Stupid question about baby bottles when out and about...

[JammyGem]

New mum here and utterly clueless!

DD is formula fed, but I'm confused about how I would feed her when out and about if I were to use our bottles and formula powder instead of the ready-made-up ones - after sterilising the bottles, how would I store them when going out? Is it possible to sterilise them, add in the boiled water before leaving, and then just make up the formula when needed?

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about all this stuff so please be gentle if the answer is obvious!

Used to make them up, store in the fridge and take one out with us. Microwave to warm it up gently or under the arm if no microwave.

DS is now 22 and current guidance will have changed / we ignored an awful lot anyway. He survived the 1990s 😂

Someone will hopefully be along to give you 2018 guidance. 😎

As long as you use boiling water to make the bottles up, use a bottle cool bag if you’re going to be out a while and either serve cold or VERY gently warmed, your DD will survive 😎

How I do it: Get a small thermos. Cooled boiled water in it, clean bottles, and powder pre measured into tiny Tupperware type boxes. Then you just need to measure out the water, tip the powder in and shake.

Do you need boiling water? The instructions on our formula say water at 40c.

From nhs site

What do I need if I'm formula feeding away from home?

If you need to feed your baby away from home, take with you:

• a measured amount of formula powder in a small, clean and dry container
• a vacuum flask of hot water that's just been boiled
• an empty sterilised feeding bottle with cap and retaining ring in place

The vacuum flask doesn't need to be sterilised, but should be clean, and only used for your baby. The boiling water should kill any bacteria present in the flask.

If the flask is full and sealed, the water will stay above 70C for several hours.

Make up a fresh feed only when your baby needs it. The water must still be hot when you use it, to destroyany bacteria in the formula powder.

Remember to cool the bottle (with the lid on) under cold running water before you feed it to your baby.

Alternatively, you could use a carton of ready-to-feed liquid formula when you're away from home.

What if I need to transport a made-up feed?

If it isn't possible to follow the advice above, or if you need to transport a feed (for example, to a nursery),prepare the feed at home and cool it for at least one hour in the back of the fridge.

Take it out of the fridge just before you leave and carry it in a cool bag with an ice pack, and use it within four hours. If you don't have an ice pack, or access to a fridge, the made-up infant formula must be used within two hours.

If made-up formula is stored:

• in a fridge–use within 24 hours
• in a cool bag with an ice pack–use withinfour hours
• at room temperature–use withintwo hours

I used to do this....

2 Sterilised bottles with 5 oz of cooled boiled water in one, 7 scoops of powder measured into a milk powder pot and a flask of boiling water or if in a cafe I used to ask them to put 2oz of boiling water into a bottle.

Put 2oz of boiling water into empty bottle add milk and mix, then add in the 5oz of cooled water, give a good shake and it's ready to go straight away!

Depending on how old.
I used to feed before we left and then make a hot milk with the kettle and store in the insulated bags? Usually the right temp once needed. And we would only be out for max maybe four hours and was fine. Had the wee tub's for transporting powider too and If out for linger would just take a sterilised bottle.

If you are really stuck for boiling water you can use pre-boiled water that has cooled but you need to consume immediately. See below, copied from a WHO leaflet:

What if I do not have access to boiling water?
The safest way to prepare a feed is using water that has been boiled
and cooled to no less than 70ºC.
• If you do not have access to boiling water, you may wish to use sterile liquid infant formula.
• Alternatively, you can prepare feeds using fresh, safe water at room temperature and consume immediately.
• Feeds prepared with water cooler than 70ºC should not be stored for use later.
• Throw away any left-over feed after two hours.

I do the same as @sickmumma. For a 7 ounce feed I put 2 ounces of water from my flask in a bottle, stir in my tub of 7 scoops of formula then top up with 5 ounces of cooled boiled water. I carry the 5 ounces in a separate bottle already measured out. This method makes milk the perfect temperature, but has still used hot water to sterilise the formula. It's essentially a home made perfect prep.

I find this quicker and easier than trying to warm formula that's already been made.

My formula says not to use boiling water - am I doing it wrong?

Do you have a specialist formula?

What formula is it?

