AIBU To ask does anyone actually do this? (baby feeding when out)

[Champagnevanity]

I've Just had a baby, 15 days old now, and had my first visit from the HV today. ATM, im too nervous to go out anywhere on my own. + none of my regular clothes fit yet. However, the time will come when i have too, this is what health visitor suggested when taking baby out:

Take a sterilised empty bottle (obvz)
Take a flask of hot water
&... Take the container of baby formula and make up when out and about...

Really?

Does anyone actually do this? AIBU to think, wtf? That's an awful lot of stuff to cart round, am i the only one thinking its very unrealistic?

I know your not ment to make up bottles nowadays, but am just wondering what everyone else does/did?....

I used to make up 6 bottles (with formula and boiling water) and put them in the fridge when they cooled, then warm up them up again when we needed them in the microwave. Never a day of sickness with the all of them as babies though that probably breaks all sorts of rules!

My gran used to make up bottles and keep them all in the airing cupboard to keep them warm!

Ready made cartons here too, for going out and about.

However, I also never followed the guidelines for making up bottles with boiling water, which apparently makes me a horrible horrible mother and should be put in the stocks.

If you're going to places like mum and baby groups, then most people boil the kettle there, and make up the milk. You can buy little powder holders to take with you.

I think the ready-made stuff is v expensive, but useful in emergencies, obviously.

I'm afraid parents of very small babies often seem to be carting their whole household out with them!

Avent and most supermarkets do one to, its 1 pot that is split in to 3 sections with a spinning lid its what i used with boiled water already in the bottle.

yes, did that with both. not a problem. had water in a bottle though and a flask of hot water to heat it up for dd (very fussy) (ds drank it cold) and a container of pre-measured milk powder. fantastic. also had the option of whipping out a boob if i couldn't be bothered to do bottles first.

The whole heating of bottles thing is, imo, daft! Breast milk isn't hot - it's kind of room temperature. Your baby having warm milk is just giving you extra, unnecessary work!
What I did (4yrs ago) was to fill the bottle, in advance of going out, wtih freshly boiled water. Whilst out and about it would gradually cool down to room temperature. Then just add relevant amount of powder (you can get those little containers with sections for powder) and then feed baby. Ta dah!
HV's will give you the "official" line, they have to for the sake of their jobs but most mums, at least second time around, will tell you that there are much easier, and just as safe, ways of doing things!

It's what I do and have done at some point for all 3 DC.
I have a container for the right ammount of formula similar to the one ksld linked to.
I sometimes use cartons if we are out for a long day but they are too small now for DS2.
Enjoy your time with your new baby when you don't have to go out, with DC2 I was doing the school run at four days.

I also had the little pot with compartments for milk powder (measured out before I left home), and took bottles of cooled boiled water. But that was back in the day before the 70 degree rule for mixing formula (how did my little darlings survive infancy?).

If I had my time again I'd take ready made.

OP, you will get used to all the clobber, and it will soon become second nature. You will also grow to love places that make your life that little bit easier by providing hot water, microwaves etc.

Get out there!

The powder container sounds like the best idea.

But i didnt realise midwives and HV's were so against making up formula and taking it out. There seems to be a new guideline for everything these days.

It does seem like taking out the kitchen sink, i think i will stick to the cartons of milk, for the time being however putting the water in the bottle, in a thermos bag and the powder decanter thing seems like the best long term option.

Thanks for the help!

I used to use the room temp boiled water, add formula from one of those powder dispensers. Against the recommendations now I think.

Then I discovered ready made cartons. Expensive for all the time use but for out and about they are a lifesaver.

The problem with adding formula powder to room temp water is that the powder is not sterile and can contain all sorts of nasty bugs. Which is why you're advised to add the powder to 70 deg water.
A lot of my friend's are convinced that its the water which isn't sterile, which is why you boil the water.

If you can afford it, I would use the cartons when out and about. Seems much easier and is a lot safer.

