switching from bf and have some questions

[mum2be257]

Am going to combi feed...without anyone moaning basically so i can ease it off of me every now and then. as its not going to be often i am stocked up on cartons of sma. But...she is still feeding at least twice throughout the night..can i take a couple of bottles to bed with us with the carton and just use them during the night. how long can milk stay in the bottle for before you have to bin it? eg i fill a 6oz bottle but she only drinks 3 oz, do i need to check the remainder, or after how long? x

 

[mum2be257]

*chuck the remainder

 

[Lou1234]

Hi.

It will say on the carton how long before it needs to be thrown. Think most are two hours - I know Cow and Gate are two hours.

Once the carton is open it needs to be stored in the fridge (top shelf at the back) and needs to be used in 24 hours (our big bottles of ready made last 48 hours). Once you have put the formula in the bottle it needs to be used in two hours.

 

[RKW]

We take a thermos flask of boiled water to bed, and by the time my daughter wakes it has cooked to the right temperature. I then pour the right amount into a pre-sterilised bottle and pop in some pre measured formula from a little pot. It takes about 5 seconds and I don't even get out of bed to do it. Easy peasy :0)

 

[MindUtopia]

Yes, like others have said it's usually about 2 hours and you have to chuck the remainder out that you haven't used (both in the bottles as well as in the carton if it can't be sealed and refrigerated). Using a flask of boiled water will be cheaper and less wasteful than the cartons if you don't want to get up to get a bottle. We pre-make the middle of the night and first morning ones, store them in the fridge and warm before a feed, which works for us.

Just a word of warning though about using bottles for your night feeds: these are the feeds that regulate your milk supply so if you don't bf or pump every feed at night your supply will drop. I combi fed for several weeks when I was sick with mastitis and didn't pump much at night when my daughter had a bottle even though I pumped lots during the day and my milk dried up, so I'm 100% on formula now. So just be cautious about skipping those night feeds if you do want to keep bf.