What to do with bottles all day?

[glueandstick]

I'm out all tomorrow and not sure what facilities there will be for making up bottles. Up until this point I've only been out for a few hours or at family/friends so not an issue.

The bottles have to be made up in advance if boiling water isn't available (lactose free milk is the work of the devil).

What's the best way to keep them for a long day? Is it better to make up half the amount with full amount of powder and add hot water (I'm a fairly relaxed person but freshly boiled is one thing I do do) or do I take a flask (this sounds dodgy to me keeping water warm)? They'll be in an ice bag and hopefully this'll keep them cool enough.

Bloody mine field I tell you. Advice welcome- especially anything around lactose free milk which clumps like my culinary challenged aunt's custard.

[NapQueen]

I'd make them up with hot water. Quick chill them at home in a sink of cold water. Pop into a cool bag with some ice blocks to keep the temperature down.

[MyBreadIsEggy]

They should be fine in your cool bag - I'm assuming you'll have those plastic ice packs in there?
If you don't mind me asking, where are you going for the whole day? Will there be a cafe or a burger van or something where you could get boiling water from?

[Glitterkitten24]

Can you buy ready made cartons of formula that you can just pour into the sterilised bottles?

[CoodleMoodle]

We used to take a flask. We had a really good one that kept the water very hot all day. Right amount of formula in a pot, cold water in a spare bottle, boiling in the flask. Always worked for us.

We also had lactose free formula, I feel your pain!

[glueandstick]

I'm not sure you can buy lactose free ready made. If you can that would be excellent!

Yes have ice blocks. Would a cup of hot water suffice to warm a little?

Is it ok to use water from an pre heated source? It's a wedding so I'm sure hot water is available, just not kettle boiled (may have just had first PFB moment there)

[idontlikealdi]

Not ideal for tomorrow but can you get the ready made lacto free on prescription? DTs were on nutri prem and my GP prescribed all ready made when I asked. It was a godsend!

[NapQueen]

If the wedding is in a hotel etc then I'm certainly they'd bring you a teapot of hot water on request. More than likely they will have big hot water boilers for batch teas and coffees so the water will be more than hot enough.

[TheEntWife]

put the requisite amount of powder in the bottle. When the time comes to make up a feed, add enough boiling water to completely cover and dissolve the milk powder. Once the milk powder is dissolved in the boiling water (you probably only need about 1.5inches of hot water to do this) then add cold water to the required level. You should end up with a feed ready to go.

The point of making up bottles with hot water is to sterilize the milk powder which is full of the lovely things that bacteria love to eat. If any bacteria have gotten into the milk powder, the hot water kills them. The addition of cold water then makes the milk to a drinkable volume and temp.

I dont miss the bottle feeding days.

[TheEntWife]

also, boiling water for the purposes of making up milk feeds is 70 degrees and above. The water from a coffee urn should be fine as it is continually reboiled.

[welshweasel]

I do as theentwife says. I've got a tommee tippee flask that I fill with liking water before I go out. It stays above 70 degrees for 12 hours. I then have a separate bottle of cooled boiled water and powder measured out into a dispenser. Then just make it up as I would at home. I don't like the idea of bottles being made up that far in advance.

[glueandstick]

Thanks for all your advice. I was being a bit precious not wanting to use re-boiled water. Being tired really does skew your view of things!

I checked with the pharmacist today and lactose free ready made is not available in the brand we have. Oh well.