. . . or is DH being a twat in relation to food hygiene?

[Honeybee79]

Could well be me, but see what you think.

I have been ill so went to bed early last night, leaving DH to make up 6 bottles for DS (4 months) for today. He forgot to put them in the fridge over night and they sat out in the kitchen for 13 hours.

I got up with DS this morning. DH was also getting up for work. I grabbed a bottle (DH had put them in the fridge when he realised his mistake this morning!) and started warming it.

DH told me he'd left them out all night, shrugged and told me to give one to DS anyway on the basis that our kitchen is "quite cold". It's not really, it's about 20 degrees and DH is aware of the guidelines for storing formula. DS was crying as hadn't had a feed for 12 hours.

I got pissed off at this point - not that DH had forgotten in the first place, but that he seemed so casual about giving DS milk that had been sat out for 13 hours when he must know it's unsafe. I started tipping out the bottles, sterilising, boiling the kettle again etc. TBH I was a bit pissed off that he had forgotten as now DS would be upset for half an hour or so while I sorted out a bottle for him.

DH then lost his temper with me and told me that he was going to work, I was being ridiculous and my reaction was totally disproportionate. I did get quite upset because I felt he'd got my day off to a shite start and had been a twat.

So, AIBU?

I am quite tempted to show DH this thread, yes. But am also quite tempted to just let the issue drop - he knows he made a mistake. Can't be arsed to fight over these things at the moment. Plus, am much calmer now than I was this morning!

You shouldn't be adding the formula until your baby is ready to drink the bottle, sterilise, fill up with water and then you can safely leave at room temperature. Why on earth are you adding the formula in advance?

You can make up 6 bottles with formula in, to last 24 hours in fridge. That's what I did and they're big stropping lads now with no health probs.

But I did use microwave in hurry, just shake vigorously for a minute.

MissJanuary - you can make up in advance. I've read the guidance and checked with my health visitor.

page 13

your health visitor is wrong

Nope, current advice us NOT to make in advance

from the people that make formul

Sorry, I am confused here. My health visitor says it's OK to make in advance and when I read the guidance on the FSA website, it said that the IDEAL thing to do is to make up each feed fresh, but that it is safe to store in fridge for up to 24 hours:

"Ideally, you should make up formula milk freshly for each feed just before feeding. This is because using formula milk that has been made up and then stored may increase the chance of your baby becoming ill. If you do need to make up bonttles in advance, keep them in the fridge and never store them for more than 24 hours."

When I asked my hv about this and whether there was a substantial risk she said no.

If you can't make up in advance at all then what do you do when you go out for half an hour and need to do an emergency feed on a park bench or something?

Has there been any reported cases of children actually being ill from formula made up in advance, or not made with boiling water?

Or is this all just theoretical and the new guidelines are "just in case you sue us" advice?

My 5 were all ff and had their feeds made up in advance and kept in the fridge, this was before the guidelines changed. And unless I get some concrete evidence of actual harm, I will do that same when this one is born too!

Honeybee, personally given that the food standards agency and the world health organisation both agree that what you are doing is ok, I would go with their guidelines. There is all sorts of random information out there about formula feeding but I would certainly trust them over a random website - or over a formula manufacturer.

Atyourcervix the information you have linked to is far more sparse than the full guidelines which include the best ways of preparing formula for use in advance. Note also that yours mention keeping the boiling water in a sealed flask - this is also mentioned as an option in the FSA guidelines - but the main reason for that is to keep the water hot enough to kill the bugs such as salmonella which can be present in the powder. The Guidelines you linked to look like they were probably based on the FSA/WHO more detailed ones linked further up thread.

Essentially the options (in order of preference) are:

Make fresh with water at greater than 70 degrees and use immediately - always the safest one
Keep boiling water in a flask - works if you are going to be making the bottle within a relatively short period of time i.e. the water will still be used when it's over 70 degrees.
Make bottles up as per guidelines, cool rapidly under running water, keep in fridge.

OP do you NEED to make the bottles in advance though ie is your child in a nursery where you have to supply the days worth bottles? If at all possible the best thing to do is to make up the bottles when you are using them with 70 degrees plus water and cool them under the tap. I always had cartons to take out and about or for indoors when dcs were too hungry to wait.
I don't blame you for ditching the bottles left in the warm room overnight. I wouldn't drink milk myself that had been left in the warm for 13 hours.

Thanks Scotsgirl

God, what a complex business . . .