It's OK to go out in your maternity clothes, you know. No-one will notice. Or care.

i use a little tup that holds 3 lots of powder, from mothercare, take an empty sterilised bottle and a flask of boiling water, then pour in water, put in powder and then stand in cold water to cool it, or make it a bit before baby needs it so it is cool enough for when dd wants it. its not much of a faff, not compared to bfeeding fussy babies who would pull on and off and wriggle and squirm etc!

poweder has to be added to hot 70 deg, water to sterilise the powder.

or you can make the feeds up in advance, with hot water, cool quickly and then take it out with you and when you need to warm it up, or give it to baby at room temp if they will have it at that temp (ds4 would, dd wont)

the cartons are good, but dd wont drink them, ds4 always did, but dd has always been fussier in general with her milk.

I have broken the rules with dd and just put the water in the bottle, milk in a dispenser and take a bottle warmer thermos with me and re heat the water to drinking temp and add the formula, so far she has been fine. I use to make them up with ds' and store them in the fridge.

i tried that once lazylula and i noticed that no matter how well you shook the bottle the powder doesn dissolve/mix properly and after your baby finishes drinking there is little bits of powder left in the bottle, or it clogs the teat up, either way its not ok as the water isnt hot enough to kill bugs and the baby doesnt get their full feed as they powder hasnt all mixed in properly.

For my first (4 years ago) and my second (1 year ago) I sterilised the bottles, filled them with cooled boiled water, then took enough powder for each bottle in those individual cups you get. Means you just have to heat the water then add the powder

I CAN'T STATE THIS CLEARLY ENOUGH, IF YOU MAKE UP FORMULA WITH WATER THAT IS LESS THAN 70 DEGREES YOU ARE RISKING YOUR BABY'S HEALTH.

there are several alternarives

1. Cartons of ready made, safest but expensive.
2. Thermos of hot water, sterile bottle & powder, safe but a faff.
3. Make up bottle at home in advance, cool rapidly and take out us a coolbag, very slight risk -no where near the risk of not using hot water with formula powder though

I agree Loony!

Another thing to ease your mind us there are loads of bottle warming facilities out there, you've just never noticed before because you haven't needed to!

I remember first getting the train with my pram and standing on the platform a bag of nerves wondering on earth I would fit it on! I kept trying desperately to remember whether I'd ever seen another person with a pram and what they did. Needless to say when the train came, it became obvious that it was fine, there was a particular space for me and my baby and I worries about nothing! You just never notice these things though, because you've never had to

I never found it too much of a faff. I either took a little thermos of boiling water and one of the pre-measured powder pots and put the bottle in cold water to cool, or I pre-made the bottle at a high temperature and put it in a thermal bottle bag so that it would be the right temp when needed.

Yeah, it's completely mad, isn't it? One day someone will come up with an amazing invention whereby mothers have special compartments attached to their body that contain pre-mixed and sterile food with a simple, self-cleaning dispensing method, designed to meet the precise nutritional requirements of a baby, and then everything will be much easier...

boulevardofbrokensleep - your name is fantastic, and very apposite!

Hmmm I've always been told that a bottle of made formula left for any period of time grows bacteria and can be dangerous? Never heard if the 70* rule, which you would then have to allow time to cool therefore leave ready made formula for a period of time allowing the bacteria to grow...
I've also never experienced the powder not dissolving correctly either, and the teats are unclogged. I heat the water for 30 seconds micro or a few mins warmer before hand which may make that difference.

The rules change on this constantly tbh, you do what is easiest for you providing you are not causing physical harm to your child.

Agree totally with Loony

This article explains why:

www.vaccinetruth.org/formula.htm

I don't wish to scaremonger people;clearly what you do with your own baby is entirely your own choice. However, even if lots of parents did make up loads of bottles in advance several years ago and no harm came to the babies, it doesn't take away from the fact that more recently it has been proven/identified that the powder is not sterile and does carry a risk.

Even with an older baby (I fully bf for a few months) I felt it was too risky. And for a new born, well no way imo.

sorry, try again

www.vaccinetruth.org/formula.htm