Formula questions

[Sugarplummy84]

Can I prepare bottles in the morning and keep them in the fridge for when they're needed?
Once you've made up a bottle, how long before you have to chuck the milk away?
Thanks so much x

[Sugarplummy84]

Also, how many ounces do your babies eat a day? My baby in 4 months x

[Madratlady]

You're not supposed to make up bottles in advance but some people choose to make them, cool then rapidly and store them in the fridge. My preferred way is to keep some pots of boiled and cooled water and when I need a bottle I boil the kettle, put 2oz boiled water in the bottle, then the formula and shake it to dissolve the powder, then add in 5oz cooled water to bring it down to the right temperature for drinking.

Guidance is to throw left over formula after 2 hours.

Ds is on 7oz, 5 times a day and has been since around 5 months. I think he was on 5x 6oz bottles at 4 months.

[Tangoandcreditcards]

You are supposed to avoid pre-making bottles, but DS (5mo) still has one night feed and one v early feed. So I normally pre-make 2 at night and he has them cold so I don't have to make them up in the early hours.

Made-up formula gets chucked after 2 hrs if not drunk.

DS has 7x 5-6oz. I'm trying to get him down to 6 feeds without much luck! At 4 months he was 6-7 x 5oz.

[purplemurple1]

Made formula cam be kept in the fridge 12hrs, if a bottle is started it needs to be chucked after 2 hrs.

I went with making bottles, cooling quickly and putting them in the back of the fridge (which is cooler than the front).

At 4 month's he was on 8 to 10 bottles of 8 oz but he was a very hungry and fairly big baby so I really don't think that's normal. There's a general rule based on the weight of the baby think it's 2.5oz per lb. (assuming you're nevert weaning yet)

[theborrower]

The World Health Organisation has guidelines on how to make up formula if you need to do it in advance. The key thing is to make it up properly in the first instance, then cool rapidly and store in the back of the fridge, using it within 24 hours.

www.who.int/foodsafety/document_centre/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf?ua=1

[angelopal]

We just bought a tommee tippee perfect prep machine. Its great as you can make bottles fresh very quickly. Not cheap but worth it.

[badfurday]

Agree with angel.
Perfect prep machine is a god send. It takes a couple of minutes and measures it all out for you with the correct amount of hot and cold water etc. Asda usually have them on sale in their baby event.

[Sugarplummy84]

Thank you all so much :)

[HeavenK76]

the tommee tippee prep starts at 4oz
how would you use this to make a feed for a newborn which will only take around 2oz if not less.
lots of wastage if you make 4oz each time.

[angelopal]

Heaven that is the only drawback with it. We got ours when dc was 3 months old so did not have that problem.

Yes there will be wastage if used from birth but you have to weigh this up against convenience. If we have another dc I will use it from birth simply for the convenience.

[badfurday]

I used it from birth, yes there is some wastage but it's so convenient.

[drspouse]

We have a load of Avent bottles from DS, but I like the sound of the machine. Can you use other brands of bottles with it?

[angelopal]

Yes I think it is suitable for most types of bottles.

[drspouse]

Great - looks like they are about half price on eBay.
We made up 12 hours worth of bottles for DS and kept them our (temperature controlled, and thermometer checked as we store DH's medication) fridge.