Formula Milk

[robskinner163]

Hi,

had a little falling out with our midwife today, havent had a little baby in my life for 15 years, so sure its all changed. I have always with formula milk, boiled hot water, cooled and refridgerated for the day (morning ritual with my cuppa). then each feed, I make the required bottle up using this water and the amount of feed per the packet, shake and then put in a boiler bowl until its nice and warm.

our baby is growing nicely, feeds well, not constipated and has an amazing sleep pattern only waking up at 1/1.30am and then again 5/5.30. Was made to feel like i was putting my little girl at risk today.

the last baby (my neice), who i looked after for a year, was fed in the same way and grew into a lovely healthy young lady with absolute no issues all the way through childhood etc.

any thoughts - is there any reason that this is risking my daughters safety?

[SoonToBeSix]

I think it's fine personally. The issue is formula is not sterile and there is a theoretical risk a baby could get sick due to not mixing the powder with boiling water.

[anythingbutinsomnia]

Exactly what we did 4 years ago to no ill effect for DD. Will do the same for DC2 when he arrives in a few weeks, irrelevant of the recent advice change

[RabbitSaysWoof]

I think its just because the powder itself wont reach 70 degrees that way, thats the temp that apparently kills bacteria in the powder.

[Cliffdiver]

There is a low risk of your baby getting ill, but if they do get ill it can be very very serious.

[NerrSnerr]

The powder is supposed to reach 70 degrees to kill bugs in it. Doing it your way is riskier, although the risk is small.

[Bert2e]

This is worth a read: [http://www.nct.org.uk/sites/default/files/related_documents/Using%20infant%20formula%20feeding%20-%20your%20questions%20answered%20FINAL%20FOR%20WEB.pdf]

[Bert2e]

Woops! [www.nct.org.uk/sites/default/files/related_documents/Using%20infant%20formula%20feeding%20-%20your%20questions%20answered%20FINAL%20FOR%20WEB.pdf]

[Bert2e]

Oh I give up!

[robskinner163]

thanks for all your replies, dont think we will change, she seems a very happy little girl with how we are doing things!!

[NickyEds]

I think that it would be safer to make, say two bottles up with very hot water and then chill the bottles and re-heat them as needed. As pp have said the powder isn't sterile (not the water) so needs to have hot water on it. The risks to your baby are very small but the consequences are very serious.

[PourquoiPas]

Your way of making up formula could make your baby get ill. There is no point in carefully boiling the water if you then cool it and add it to the powder. The powder is full of bacteria. Imagine it being raw chicken - would you feed your baby raw chicken? If you add milk powder to cold water and you are unlucky and got a bad batch then your baby will get ill.

Saying your niece is fine isn't exactly the point. I've crossed the road hundreds of times and never got hit. It doesn't mean I don't check both ways first. Why take a risk you don't have to?

To make the formula up more safely you could make the feeds up as per the instructions in the morning, then quickly cool them, put in fridge and heat up in the day as you have been doing. It wouldn't be any more work and it would be much safer.

[eurochick]

Your method wouldn't kill any botulism bacteria in the milk. As others have said, it would just fake getting a bad batch.

Why not use the perfect prep method? Pour boiled water on to the milk to kill the bugs then top up with cooled boiled water to get the temperature just warm.

[eurochick]

Take not fake!

[GwenaelleLaGourmande]

"The powder is full of bacteria."

No, it isn't. There is a risk of bacteria in the powder.

"Would you feed your baby raw chicken?" Is a completely disproportionate and hysterical argument.

Putting across the risks are all very well, but arguments like that add little to your cause.

With the exception of premature babies in the paediatric wing of my local hospital in France for example they sterilise bottles, add powder to Evian or another approved mineral water (yes, some mineral waters are fine for babies, Evian is one of them) and heat to feeding temperature.

When I explained how the Brits do it they said their protocol was to do that for newborns, preemies and otherwise at risk babies.

So there are many valid viewpoints in this argument. I believe there is more risk from dirty bottles, dirty hands preparing the bottles and dirty preparation areas.

