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?....

The powder containers, as others have mentioned, are a really bad idea. You are boiling the water to kill bugs in the formula, NOT the powder. Sadly harm has come to a very few babies with food poisoning leading to their deaths.

kbird, formula is not sterile. The hot water is to kill the bacteria.

www.mothering.com/community/t/227208/2-french-babies-die-from-contaminated-formula

Anyone got a working link to why all this fuss. Wearing my biologists hat I find it weird that 70°C for not long as the water is cooling and most parents are going to get it wrong anyway is guaranteeing anything like 100% of killing things.

WHO guideines say best to prepare each one individually, but you can leave in fridge up to 24h.

www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/pif_guidelines.pdf

Apologies for lots of short messages. DS 'helping' me to type.

As I understand greater than 70C might denature the proteins so around 70C is the best compromise. The WHO guideline linked to above explains things in the most details I've found.

For biologists, this might be interesting.

First MN thread I ever read and ver interesting. However, it doesn't say that water shouldn't be hot enough to kill the potential bacteria in the powder.

OP - really, will you be out all day???? You will probably just be one feed at a time, so you can buy ready made formula for the odd trip that's not able to be fitted between feeds, or make up formula, remembering it is good to go for 1 hour, so fit feeds and trips out round this schedule. It does get easier when the feeds get further spread out!

Also, what did you wear at 5-6 months pregnant? Put that on, go for a walk.

Wait a minute..this hasn't turned into a 'breast is best thread'?!?!!!

I just used the cartons like many others have said.

I never used formula but friends who did did the water, separate pot of formula thing.

And you have the patience of a saint to have not gone out yet, I needed fresh air and a change of scene by day 2! Seriously, the first time out seems daunting but it really isn't, and you'll feel so much better for getting out there.

70 degrees is the optimum for killing bacteria, hotter and you affect the nutritional value. Pasteurization is 72 degrees so the figure of 70 makes some sense from a science perspective

DS ended up on the sensitive formula stuff, so no cartons.

I would take a powder container, a flask of boiling water, a flask of chilled boiled water and a bottle. Them mix the powder with the hot water, then add the cold up to the amount that the bottle ends up as at home.

All done according to the guidelines for safety and correct dilution. I had a rucksack as my baby bag so the two flasks just went in the bottle holders on each side.

I used to either take out a boiling hot bottle and add the powder or use one of the ready mix cartons.
As an aside on more than one occasion when going to ask a member of staff in a cafe (with bottle in hand) if I could have some water and to have them cut me off and say "no H&S says we cant give you hot water" only for me to say "that's no problem because I want cold water to cool it down please" I took sick pleasure in blowing them out. but then again im juvenile

We sterilized a plastic container that fits in the diaper bag to store formula, then would take bottles that were prefilled with our previously boiled water so we can just mix a bottle while we are out.

I admit we never did the boiled water tempature bit though - we always boiled our days water in the morning, then prefilled all the bottles with it and stored the remainder in a jug to be used throughout the day. I had read somewhere that this was also fine but don't take my word for it....

I did it! But I got a little formula dispenser...twas easy! I took my bottles ready made up with water...and my dispenser...and I popped the mausured formula into the bottle...mine never wanted hers warmed up...but you can ask places to warm them.

You'll go MAD if you can't go out and feed.

Lydia I used to go out all day. Sometimes I took two dispensers with me...eah held 3 measured feeds....in powder form....and I used to go out for the day with my newborns. It wasn't hard at all!

I should also mention though that we have never served our sons bottles warmed up - always at room temp which makes it much less of a hassle.

I never heated formula, there is no need to. Give it room temperature, fine for baby and less faff.

Thanks that makes sense to we old timers who made up feeds in advance.
I used to take a flask and powder on long trips out, partly because it is very hard to keep milk at below 5°c in a cool bag all day and also DD1 only liked warm milk.
Personally I'd still make up two feeds at supper time and cool one quickly for the middle of the night and yes I'd still heat it in the microwave and give it a jolly good shake
But then I visitor with BF DD2 and never worried that she slept in the crock of my arm under the edge of our quilt!

I have a little bottle bag that keeps the bottle warm for 2 or 3 hours so I make one up before I go out and pop it in there then get it out and let it cool down.

No way, buy a couple of small cartons of made up formula and take a couple if sterilised bottles

I also recommend cartons out and about - agree they would be expensive for every feed for a 6 month old but at around 65p each cost no more than getting myself a can of pop or bottle of water from a vending machine.

I wouldn't risk the formula into cold or cooled water - i know a lot of babies don't get ill, but I couldn't know in advance if Dd will be the one to get sick and didn't want to risk it. I do make up according to the instructions, rapid cool and refrigerate tho.

Congratulations! My son was was born during last year's snow storms so I was snowed in for the first few weeks When I did eventually get out I used to take 3 bottles worth of ff with me. I had feed containers to store the correct amount of powder and used to get boiled water in whatever cafe I came across. I did plan to move on to preparing the bottles in a batch and then reheating as necessary but I never got round to it. Figured heating a cold bottle was as much hassle as making up a fresh one. At 15 days everything seems overwhelming. You'll find a system that works for you and end up doing it on auto pilot. My son is now down to 2 ad half bottles a day. Now I cart loads of food about in wee plastic containers.

We had bottles from tommee tippee, you can buy little tubs that sit inside them. So you fill bottle with boiling water, fill tub with the right amount of formula, the tub sits inside the bottle of water, then you screw the lid on. Means no extra space taken up inside your bag!

I did similar, but took a bottle half full with cold sterilised water out (eg 4 oz), plus the powder separate. Hot water form a flask added to the cold (another 4 oz), then add the powder, shake and voila....feed ready in less than 10 seconds at eh right temperature, no need to heat up or cool down!

Ready made cartons expensive and faffing on to heat a bottle by sitting it in water in a cafe whilst your baby cries takes bloomin ages!!

I also did my formula feeds like this in the house too, just half filled however many bottles needed for the day then just topped up with hot when required.

Its only a flask that you really carry as an extra so really isnt a faff.