Formula feeding hacks

[thattravelphotographer]

Help, tips, advice greatly welcomed please!

Unfortunately due to medical issues I have had to stop breastfeeding my 2.5 week old and switch to formula. I have the Tommee Tippee perfect prep machine which works well for me when at home during the day, but currently for night feeds and going out I am using the ready made bottles. Moving forwards this is a very expensive option so I'm after any tips and hacks for using formula for night feeds which don't mean I'm running up and down the stairs throughout the night to use the prep machine, and also how to use formula when I'm out of the house?

Thank you in advance.

[SleepingStandingUp]

We make up the night feeds in the perfect prep and pop them in the fridge then get them out when needed, warm up and use. It might actually be quicker to just make a new one lol but we have twins so it's easier . Do you have a DP who can go and make them whilst you cuddle baby?

Alt if you make them and chill them properly you can pop them into s chill bag with an ice pack an take it up with you.

For going out,we did the same - make them, chill them, cool bag then reheat. The other option is to take hot water in a flask, powder in a box and cool boiled water separate and mix as needed. You need the hot to steralise the power. Personally we used to still take liquid with us out but it depends how much you're out

[nannymags]

can you move the tommy tipped bottle maker upstairs for night feeds? keep bottled water next to it.

or: for night feeds: You can measure the powder formula ahead of time into the special Milk Powder Dispensers , then when your baby is ready for milk, use bottled water (i cant remember if all bottled water is allowed in for baby formula in the uk, you might need to rearsch )
get a plug in bottle warmer and keep that upstairs. if your baby likes warmed milk

for going out in the day: before leaving, I would make a bottle up fresh with powder formula, with freshly boiled water, stick in in a thermal bottle bag
. check how long its safe for, but i think around an hour easy

OR! Just tell yourself, my baby is only little for a while, I am exhausted and this is an expense I'm willing to cover to make my life that bit easier through this stage!!!

[Darkestseasonofall]

I always kept the pp machine by my bed, so much easier to run upstairs in the day when needed, rather than traipse downstairs by night.
You can make a bottle to take out with you if you think you'll be using it soon, or if not take premade.
I was never in when my dc were small, I'd be visiting etc for the sake of my sanity, the premade is slightly more expensive but in the grand scheme didn't bankrupt me, and if not used can be brought back home unopened.

[SoundWithoutAName]

Take the perfect prep machine up stairs with you. I make up bottles and put them in the tommee tippee insulated bags to take out with me. They keep them warm for a few hours. You can get 2 for about £10.

[Babyvibe]

I agree with pp, try moving your prep machine upstairs. We did this at the start. Sterilised bottled in microwave steriliser then brought the steraliser upstairs with the prep machine and kept it next to the bed. However moving this up and down every day I found more work than it was worth so we now have it back downstairs but it definitely helped the first few weeks when I was more tired and ds used to cry when he woke up so it was quicker and I could hold him in bed whilst I made a bottle.

[turnthebiglightoff]

No bottled water for babies as it contains too much salt. We kept boiled water and cold boiled water in 2 thermos's for night feeds (after 6 months though). Worked fine for us.

[nannymags]

all turnthebiglightoff thank you for clarifying. absolutely go with what the professionals say,

[Whatelsecouldibecalled]

Take the prep upstairs. That’s what we do. Pre measure the formula out in the pots. Tip and press.

For out and about. 2 chillis bottle. One with boiling water one with cooled boiled water. Tip your pre measured powder in the bottle. 2oz boiling water. Shake. Top with cooled boiled water to desired amount. Like the prep on the go

[mrspotatohed]

I use a thermal bottle I bought for a fiver. Make the bottles with cool boiled water minus 1oz then top up with the water from the bottle in the night. I also use the tommee tippee milk pots. I dont have to night feed anymore but this is what I do when I'm out as my daughter is on prescription milk so I cant buy the premade

[LittleBearPad]

@Whatelsecouldibecalled

Take the prep upstairs. That’s what we do. Pre measure the formula out in the pots. Tip and press.

For out and about. 2 chillis bottle. One with boiling water one with cooled boiled water. Tip your pre measured powder in the bottle. 2oz boiling water. Shake. Top with cooled boiled water to desired amount. Like the prep on the go

The displacement of the formula powder means you need to measure out the right amount of water in a separate bottle and not use the measurements on the bottle you’ll be feeding from.

[LittleBearPad]

And you must use at least some boiling water to make the formula to kill nasties in the powder. This can be from a thermos at night or when you’re out. There’s some dodgy advice on this thread in relation to using cooled boiled water/bottled water.

[thattravelphotographer]

Thank you all for sharing your ways of doing it with me, it's really helpful as I've had to learn and buy all the stuff really quickly without time to properly research. Sorry if this is a silly question but if I take a thermos of boiled water (either to bed or when out) and she isn't due a feed for 2-3 hours will the water inside still be safe and hot enough to kill any bacteria in the powder?

[mynameiscalypso]

We also made up a couple of bottles of formula at a time, chilled them quickly and kept in the fridge until needed. We'd then just pop them in a bowl of hot water to warm up. For me, this seemed much safer than messing around trying to make a bottle of formula correctly (even with the PP machine) in the middle of the night. We had a cool bag for when we were out and about or would store bottles in other people's fridges etc.

[turnthebiglightoff]

I suggested cooled boiled water but as I said, used with boiling water first.

[Timekeepspassing]

We keep our PP machine in the nursery even now. Found it much easier to pop up during the day to make one then keep moving the machine. We had the little tommy tippee formula pots for pre measuring out formula- I used to do this in the evening ahead for the night and next day. Made my life so much easier when I was half asleep during the night and when I was on my own during the day as I just tipped formula in the bottle and used the machine. Quicker than measuring it out and baby distracting me during the day. We don’t use the pots anymore and baby doesn’t have a night feed but we have kept the machine upstairs.

[Whatelsecouldibecalled]

@LittleBearPad the prep makes slightly over the adjustment.

FWIW after some sort of science experiment by my husband we worked out the prep makes the following amounts
4oz 135ml
5oz 165ml
6oz 195ml
7oz 225ml

So using he method described above that’s what we make.

Hope that helps op

[Ibizababyy]

The simplest way is to replicate the PP- I never had one as I couldn’t understand the price for what it is plus the need for maintenance etc. All you need is a flask with boiling water in- we had one which has the temperature displayed on the top (Amazon, wasn’t expensive at all) so you can see if the water drops below the recommended temp to sterilise the formula powder. Then dependent on how hot baby likes the milk you have pre boiled cooled water kept in separate bottles pre measured. And pre measured powder in them little tubs.

Baby wakes.....let’s say they have 6oz- you measure out 3oz from the boiling flask into a fresh bottle, add the powder (mimicking the ‘hot shot’ of the PP) give it a little shake, add the 3oz pre measure cooled and tada done at the perfect temp with no trip downstairs and in literally 2 mins.