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.

[monkeysbignuts]

booyhoo i agree with you. a belly full of warm milk sounds much more sleep inducing than cold fridge milk :/
never made a middle of the night bottle thank god :)

[Mmmnoodlesoup]

And yy. Milk should always be warm. My room can sometimes be 17-18 degrees and I could never give my ds milk at that temp. Of course breast milk is warm to whoever said it isnt it comes out of a 37 degree body!

[monkeysbignuts]

lol mmmnoodle. it's surprising how warm liquid feels at 37 0c. i had two water births and it was body temp.

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

I used warm tap water and never sterilised and nobody died. But, I also bf'd, so maybe that gave them superpowers or something.

[SarahBumBarer]

There's still a dirty bottle to wash in the morning however easy you try to make the actual feed. Although I suppose I could just take the dirty bottle in the shower along with my boob.

[Booyhoo]

a dirty bottle to wash? not really that difficult TBH. i found taking apart and cleaning all the separate parts of the breast pump more of a faff than jsut washing a bottle.

[ChairmanWow]

Oh snipe, snipe, snipety snipe. Dirty bottle, dirty boobs whatever.

Some parents BF. Some parents FF. There are numerous reasons for this, sometimes choice and convenience, sometimes necessity. Who cares? The babies are getting fed.

Clearly we can't have a 'handy hints for formula feeders' type-thread without the usual bullshit, a shame cos I found very little practical info on FF when we were struggling and I was quite enjoying this.

I'm outta here too.

[YouTheCat]

Meh

[curiousgeorgie]

FF doesn't have to be hard at all.

We did 10, 2, 6, 10, 2, 6 with DD from the day she was born.

I go to bed about 11 or 12, and take a just made bottle with me in a thermal bag (perfectly fine to keep for 4 hours.)

She wakes up at 2 and DH and I take it in turns to feed her each night.

Then DH gets up for work at 6 and makes a fresh bottle to give to DD before he leaves.

Then DD and I cuddle in bed till 10 where I find a lovingly prepared bottle in another thermal bag ready to feed her by my bed. (Thanks DH!)

I only ever had to wake up once every other night... Ever.

In contrast my SIL that breast feeds and has to do it all herself is knackered.

[justonemorepie]

Getting DH to feed the baby? When I'm on mat leave? And he's got work in the morning? Er, no. Besides, can and did BF in my sleep.
Not all of us were lucky enough to BF in our sleep and also even on mat leave I still had 'work' to do looking after 3 kids and running the house so I ashamed to admit yes I got my DH to feed the baby-even at night

[determinedma]

Make bottle up and keep in fridge. Take to bed in insulated bag and bung in bottle warmer while nappy changing. Job done.
No more agonising full boobs, cracked nipples, latch on problems, leaks....I have bf and ff and if I had to do it again would ff like a shot.
As an aside, of the three Dcs, the one with the most health problems with broken bones and low immunity is the one who bf longest!

[SarahBumBarer]

But a breast pump is not obligatory. And I'd rather have no dirty bottle than one dirty bottle. I DO find BF very easy (I'm very lucky, I know - I'm relaxed about it, I've never had any discomfort etc - if I had I would have given up, I'm no martyr and no major bf proponent, strongly believe with the possible exception of gastro and diabetes there are no proven benefits to bf) I do it for one reason and one reason only - it is easy (disclaimer: for me). And having literally done it in my sleep I'm never going to be convinced that FF is not bloody hard work. With both my children I have returned to work when they turned 8 months and so we have moved to part bf part ff and the ff is a faff faff faff faff and I am delighted when it is over.

Even being back at work and with a DH who is primarily a stay at home dad I am only too willing to continue to bf at night (when needed) to avoid having to deal with bottles to the maximum extent possible as the entire family (me included) gets more sleep that way.

Isn't the point that it is horses for courses? Of course if you have cracked nipples, etc struggle to sleep-feed, panic about co-sleeping etc you might find bf hard - but those (like me) who do find it VERY easy are always going to think that even the easiest ff in comparison to the easiest bf sounds like a pita?

Are a lot of you suggesting things that are not actually recommended in terms of making bottles up hours in advance, storing them in certain ways etc or have recommendations relaxed slightly?

[Peevish]

I agree about the comparative absence of tips and advice for FFers. I desperately wanted to BF, but turned out to have no supply and baffled any number of midwives, HVs, NCT/La Leche League advisers, BF consultants, my GP etc. After we'd (eventually) given up attempts at BF and turned to formula, I honestly felt at times as if I was asking how to score crack or something. I was feeling low about it all anyway, and the fact that it was so hard to find anyone who would talk about how to do it made it even worse.

We used the ready-made large bottles of formula despite the ruinous cost.

[StoicButStressed]

1 - OP made a valid point. And one that might help FF (since fuck all else 'help' is available??? INC. for those who CAN'T frickin BF even if they really, really wanted to).

2 - Suspect lack of help/advice for FF is down to the 'law' (& worse, the kinda 'smugness' IYKWIM of some BF - note, I said SOME, not ALL - Mammas) that you HAVE to BF. And if you don't, you really are looked down on (this is fact, not supposistion btw - a nasty fact that I had to endure simply as COULDN'T BF).

