Help! Confused by Bottle feeding do's and don't'a

[missuspritch]

hello :)

My baby is 5 days old today... For the last 3 days we have been bottle feeding (lots of issues with breast feeding that I was totally gutted about!!) basically the way we do this is.... Sterilise the bottles, boil the kettle, add boiling water to sterilised bottles and put the lids on. When baby wants a bottle we add the powder to one bottle shake and give it to her at room temp which she seems to enjoy. We never go back to bottles or even go by the 2 hour rule always discard any unwanted milk.

My health visitor has just been and told me to make each bottle when needed and cool it down under the tap, or use a flask to store hot water to make feeds at night. But on the milk packet it says not to add milk to boiling water and to leave water to cool for 30 minutes? That water is just as cool as the water in my ready made up bottles?? Just wondering what everyone's veiws were and if you think I should change the way I'm making them up. Baby seems fine, poops wees sleeps great seems very happy and content apart from a little wind and the occasional hiccups (which she used to get before being born anyway) just don't want to make her ill !! Thanks guys :) xx

[Mintyy]

Aww congratulations on your baby .

There are lots of threads about this in the "Breast and bottle feeding" topic, hang on I'll link one for you ...

[Mintyy]

here's one

and another

and a third

[missuspritch]

Also they told me at the hospital that babies only offer feeding ques for 30 minutes so if I'm leaving the water to cool for 30 minutes before adding milk she would either be screaming or have given up and gone back to sleep?? I'm so confused!!!

[missuspritch]

Thank you!! :)

[worldsworstmum2015]

Invest in a tommee tippee perfect prep machine they are a bit pricey but well worth it by far the best thing invented imo

[Littlef00t]

The issue you're trying to solve with the hot water is killing the bacteria in the powder. I think a popular solution is adding a small amount of boiling water to powder then adding sterilised, cooled water to make up the rest of the bottle, cooling it down at the same time.

[AndThisIsTrue]

Boil the kettle, wait 30 minutes ish, make bottles for the whole day (I used to make 9 when DS was tiny!) put in a tub of cold water to cool, place in the fridge until needed. DS used to drink it straight out the fridge but you could warm it it water or the microwave if needed just be careful its not too hot.
For night feeds I used to take a bottle up at bed time and put it in one of those cool bag things ds fed every three hours overnight so just go and grab another bottle out the fridge once he had gone back to sleep.
Hope that makes sense. The powder needs to go in hot (but not boiling) water but as long as its cool when it goes in the fridge you can keep it there for 24 hours. You will soon get in a routine!

[shitebag]

You need to put the powder into water no cooler than 70° to kill any bacteria in it :)

You can either make all the bottles up for 24 hours by sterilising bottles, filling with boiled water, cool for 5 minutes, add powder, flash cool in cold water and put in the back of the fridge then warm through when needed in a jug of boiled water or in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Or

Preparing fresh feeds quickly by keeping a jug of cooled boiled water in the fridge and making up bottles half/half so half freshly boiled water, add powder, shake, add cooled water and it should be perfect temp.

[Alb1]

Wev always done it by making bottles as we go, and as the water can't be any cooler than 70 degrees as it needs to kill any bacteria in the powder we don't let the water cool for any longer than 30 minutes in the kettle. So boil kettle, then make the bottle within 30 minutes. DS is almost 11 months now and we still do it, we also still only boil the kettle once, so if it gets left longer than 30 mins we get a fresh kettle rather than reboil, iv really never understood that rule, it seems so random! Why it can't be boiled twice I don't no...

[Alb1]

Just to add its the milk powder container that says to leave the longer to cool for no longer than 30 minutes and then poor it into the bottle (we use sma)

[Roseybee10]

Basically you need to add the powder to boiling water to kill bacteria.
Get a perfect prep!!!!! I didn't have one with dd1. I bought one for dd2 after BF literally went tits up. It's changed my life.

If we're going out I take a flask of boiling water and a beaker of cooled boiled water. I put a small bit of the flask water in the bottle (4oz bottle I would put just under an Oz of flask water) then the powder and then top it up to just over the 4 Oz mark with the cooled boiled water and its ready to drink right away. X

[leoteddy]

Congratulations on your baby! Buy a tommee tippee perfect prep machine, it's made our lives so much easier, perfect temp, safely made bottle in two minutes

[Jenny1231990]

I wouldn't waste your money on a perfect prep machine IMO it's a glorified kettle.
My 3rd is now 9weeks old and I have basically used the same way with all three
Sterilise bottles
Add boiled water
So if she's on 5oz bottles I add 3oz and allow to cool.
Then when she is due or starts stirring I add the extra 2oz of boiling then powder.
The more milk they have I more boiling water I add. If it's still too warm is doesn't take long to cool.
Congratulations xxx

[Jenny1231990]

Oh and if we go out for the day or when we go bed I take up a flask with boiling water to top it up.
Hope this helps x

[Roseybee10]

Jenny if you're doing it that way then the water you're adding the formula to wont be 70 degrees though meaning the bacteria isn't being killed?

