New to sterilising - help please

[VickyR]

Hi

i have a 6 day old baby and giving him top ups as is not taking to BF and was dehydrated in hospital.

Am just confused about it as am constantly sterilising. my questions are:
- can i sterilise a bottle and not use it straight away i.e. can i sterilise then assemble with cover over teat and leave as empty or do i have to use it straight away? This is what is confusing me as am doing them each time i need a bottle
- I am using ready made aptimil at mo as only early days and easier as only came home yesterday but when move on to formula can i make up a few in advance and refrigerate in the following way (if i want 4oz of feed - fill bottle with 3 oz and refrigerate then when need top up with 1oz of boiled water to bring to room temp then add formula? As on box it says make up new each time but that will be endless and i'd be keeping him waiting 30 mins for a feed?

 

[jacs]

We had this problem when Evan was born until the midwife explained it to us. We sterilise 6 bottles and fill each with the boiling water. As long as the lid stays on, the water is OK for up to 24 hours. When you need a bottle you just add the powder (and cool bottle if too hot, or warm it if you want it heated). If you use ready made formula, the empty bottle with the lid on will still be sterile too, for up to 24 hours.

We spent the first week boiling the kettle for every feed, and then cooling them down. The midwife looked like she felt so sorry for me when I told her we kept the kettle in our bedroom because the night feeds were such a killer!

 

[purpledahlia]

i did a thread on making bottles, if you have a look it should help - got all the different ways and what people do to make bottles etc!

but on a side note, i was told to either FF or BF because the baby would get confused and distressed if they keep getting BF then topped up with a bottle, i was in hospital for a week and on day 4 changed to bottle exclusively because they said its bad to top up like that, not sure what they said to you but that was advice to me ?

 

[suzib76]

you can sterilise them and just take out what you need hun, yes they do not remain 'sterile' after the lid has been opened, but they do not remain sterile after you take them out and put water in either - the main thing is they have been totally sterilised and you know thye are clean

 

[faille]

As long as the bottles are assembled fully and are airtight (whether they have water in or not), then they're fine for 24hrs.

When adding powder, the water needs to be at 70degrees to kill any bacteria as the powder isn't sterile, so you can either make up whole feeds in advance, cool and then refridgerate or you can make up the bottles with water only, then reheat the water and then add milk.

HTH x

 

[VickyR]

Thanks guys - just have been given no info on formula feeding or sterilising as is just assumed i would bf.

purpledahlia - re your note about confusing baby the advice i have been given is mixed. when in hospital every time the shift changed the midwife a different opinion on how long between feeds, some wanting me to give him top ups in a syringe rather than bottle. have felt like a complete failure for not bf but he just uses boob as a dummy and the suck he gives a bottle or my finger is nothing like when he feeds off me hence the dehydration.

The only thing stopping me formula feeding all the time is the pressure i feel from midwives and peers that im doing him an injustice not bf him

anyway - trying to have positive day today so thanks for advice as will make the constant sterilising easier!
x

 

[purpledahlia]

The hospital i was at was bad for helping me bf too, but they all did say that i should only top up like that as an emergency and i was anti-dummy's before but she also used me as a dummy and just sucks on anything and everything so i caved and got a dummy,

 

[VickyR]

Hi - yeah I caved and my husband used a dummy last night and settled him straight away. I am now stopping trying to feed on breast as is just upsetting me and confusing me about what he is having in the 2 minutes he is on there etc so sticking with formula.

My sister helped calm me down about dummies and formula as when she had her child 7 years ago there was none of this pressure to bf and she has 2 very healthy happy children!
x