3 - BabiesInSlings: The truth is one person's convenience is another's hassle. But then I'd never sacrifice the gift of breastmilk for my child as it was a hassle - I'm really really REALLY hoping that you did not mean that the way it came across. As it comes across as beyond superior; sanctimonious; mean; judgemental - vs you simply APPRECIATING the fact you HAVEN'T had to 'sacrifice' the 'gift' of breastmilk as you were fortunate enough to one way or another be ABLE to bloody BF.

4 - After horrific and 'failed' BF attempts with DS1 that led directly to vicious PNI via that horrific sense of 'failure' (made WAY worse by other's comments/views/yada fucking yada), he and 2 other DS's were FF. Guess what? They're not dead and they are all thriving hulks of healthy creatures.

[Flisspaps]

babies I bf DS to 9mo and I found your comment about 'the gift of breastmilk' unnecessary and sanctimonious.

To add - you don't need to sterilise bottles etc - a thorough wash in hot soapy water (or dishwasher hot cycle) is fine.

YY to the advice to make up the formula with hot boiled water - around 70c. This info is given on the formula packet (at least it is on cow and gate and SMA).

Water that's boiled and left to go cold isn't suitable. The heat in the water helps to kill bacteria in the powder not the water.

The WHO give guidelines for making up fresh but say that batch making formula and cooling/storing immediately in a fridge is the next best thing and give guidelines for that too which I think have been linked above.

I warm bottles (if necessary) in a jug of hot water as I don't have a microwave or bottle warmer.

When going out or to bed, I take a bottle in a cool bag with an ice pack.

[Booyhoo]

"But a breast pump is not obligatory. "

well i couldn't leave my breasts at the childminders.

[StoicButStressed]

Booyhoo

[breatheslowly]

Little cartons are great. DD was exclusively fed little cartons. I wouldn't dream of recommending this as I think it cost the best part of £2k, but it was the right decision for us.

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

StoicButStressed Sat 23-Feb-13 16:56:10
breathes deeply as frickin steaming at some of the nutsness here

BabiesInSlings: The truth is one person's convenience is another's hassle. But then I'd never sacrifice the gift of breastmilk for my child as it was a hassle - I'm really really REALLY hoping that you did not mean that the way it came across. As it comes across as beyond superior; sanctimonious; mean; judgemental - vs you simply APPRECIATING the fact you HAVEN'T had to 'sacrifice' the 'gift' of breastmilk as you were fortunate enough to one way or another be ABLE to bloody BF

Hear hear!!

Babies I'm hoping you just worded things badly as if not then I'm disgusted by your comment. I tried to bf but failed as I had no milk, which despite pumping, taking fenugreek and going to a bf clinic, my supply didn't increase. It's great you managed to bf so easily, but to be so bloody sanctimonious about it is terrible.

Not everyone can do it. It's not a competition, you don't get a prize. I felt so guilty that I couldn't bf my DS and ridiculous comments like yours don't help.

[applepieinthesky]

I don't understand people that say FF is a faff. I make up all DS's bottles once a day. It takes all of 15 minutes. DP goes downstairs in the night, heats the bottle in the microwave for 45 seconds and feeds him while I make out I'm asleep What's hard about that?

[monkeysbignuts]

apple your not following who guidelines by doing it that way.
from my perspective i would find ff a faff because i would follow guidelines and make each bottle when required.
if doing night feeds i would use a ready made carton, it's still more long winded that picking up baby and getting your boob out of your bra imo

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

In that case I dont follow the guidelines either as we fill the bottles with water then add the powder as needed. I'm not waiting 30 mins+ whilst my hungry DS screams. Less of an issue now he's bigger and sleeps through. We have used the cartons but it works out expensive.

[applepieinthesky]

I don't know anyone that gets up in the middle of the night and makes up a bottle. That would be a faff.

[Flisspaps]

monkeys There ARE guidelines which tell you how to make up batches and store them safely. I do the same. It has been linked to above (I think) but the text in the WHO document reads as follows:

"For practical reasons, however, feeds may need to be prepared in
advance. The steps below outline the safest way to prepare and store feeds for later use. If refrigeration is not available, feeds should be prepared fresh and consumed immediately rather than prepared in advance for later use.

1. Follow steps 1 to 7 of Section 3.1.2. If using feeding cups, a batch of formula should be prepared in a clean, sterile jar that is no larger than 1 litre, with a lid. The prepared PIF can be refrigerated and dispensed into cups as needed.
   
2. Place cooled feeds in a refrigerator. The temperature of the refrigerator should be no higher than 5 °C.
   
3. Feeds can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours"

[Flisspaps]

Pobble If you boil the water, put it into the bottle and wait 3 minutes (less if you're using less than 7oz of water) the water will have cooled to around 70C. SIL told me this and I was sceptical, however I checked with a temperature probe and it's correct.

Half an hour is the average time a full kettle of water would take to cool to an appropriate temperature.

No need to wait for 30 minutes at each feed.