to point out that formula feeding doesn't necessarily require you to be sterilising bottles and scooping out powder in the middle of the night...

[itsakindarabbit]

Keep seeing this on threads which mention ff...how people couldnt be doing with getting up in the night andstsrilising bottles/making up feeds.

I bf and ff but found ff no problem at night - i would take up a carton of ready made formula and a pre sterilised bottle and i could feed without getting out of bed.

And yes, i know ready made formula is expensive and not everyone uses it. But some of us do/did.

Still not as easy as wopping out a boob.

Don't even need to wop it out. Just sleep topless. Easy. FF at night is hard. So glad baby was night-weaned before I went formula full time.

It strikes me as an attempt at bunfightery

Loving that I'm bring quoted.

Also - OH rarely ever did a night feed, as he had to be up for work.

But rabbit I don't see the point of your post then.
It can be really easy. It can be really hard. I know of few babies who will take an unwarmed carton of milk in a bottle (especially one that has been out all night so probably below normal room temperature in a bedroom unless you have heating on all night) and those babies' parents are the only ones who would find it easier to ff, surely?

Still harder than not actually waking up at all and the baby latching themselves on, which was our preferred method.

I can't help but feel people who feed babies cold formula are just being tight.

I've done both and I also used to find it odd when people brayed about how ff seemed so complicated and how they would have found it far too confusing to know how to do it. I'm sure they could have managed to get the hang of it!

You're welcome :D

I used to sterilise bottles then put boiled water in them (not boiling but pretty hot) put them in a bottle keep warm thing and take them up with me with pre-measured powder pots to add as and when.

Mine are still here :)

Both great ways to nourish a baby.
Pointless goady thread IMHO.

After a few goes it's easy to do. Pre sterilise bottles in the microwave, fill with boiling water, allow to cool, tops on, in fridge. When needed, microwave water back to reasonable temperature, count the scoops in, close and shake. Takes approximately one and a half minutes if you heat the water for 50 seconds like I do.

My baby likes cold formula. If you give him warm stuff he looks at you really funny, and will only drink a wee bit.
Only ever warmed a bottle for him once, when he was about 6 weeks old. He prefers it on the cold side of luke-warm if not cold from the fridge.

FF isn't complicated, just takes a bit more thinking/preparation time then BF. My LO's bottles are already in the fridge ready for tomorrow.

Hmm, I bfed, but decided DH could take his turn with expressed bm. Baby woke up, screaming. Dd1 wouldn't accept cold bm, he went downstairs to warm it. I couldn't bear listening to the screaming, so by the time he had done it, dd1 was latched on and I was virtually asleep again! Never bothered trying that again.

I genuinely have no probs with people ff, but it DID seem like the harder option to me. If baby wakes, I wake. There is no way I am getting back to sleep until screaming is stopped/ light is off. I guess its just whatever works for you.

I BF initially, then did mixed feeding after returning from ML, & I do remember it as a faff with scoops, kettles, bottles to wash etc.

By the time I was onto my 3rd dc, I was absolutely NOT going there again & used the ready-made stuff, in a sippy cup from about 6 months. Which was slightly less bother but ruinously expensive.

Boob-wopping = definitely the cheap, lazy, far preferable option for me. But I appreciate that had I not been able to BF I would have experienced it differently.

Even if you use cartons of ready-made formula and your baby accepts them cold, surely you still have to be awake to hold the bottle in the baby's mouth?

I prefer not to wake up at all, so baby sleeps next to me and helps himself when he is hungry

I don't co sleep so still have to sit up and get baby out to bf.

Dp is working 6 days a week but still does a late night feed or an early morning one with formula.

Can't say the carton at room temp bothers the baby, it's not like my bm comes out hot. When we were in nicu with ds3 all formula/expressed milk was given at room temp

I find it easier to: boil kettle, pour water into bottles, leave to cool a bit, add correct amount of powder, cool very quickly in ice-water, into fridge, ready to go when baby is.

I used to make a days worth at a time and keep them in the fridge. I had a little bottle warmer at night and I used the microwave in the day.
I found it all easy peasy

The OP doesn't say it's easier than BF, it says it's not necessarily as hard as some people may perceive. I don't see what's so controversial about that really. Some of us have been unable to BF so it's useful to discuss making those night feeds less onerous.

To the poster who said it was mean to give unwarmed formula, my son really didn't mind what temperature it was. We just chose not to use cartons because they're so expensive.

It would be nice for this not to turn into an argument.

What's the point of this thread, is it some competition?

I made four bottles up at a time with water, then added the powder which I'd pre-measured into a powder pot. Easy. DS drinks his at room temperature.

I'm sure wopping a boob out would have been easier, but not everyone can bf.

I've always wondered about the whole sterilising thing.

Unless you take a shower in hibiscrub directly before feeding, your breasts are gonna be a bit leaky, dare I say manky, and rubbing against clothing. It's hardly sterile is it? plus, I reall reading one thread on here asking how often people changed bras or sheets and one even gave a 3 month time line.

I would also point out the instant you remove a bottle from boiling water/steam and it hits air, it ceases to be sterile.

You're lucky moomin! OH rarely ever does night feeds (baby has been night-weaned since about 7 months). I think he did a few during his two weeks paternity leave, but no more than about 10 times in the first 7 months of LO's life.
Doesn't bother me at all though - OH works very hard so I don't have to and I've never expected him to get up in the night. He will get up and settle the baby back to sleep sometimes, but if he needed feeding, he would bring the baby to me.

It definitely isn't difficult it becomes routine and u just don't notice it.

DS hated bf he fought constantly, probably because my supply never came in proper and he was starving bottles def easier and less stressful than that

raven I'm responsible for the boob wopping comment and I struggled hard for 8 weeks to feed dd. it wasn't easier in all ways at all times.

But definitely op is goady.