Formula preparation

[isitreallythattime]

So, i have read the guidelines for preparing formula and am now very confused. 4 yrs ago with my son we would make steralise bottles, add boiling water and put in fridge until required then take out and add powder as and when required before re-heating in hot water. We would normally take one bottle up to bed for night feed that would not have gone in fridge and add powder when needed.

What does everyone else fo? I need to find easiest way to do night feeds. Making up bottles as needed is not practical especailly when you need to let water cool for 30 mins before adding to bottle!!??

[ShowOfHands]

You need to add boiling water to the powder.

Can you take a flask up with you containing hot water?

[RitaMorgan]

You don't need to let the water cool for 30 minutes - just for no longer than 30 minutes. This is so that the water is above 70 degrees when you add to powder, to kill any bacteria that might be in the powder (a litre of water boiled and left in the kettle for 30 minutes is 70 degrees - if you pour the water straight into the bottle it's more like 5 minutes to reach 70 degrees).

Your choices for night feeds are either:

Use ready made cartons
Make up a bottle in advance, adding powder to 70 degree water, cool quickly and store in the back of the fridge til needed
Make a fresh bottle and cool quickly under a tap/in a bowl of ice water

[MrsTerryPratchett]

So can you use boiling water to make up formula? I only do one a day (DD has solids and BF as well) and I'm very confused. I thought that using boiling water interfered with some of the nutrients in the formula.

[Parietal]

I use near boiling water to make up feeds. If DD were exclusively ff I might worry about losing nutrients in the formula but as she only has one bottle per day, I reckon it is ok.

If I want a feed ready in advance, I make it as normal with hot water, put straight in the fridge & reheat to feed to baby within 24 hours.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Good point, the enormous amounts of BM and veggies she eats should do the job. PFB worries!. Sorry to hijack.

[MoonFaceMamaaaaargh]

rita is spot on as ever.

If i was making the odd feed i would be happy using boiling....just not if exclusive ff.

[Coffeeandchocolate]

From what I have read, the only nutrient which is affected when making up formula with boiling water is vitamin C, but it's not completely lost, and the loss is not really significant. This was in one link posted on this board either by Rita or tiktok. I hope this is true, I've been making bottles for ds with boiling water for a while now...

[PussInConverse]

Dh uses boiling water, I let it cool for 30 mins. I'm anal the kind of person who has to follow instructions! Either way, 3 or 4 bottles go into the fridge for the day.
We use cartons at night and when out and about.

[CMOTdibbler]

When you consider the temperatures that they heat milk to in order to produce milk powder, adding water at 100'C to the powder, will have no effect on nutrients in the powder.

The important thing is that the powder is combined with water of at least 70' - the time taken for a kettle to reach that will depend on the amount of water

[MoonFaceMamaaaaargh]

cmot but formula isn't just straight milk powder, it has stuff changed and added to make it suitable for human infants. I guess some of this is added once the milk is dehydrated to protect it from the process of heating. -
But you are absolutly right that adding hot water to the powder is what's really important.