Warming bottles

[Renaissance227]

I intend to try breast feeding for the first few months and the going onto bottles, but (and I know this may seem stupid) I never considered how to heat up the bottles before until I recently saw a small bottle warmer! No-one has mentioned needing a bottle warmer yet. Do I need one? Any recommendations?

[FoxyRevenger]

I always just put the bottle into a jug, boiled the kettle and chucked some in until the milk felt like the right temperature (checking it on the inside of your wrist).

Whenever someone has asked about bottle warmers on here I have never seen anyone who has got on with them.

Plus the jug/hot water combo is FREE!!!

[Suzen875]

U can just warm it a little in the microwave and then wait untill it cools down a bit..

[Debs75]

A jug of hot water is the easiest and safest thing to use. beware with microwaves as not only do they heat very fast but you casn get hot spots in the milk

[MooseyMoo]

Do you mean expressing breast milk or using formula when moving onto bottles?

If formula then you are supposed to make up the feed up to an hour before you use it. I used a thermos flask and carried slightly cooled boiled water and would make up feed as and when I needed it. The main problem was cooling down the feed! I never used a bottle warmer and IMO you don't need one.

I also has a powder dispenser which was fantastic when out and about as you could measure out the powder and put into seperate compartments.

[MooseyMoo]

If expressing, I used to boil up some water, put in a measuring jug and warm up the bottle that way. Just have to remember to do it before your baby starts crying for feed!

[RitaMorgan]

You have to make the bottles up with very hot water (over 70 degrees) in order to kill any bacteria that can be in the powder, so it may be more of an issue to cool bottles down.

[friendcat]

Sorry, its a bad idea to warm bottles in microwave as it unevenly distributes the heat and can cause scalding spots.

Bottle warmers are on the list of pointless things sold to new parents that they don't need and take about the same time as warming a bottle in a pan on the hob.

Hopefully you will find BFing suits you and your baby and won't need bottles at all!

[Renaissance227]

Thank you everyone. I really hadn't got a clue.
Will be expressing for a while I think so will try heating in a jug. When you move on to formula do you use boiling water or water that has boiled and cooled?

[RitaMorgan]

Boiled water that has cooled for no longer than 20-30 minutes (if you have boiled a litre, after 30 minutes in the kettle it should be around 70c).

I boil, pour it into the bottle, leave for 5 minutes, add the powder then cool under the cold tap to drinking temp.

[RitaMorgan]

Breastfeeding is much easier though - no worrying about heating/cooling, sterilising, bacteria, waste etc

[ipredicttrouble]

I use a microwave though it's not recommended. As long as you shake the bottle thoroughly and test it it should be fine. Works for us

However, I do find that I'm cooling bottles down rather than warming them up.

[fraktious]

We use jug/hot water.

IIRC you're not supposed to shake EBM - something to do with chains of fatty acid which means that even though you're not supposed to microwave it's a doubly bad idea for EBM.

[captainbarnacle]

I have never bothered warming bottles - DS1 and DS2 both were fine having milk at room temperature. Seemed far too much hassle to me!

[cherub59]

Never bothered. I bf to 6 months then switch daytime to ff as go back to work. If u never warm it they don't expect it! Waste of money. And if you really want to warm it do it for free standing bottle in a jug of hot water.