making up feeds in advance

[Jane1972]

Hello Everyone

The Health vistor has just been and given me a leaflet on Bottle feeding which says you shouldn't make up bottles in advance, up untill now I have been making 24 hours & storing in the fridge. Just wondered what everyone else does?

 

[kerry070]

Hi Jane,

Yeah I make up my feeds in advance, store them in the fridge and heat them as I need them. I too was told by my HV that you should make them up fresh each time, but the advise was different when I had my 4 year old, at that time (2005) it was perfectly fine to make them up in advance. The "rules" for bringing up children change all the time.. Just do what you feel is best

I just wouldnt have the time to make up a fresh feed every time my LO needed it..

Kerry xx

 

[Jane1972]

Thanks Kerry, I want to do whats best for Emily but cant see how I can make fresh each time.

 

[lanaross]

we are not on formula yet but I have Similac formula and it says on the jar "immediately store prepared individual feeding bottles in refrigerator and use within 24 hours".

 

[ellie27]

I make up fresh. I would say it takes exact no more time than preparing in advance - well, thats because I wouldnt give Anna a bottle straight from fridge - I would heat a little first. 2 mins max.


Here's what I do.....

Sterilise bottles and put boiled water in them - leave them on worktop.

When I want a feed. I boil a small amount of water in kettle.

Anna is on 6 oz bottle. I pour 2 oz freshly boiled water into empty sterile bottle- add 6 scoops formula. And swirl to mix. Add 4 oz of cooled boiled water from one of the ones on the worktop - perfect and fresh and to the right temperature too!

If I was making a 4oz feed I would adjust say - 1 oz fresh boiled, add 4 scoops then add 3 oz cooled boiled water from the bottles on the side!

 

[bubbles123]

I think it depends on how often your baby feeds. If you are demand feeding then making each feed up each time is impossible - baby would be beside themselves by the time it was ready! If your baby is on a regular feeding schedule then it's much easier as you know you'll need a feed at say 3 so can start preping at 2.30 or whatever. I make them up one at a time as I need them but can only do that as LO is on a regular feeding schedule and has been from very early on and he is my only baby so no toddler to worry about! The UK has really strict rules about this, as the OP said in most other places, like the USA, making formula in advance is perfectly acceptable - don't know why it isn't here. If you do want to make formula in advance just make sure you make it with hot water (70+) then cool down really quickly (ice water is great) then store in back of fridge and it'll be fine. Or you could do the half and half method that some ladies do too X

 

[Jane1972]

Thank you for your replies to this.
I think while she is still so young (2 weeks today) I will try to do fresh & have some cartons in for when I cant as after these are open you can store in fridge as not powder mix. maybe see how I go, it can only get easier as she settles in to a routine, also hubby is on paternity from next week for 2 weeks.
Thanks again everyone.x

 

[FaithLola]

hiya honey i was making in advance but just like op said it takes just as long all i do is pre sterilise bottles add boiled water put in themo bag and then dispense milk when needed and warm up if needed. x do it how ur comftable xxx and enjoy! ur baby must of been born on 29th may right? thats my dd1 birthday she was born on 29/05/06 and my dd2 was born on 27th may 2010 xxx

 

[marie-louise]

Hey there,

What I do is boil a kettle, leave for 20-30 mins and then fill a thermos flask, when matthew needs a feed, i use the water from the thermos, it only takes a few mins and is much handier than boiling the water for each feed, we did that for the first few weeks and the child was beside himself!

 

[bexxie]

I make 6 up and put in fridge.
xx

 

[maddiwatts19]

i make up the bottles with boiled water, and leave them on the counter... then add the formula when i need it.. my HV gave me a leaflet about making bottles but said 'this is how your "supposed" to do it... but at 2, 3, 4 in the morning when your babies hungry and screaming, your not really going to want to boil a kettle, wait for it to cool and then make it up with formula. what your doing is just fine!" so i just keep doing what i do! x

 

[xprincessx]

heres what we used to do at nursery, we would have a lidded jug and would boil the kettle first thing in the morning and fill the jug to the top, then whenever a feed was needed just put the water (which was already cooled) into the bottle and add the formula and just heat it up, same as pre-making but just adding the formula at the end x

 

[debjolin]

I make 6 up and put in fridge.
xx

Me too. It didnt do my eldest any harm. x

 

[mumof42be]

I also make 6 up in advance and make sure there used in 24 hours if not then i throw away whats not been used but most of time it as...the advise now is to make up as you need but when i had my other kids this wasnt the case you could make up in advance i have 4 kids and its never done any of mine any harm...

Its like the h/v other day was telling me that i can give solids from 6 months when i had others it was 4 months..like i said to her it never did my others any harm and i have big babies there ready for ir by 4 month comes and if broden needs it he shall be having from 4 months!!

 

[Lauraxamy]

It depends on my day and how busy I am, like today I've been out most of the day so I made up 6 in advance, the other day I made them all fresh (apart from the one for at night obv) as I was at home all day x

 

[3boys]

when i had my first son in 2005 i was told to make the feeds up. But now for some reason that has changed as they now say that the formula is not sterile. So what i do now is sterilise the bottles and put the boiling water in them which i them store in the fridge, when Ava needs a bottle i add the formula and heat the bottle a little.

 

[hayley x]

I make each feed up fresh and when we don't have time we use a carton. xxx

 

[Natnee]

I boil the kettle, leave it for half an hour then put this in a flask. Then bottles washed and sterilised. Then make up the formula with the hot water and powder goes in aswell, as I was led to believe the water has to be at this temperature to kill off any bacteria in the powder. Then I wait for them to cool a bit, before putting them in the fridge. When I want one I warm them in the microwave for about 30 seconds (15 seconds then shake it, then another 15 seconds - I have a 750 watt microwave and this is for a 150ml bottle) We have tended to use cartons when out and about - we take a sterilised bottle then just open the carton when needed.

 

[555ann555]

I'm similar to Natnee.

I'm combination feeding on demand, (I start each feed breastfeeding and then top her up with formula). Sometimes she'll take 1oz sometimes she'll take 3oz. Preparing that and trying to breastfeed when she shows her feeding cues every time would be a complete nightmare.

I guess I could BF then stop when I normally burp her and make up the formula, but she'd probably fall asleep on me and not take enough calories to put on weight!

What I do just now is add her colic medicine to 3 steralised bottles, add almost boiling water (in order to kill the bacteria in the powder), add the formula powder, and immediately put them into the main body of the fridge. I do this mid morning to last us through the day, and then after dinner to last us through the evening [and depending if she's drunk those I'll make more for the nightshift (but 6 normally lasts her 24 hours)] I then heat them in the microwave for 20 seconds when needed (yeah, I know, another no-no! I'm very careful making sure they are stirred really well to ensure there are no hot-spots)

I work in Clinical Governance in the NHS and made the informed decision to make the formula feeds in advance and warm them in the microwave. I understand that if I get it wrong she might get an upset tummy, but the benefits outweighed the risks for us.

I can see how we'd be able to plan well enough in advance if she was soley FF on a schedule though so maybe we'd do that if it got to the point where I had no breast milk left...

 

[Windmills]

I make 8 and put them in the fridge. I tried making them fresh but felt like I was constantly washing and sterilising because I've got the TT anti colic bottles and only 3 fit in the steriliser!