[NickyEds]

I think that's it's more that the level of effort required to eliminate this particular risk is negligible. Op has to boil a kettle and use that water to make up two bottles. If she uses the boiled water more or less straight away to make the milk up and fridge them rather than fridging the water then making the bottles up with it later, it's no more effort but that risk has gone. I just can't see the logic when doing it safely is no more effort than not!!

[Wend1]

I came on here to ask this exact question. When I had my first child 5 years ago I used to make all the bottles up in the morning, put them straight in the fridge and then reheat them when I needed them. All the advice this time round seems to be making feeds up as and when you need them. It can be difficult to anticipate this though - my baby was a bit under the weather after her jabs and feeding every 2 hours recently. And now she seems to be going longer than her usual 3 hours between feeds. I could potentially be wasting a lot of bottles, or not having them ready and having to contend with a screaming baby for half an hour whilst I made/cooled a bottle if I followed the recent advice.

And then on top of this what happens at nighttime? I contacted Aptamil about this and they told me take a flask of boiled water that had been cooled for half an hour to bed. Then make up the feed with that, as long as it was within 4 hours. If it was longer than 4 hours you have to boil and cool more water. Just what I want to be doing in the middle of the night!! And what about the fact that I can't fit a flask into my steriliser?!

It just all seems so complicated. I'm using the more costly ready to feed formula at the moment. Is it just me or does anyone else think they give this advise so that you buy the more expensive option..........??

Does anyone know if there is any reason why I shouldn't be making up all the feeds in the morning and keeping them in the fridge for the day?

[GwenaelleLaGourmande]

I don't think the advice is to make you buy the expensive stuff. It does have genuine safety concerns behind it.

It doesn't come from the formula companies at all - the same formula brands have the old advice on packaging in Europe. It is the UK which chooses to follow WHO guidelines (who issued the advice).

It's a risk assessment I guess.

[NickyEds]

Gwenaelle NHS website says that made up f (with water over 70 degrees etc) is safe outside the fridge for 2 hours, in a coolbag with ice for 4 hours and in the fridge for 24 hours so it would be ok to make up some bottles for the night and reheat them as needed.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/infant-formula-questions.aspx#close

[GwenaelleLaGourmande]

I think you are answering the poster before me's question.

All this is now in the past for me

[Wend1]

So does anyone know, do you just make formula and put it straight in the fridge? I know someone else mentioned that it needed to be cooled quickly before putting it in the fridge?

[RabbitSaysWoof]

I wouldn't put it straight in, you'll turn your fridge into an ordinary cupboard with hot stuff in there. My old flatmate used to do this with hot food and my milk, and meat used to go rank.
I would have a jug of cold pre boiled water, mixing a days worth I would mix say 20 scoops of powder with 5oz of 70 degree water give it a couple of minutes to sterilize the powder, then flash cool with 15oz of the cold. hopefully will be fridge ready straight away.

[Mutley77]

My dc were fed like this and all are fine. It's a tricky one as the risk of there being harmful bacteria in the powder is very slim but obviously the consequences could be disastrous. Here in Australia there was a batch of formula milk that contained botulism a couple of years ago and it was reported in the news as well as the milk being immediately recalled so I felt reassured it must be pretty rare and I felt confident in continuing with the method of preparation you describe. Here in Australia this method is in line with the formula companies and health professionals preparation guidelines. But they also don't sterilise here and I couldn't give that up after having done it for my older dc in England!

[RabbitSaysWoof]

Thats interesting Mutley that they dont sterilise it puts things in perspective a bit when I think of the sterilised dummies in sterilised containers I saw an advert on tv where this woman in a third world country was feeding her baby of a few weeks old flour and grubby water from some stream just to fill it up. I know people who would have an eppy if they couldn't get hold of their usual brand of formula and had to chose another brand of safe, nutritionally complete formula suitable for babies.

[WigfieldRocks]

I make the formula up with boiling water, cool it rapidly straight away by running it under the cold tap or standing it in a metal container (such as a sink or saucepan) full of cold water then put it straight in the fridge and reheat it when needed. The issue with cooling it is it needs to be done quickly so it's not standing at Luke warm temperatures for prolonged periods. At night I take up a bottle of cooled sterile water and a thermos of boiling water to my bedroom. To make up a feed I dissolve the powder in two fl ounces of boiling water then top up appropriately to the right amount with the cooled sterile water and it's ready to go.