. Are there any issues with doing it that way?

Do you leave the cooled boiled water out or leave it in the fridge?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm finding it all very confusing and I'm too sleep deprived to think properly!

 

[Willow82]

Also, do you leave the boiled water to cool down for 30 mins and then put it in the flask or do you put it in when it's boiled?

 

[Becky1987]

We have milk that needs to be mixed at room temp (tho DS refuses it cold)

I fill a bottle with 5oz cool boiled water and then I take a thermos of boiling water

When he wants his feed I add 3oz hot water to the cold water add powder then mix, this makes it the perfect temperature

I'd check the instructions for your specific milk as some prescription milks cannot be made up in advance

This is exactly as I do, I pre fill all bottles day and night with 4oz of cool boiled and have a flask with boiling water and when it comes to feed time I just add 2oz of boiling and then add the milk and it's perfect temp to drink. X

She's having 4 ounces at the moment so would 3 ounces of cooled boiled water and 1 ounce of boiling water be the right proportion? Also, my OH just asked why a flask is needed. Is it not possible to boil the kettle and add the right number of ounces to the cooled boiled water instead? I could then cool the bottle down as I normally would. Are there any issues with doing it that way?

Do you leave the cooled boiled water out or leave it in the fridge?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm finding it all very confusing and I'm too sleep deprived to think properly!

I used to do around the same as you've suggested when she had 4oz. I leave the cool boiled water out on the side for when I need it. I use the flask as its easier than waiting for a kettle to boil! Especially on a night time I don't even get out of bed I just make the bottle up on the bedside table I even put the formula powder in little pots pre measured and pour in so I don't have to count half asleep! There's no problem using a kettle and I do during the day for boiling water but on a night I don't like to leave the bed so take a flask up and also if I'm going out I take my flask so I don't have to ask anyone for water. It's a Tommy tippie flask I bought from tescos it's not massive. X

 

[Strawberries]

I definitely recommend investing in a tommee tippee perfect prep if you can. I wasn't convinced it was necessary before we got it but I couldn't be without it now!

Before we got it I'd pour boiling water into the bottles and have my powder in a dispenser and also take a flask of hot water upstairs. LO has her milk at room temperature so by the time she woke the water was usually fine but if it was a particularly cold night I'd just use some of the flask water in a jug to take the chill off.

 

[Becky1987]

Also, do you leave the boiled water to cool down for 30 mins and then put it in the flask or do you put it in when it's boiled?

No I put the boiling water in the flask straight away so it's like
Pouring from the kettle when I use it. So when added to the cool boiled it makes the milk to a nice warm temp that they can drink straight away.

 

[iiTTCii]

I would also recommend the tommee tippee machine.. Worth it's weight in gold.

When they say add boiling water to the powder, I always thought that it was the sterilise the powder so if the water is cooling before adding the powder, then surely it's not being sterilised? Or am I wrong? The tommee tippee machine adds a shot a boiling water to the powder first and it says so that it sterilises the powder.

 

[jodilee6]

We have milk that needs to be mixed at room temp (tho DS refuses it cold)

I fill a bottle with 5oz cool boiled water and then I take a thermos of boiling water

When he wants his feed I add 3oz hot water to the cold water add powder then mix, this makes it the perfect temperature

I'd check the instructions for your specific milk as some prescription milks cannot be made up in advance

This is exactly as I do, I pre fill all bottles day and night with 4oz of cool boiled and have a flask with boiling water and when it comes to feed time I just add 2oz of boiling and then add the milk and it's perfect temp to drink. X

She's having 4 ounces at the moment so would 3 ounces of cooled boiled water and 1 ounce of boiling water be the right proportion? Also, my OH just asked why a flask is needed. Is it not possible to boil the kettle and add the right number of ounces to the cooled boiled water instead? I could then cool the bottle down as I normally would. Are there any issues with doing it that way?

Do you leave the cooled boiled water out or leave it in the fridge?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm finding it all very confusing and I'm too sleep deprived to think properly!

I used to do around the same as you've suggested when she had 4oz. I leave the cool boiled water out on the side for when I need it. I use the flask as its easier than waiting for a kettle to boil! Especially on a night time I don't even get out of bed I just make the bottle up on the bedside table I even put the formula powder in little pots pre measured and pour in so I don't have to count half asleep! There's no problem using a kettle and I do during the day for boiling water but on a night I don't like to leave the bed so take a flask up and also if I'm going out I take my flask so I don't have to ask anyone for water. It's a Tommy tippie flask I bought from tescos it's not massive. X

Again I use the flask so I don't have to go boil the kettle in the middle of the night!

Water straight from the kettle in as well

You can save yourself £80 and add the hot water first then top up with the cooled boiled water (exactly what the perfect prep does )

You'll find a way that works for you