Two flask method

[Rarfy]

Morning. Dd is 4 months old I've finally decided to brave the 2 flask method (PFB) I've tried it today for the first time but didn't have time for the cooled boiled water to cool.

When do you do your cooled boiled water when you're out for the day? Can u boil the kettle before bed the night before?

Thanks.

What is this 2 flask method?

I used to take cartons of formula and an empty bottle when I went out

You take one flask of boiling water and one flask of cooled boiled water. Add a small amount of boiled water to kill off the bacteria in the milk powder then top up with the cooled boiled water to have it at drinking temperature.

I've relied on the cartons until now but find them really thin in consistency and dd ends up with most of it down her front because it flows so fast.

I just take boiled water in a flask, do the feed and then ask a restaurant/ food outlet for cold water with ice cubes. It's cool within 10 minutes. Then it's okay to use for 2 hours

Sorry I should explain more I used the boiled water to do the whole feed and then cool the bottle in the cold water with ice cubes

To be honest I only did this method once my baby was drinking tap water (5.5months in our case) as then you can just use boiled hot water to sterilise and tap water to make it up.

Prior to that I made one bottle and used within 2hours and took another empty clean bottle & carton/bottle of premix. Rarely would be out longer than 2 bottles worth!

Boiling it the night before is fine. When you use this method it's really important that you measure out the cold water and don't just top up, for example making a 6oz bottle, you add the formula to 2oz of hot water, shake then add 4oz of cold. If you just top up to the 6oz mark the feed will not have enough water and be too concentrated.

I used to measure boiling water into small bottles and then put them in a sink of cold water to cool down - takes about 10 mins.

As PP said, really important that you use the right amount of water to top up so the milk isn't too strong.

^ I made used a marker to mark on our bottles the right point because measuring each time is quite a faff

Can you not just take the cool boiled water in a bottle rather than cart 2 flasks about? That way you can measure it out beforehand too.

dementedpixie, that's what I do, much easier than a flask and if you need to take the bottles anyway they may as well have some water in them, there's no reason why it has to be chilled. I take a spare bottle to mix up the hot water and formula then add the premeasured cold water.

I used this method for around 6 months.
The hot flask I got a proper thermos so it stayed boiling and refreshed it a few times a day.
The cold flask I got an uninsulated flask and immersed it in cold water so it cooled quicker, did this one morning and evening.

The thing with making a mark for the final level on the bottle is that depending how much you shake it, it fluffs up more, and even if the mark is at below fluff level it changes depending how much milk has turned to fluff.

Fluff. Fluff. Lost all meaning now..

It's really no difference in effort measuring to 4oz at home or to a drawn on line in a cafe, surely?

I ran one through the perfect prep to see how much I needed of hot and cold. I use mam bottles. The hot goes upto the top of the pink line and then I top it up with cold to about 6.5oz which is what the perfect prep does.

We will probably only ever use it when out for a full day, most times I go out and time it so I can make a bottle before hand which is good for two hours or take cooled boiled water and just get some boiled water in a cafe or something.

Rarfy, I don't mean to be rude, or worry you unnecessarily but about 6.5oz really isn't accurate enough.

If you're making a 6oz bottle you know you need exactly 6oz of water going in, so if you put 2oz of hot from your flask in the bottle, then your measured powder, you need to put exactly 4oz of cold in.

I used the pprep to find out how much hot vs cold each time we went up a feed size so I knew it would be the right temp, and used some random cheapy little bottles I had that came with blank lids (ie not teat lids) to carry the measured cold water.

You put the boiled water in the fridge in normal bottles. Put in 50% hot water, formula, mix, add fridge-chilled water. Perfect temp every time.

For the odd few times we will do it I don't think it matters too much tbh certainly haven't had any problems the few times I have done it but I will take it on board.

I will take a spare bottle for measuring if I do need two flasks and if not measure the right amount of cold water directly into the spare bottle.

I know it's not the done thing on here to mention making up feeds in advance but you can make up a feed in advance if you're not going to be out for very long. You can make it at home, as normal, and cool it in the fridge then put it in a cool bag with an ice pack and it will keep for up to four hours.

That's the NHS guidance on transporting made up feeds. Oldest DC was formula fed and at that time most people I knew put pre-measured powder in a little pot, pre-measured cooled, boiled water in the bottle and then mixed the two together when needed. How times change!

Tbf all the other mothers I socialise with do that and Needless to say their babies are completely fine.

I used to use breast milk plastic containers with the right amount of cold water in. You can get a load from boots for about 3 quid.

And i made the water up that morning so was a few hours cooled and from the fridge

I've done this for DS since he was born. Do the exact same as you OP with the MAM bottles. He is 10 months now and it's worked great for us. I hated my prefect prep.

Great, thanks everyone. I have already bought the flasks so will give them a go.