[ThisIsClemFandango]

I didn't realise there were so many ways to make bottles
We simply:
Boil kettle
Pour the boiled water into bottle
Add powder and shake
Cool in the sink for 10 mins or so and give to baby

We've never made bottles up in advance and it's no extra faffing I don't think. I thought the water had to be hot to kill the bacteria in the milk? And if you have the same bottle all day it'll go off?
It doesn't take long to cool them, we've found it pretty easy to make them as we go.

[leoteddy]

Yeah the prep machine is NOT a glorified kettle. It's great and safely kills bacteria which the method above does not. Fresh warm bottle every time. You can get them second hand fairly easily too

[WhyOWhyWouldYou]

But on the milk packet it says not to add milk to boiling water and to leave water to cool for 30 minutes?

When water is added to the powder the water must be hotter than 70°C. The only reason they tell you to wait 30mins after its boiled is to reduce scalding risk (the plastic of the bottle has the potential to burn when water is added when it has just boiled) - so they are just covering their backs. Also 30mins standing in an average filled kettle should still have the water above 70°C.

The reason the water must be at least 70°C is because even sealed tins of formula have been found to contain very bad bacteria - such as salmonella germs. Obviously you may be lucky and not have one with bad bacteria in it but its better to be safe and make it with water over 70°C, which will kill those bacteria. Especially since formula, once made with drinkably warm water, is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria to rapidly multiply.

With the small amount boiling water, then powder, then cooled boiled water method - it is essential that the cooled boiled water is measured separately so that the water displacement from formula is accounted for. So for a 4oz bottle, you could put 1oz boiled water, add four scoops of formula, lid on, shake. Then add 3oz of cooled boiled water that has been measured out seperately. Bottle total will come to over 4oz mark, the same as if you'd measured 4oz of water into the bottle then added 4scoops of powder. If you just put 1oz boiled, mixed in formula, then topped up to the 4oz line on the bottle there wouldn't actually be enough water in the bottle, so could make baby ill. Does that make sense? Its something I could demonstrate easily but find it hard to explain in writing.

[Roseybee10]

Yeh I used to measure the cooled boiled water out Why but I now know where the bottle comes to on the perfect prep so if I'm out and about I know where to top it up to now. Would advise measuring the cooled boiled water out initially though. X

[LokiPokey]

We followed the guide from the World Health Organisation regarding making them in advance.

http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf

[Artandco]

Leo - the perfect prep hasn't actually guaranteed they add the powder to water over 70. I rang them to ask and they said they add to warm water that's not boiling, but couldn't clarify what the actual temp was

Easiest and safest way:

1. add boiled water into bottle, add teat and lid
   
2. rinse under cold water for 30 secs so it's cooled down to below 100 but above 70
   
3. add milk powder. Mix. Add teat and lid again
   
4. rinse whole bottle under cold tap again until drinking temp.
   
   Whole thing takes max 4-5 mins including waiting for kettle to boil
   
   You can add powder at 100 degrees safely, but it's more likely to destroy some of the added vitamins hence its better to let it cool a little

[JanineMelnitzGlasses]

Buy a perfect prep. I had feeding issues after 3 days too. Best baby item I bought. I was far too confused with all the guidelines and it was worth every penny when I was making bottles at 3am.

Congratulations on your new baby

[breakfastinbread]

As above.

You need to kill the bacteria in the formula with the hot water.

They say leave the boiled water NO LONGER than 30mins, this is to ensure that the water is still at a high enough temperature to kill any bacteria. It does not mean you have to wait exactly 30mins to make the bottles after the water boils.

Link here explains why (cases of neonates becoming very unwell from Cronobacter infection).

[Jenny1231990]

Rosey, I add three cooled boiled to 2 boiling, well 3 now she's on 6oz at a time.
Is that not the same as what the perfect prep machine does just add a shot of boiling water then you manually add the powder yourself anyway.
To me it seems like an expense that isn't needed especially when they cannot guarantee the water you add the powder too is over 70, if it was the bottle wouldn't be ready to drink straight away? Genuine question.
Some people may not agree with my way, people still make bottles up at store them in the frige and microwave them. Each to their own, never has a midwife or health visitor pulled me up on it with any of my 3 x

[Jenny1231990]

I apologise I didn't realise they do the shot of boiling then add the powder.