I found in those days I wasn't often out longer than 1.5-2 hours and feeds are safe for 2 hours so if I made one up fresh as I was leaving then it usually covered me until I was home. I carried an emergency pre-made bottle and disposable teat as well just for an emergency. If I was going to be out for a while or on a long journey then I carried a flask of boiling hot water, a small bottle of cooled boiled water and some powder along with sterilised, made up bottles.

This is how I made them at home as well, by the way (flask which was topped up twice a day to keep it hot, small sterilised bottle of boiled water that I allowed to cool and topped up with the flask at each feed, and powder). It made feeds so much easier when I figured out this system rather than boiling the kettle in the middle of the night and trying to cool a scalding hot bottle as quickly as possible with a screaming baby. Note that the powder must always go in with just the hot water, to kill the bacteria in the powder, before the cooled water is added. The cooled boiled water will bring you above the line you'd usually aim for since you have already added the powder. You will need to compare with your normal bottles to see how far above the line this would be for you.

I do the same as @sickmumma

Oh and just to add, I also figured out eventually that after 6 months they are drinking tap water, so at this point I stopped cooling boiled water and could just use my flask of hot water (or kettle if you prefer) and the tap, being slow and careful to get the right measurement.

If it's not a specialist formula then buy pre-made formula and use that. That's what I did with DD and it's so much easier. They're around 35p a carton.

Alternatively I made the bottle at home, took a cool bag with ice blocks and the bottle will last for 4 hours (according to the NHS website).

I found a combination of a bottle in a cool bag and then spare empty sterilised bottles and premade cartons for after the 4 hour limit the easiest solution.

Failing that then I found that any cafe or pub would happily give me a mug of hot water. To make an 8 oz bottle I used to pour 3-4 ounces of boiling water in the bottle, add powder, shake and top up with cold tap water in a bottle from home. Basically mimicking the perfect prep machine.

DDs only 16 months, so I was doing this until a few months ago.

@Yarnswift apparently slightly cooled boiled water is best if you are being super fussy as boiling hot can kill off the nutrients in the milk powder (friend is a midwifery assistant and knows her stuff!) but the Tommee Tippee flask we had wasn't amazingly efficient so although very hot it wasn't literally boiling so probably about right tbh!

We did the same thing at home so basically what the perfect prep machine does! Last baby was 5 years ago and perfect preps weren't around then but will do the same with new baby due early next year as it worked well and they were never ill and aren't sicky children either so they've turned out fine!

We also used the premade cartons on occasion but it's expensive doing it that way!!

No it’s just bog standard supermarket stuff. Semper brand. It says boil and cool water to 40c, measure out x amount of water, add x scoops of powder then add powder and shake. There’s no mention of boiling water onto powder at all. Ds doesn’t seem to mind cold formula so sometimes I don’t even heat it.

Are you in the UK? Never heard of that brand

I’m in Sweden. But all the formulas here are the same, even brands you can get in the uk. None mention needing to sterilise the powder. Feeling mildly paranoid now

I used to Boyle the water and cool it in the bottle and put it in a tommee tippee cool bottle bags with the plastic refrezzable ice cubes to keep it nice and cold and take the powder measured out in little tubs then make up and heat in a microwave where ever I could. Then someone told me you have to sterilize the powder with boiling water! So made the bottle the bottle maker and did the same with ice cubes.
If I didn't have time for that I would ask whatever cafe I found to fill up the bottle with boiling water and add the powder and let it cool.

Powdered infant formula is not a sterile product1.It may contain bacteria that can cause serious illness in infants, such as Enterobacter sakazakii.Although infections caused by E. sakazakiiin formula are rare, they can be serious and sometimes fatal.

(If you Google bacteria in infant formula you will get more info)

When my dc were babies, I used to fill the bottle with cooled boiled water then just add the formula. I am aware that this goes against current advice though!

My babies 6 months I just steralise the bottles boil the kettle before i leave and pour into bottle I've done this from day dot. However you can just use a thermal flask to take water out in and make them up. You can buy a milk dispenser from Tesco for £2 you can measure out milk for 3 bottles into it. My HV told me to pre make my bottles i.e steralise pour in boiling water and make as needed bottles are room temprature when served to baby and it's a massive time saver however this is not how the companies recommend you make bottles but again I've done it for 6 months with no problems.