About prep time for powdered formula?

[MissMalteser]

Ds is 6 weeks and I am just starting to introduce the odd bottle of formula so we can combination feed, at the minute I am using the pre made bottles but i have been looking into powder and because of the gap between dc's I'm not sure if ive just forgot it was always this complicated?
So each bottle has to be made fresh as required, this includes boiling kettle, making bottle and letting cool, but each bottle also has to be sterilised, once I open my steriliser to get a bottle out the rest are contaminated and need resterilised, so by the time ds starts grunting for a feed and I actually go through the faff of sterilising bottle, boiling water, making bottle and letting it cool enough to drink it could surely take at least 45 minutes each time? Am i missing something? and aibu to think surely there is a more time effective way to do it?

[Ivegotyourgoat]

That's amazing about the breastmilk.

They really should tell pregnant women all this. Ok I know they tell you bm protects the baby, but it's easy to skim over that if you've known loads of ff babies who've hardly been ill.

[ithinkitstimeforanamechange]

crayfish to be fair I also had breakdowns on the floor about cat food and the fact I couldn't through the glass in the window in the kitchen to the swing - hence my much medication The bottles were just one thing that could be fixed

[crayfish]

Fair enough! No criticism here, a lot of us have been there at times

[paddypants13]

I boil the kettle and fill sterilised bottle with required amount of water. It depends on the time of day as to how many bottles I fill. I leave them to cool at room temp and use within 12 hours.

I have 9 bottles so always have some sterile, ready for water.

I mixed fed DD and DS has been exclusively bottle fed and both have survived!

Congratulations on the arrival of your little one. x

[paddypants13]

I boil the kettle and fill sterilised bottle with required amount of water. I just add the powder when DS is hungry. It depends on the time of day as to how many bottles I fill. I leave them to cool at room temp and use within 12 hours.

I have 9 bottles so always have some sterile, ready for water.

I mixed fed DD and DS has been exclusively bottle fed and both have survived!

Congratulations on the arrival of your little one. x

[Oysterbabe]

Paddy are you adding the powder to cold water?

[Writerwannabe83]

I work with babies and it's absolutely insane how many parents think it's ok to make feeds up with cold/cool pre-boiled water.

[Oysterbabe]

All those people carefully sterilising the bottles, probably assembling them with tongs, adding boiling water, cooling the bottles, storing them in the fridge, making sure they're only in there for no longer than a set amount of time, then just wacking some powder in there making the whole thing pointless.

[Skivvywoman]

So what is the proper way to make a safe bottle??

[Writerwannabe83]

Leave freshly boiled water to cool down for 15 minutes, add the powder and then give straight to baby.

[Oysterbabe]

After it's cooled down enough!! ^

[Writerwannabe83]

I missed out one of the most important parts,

[sharonthewaspandthewineywall]

Some formulas need to be made up with cold water though

[Writerwannabe83]

Do they?

[pearlylum]

sharon, which formula is that? I've never heard of a formula you could make up with cold water.

[MissMalteser]

Lots of interesting views here, I don't mind discussing the benefits of bf, but I also didn't want to turn it into a bf v ff thread either, really I just wanted to share my amazement at how complex the whole thing seemed, but I get now I have probably made it even more so with the whole sterilising thing, and if I stick to 2 bottles a day then it should be easy to roughly predict when they're needed and make it up in plenty of time or just buy premade

[Writerwannabe83]

Two bottles s day? Then definitely do pre-made!

This thread has given me a headache and there's definitely far too much stress involved just for the sake of two bottles a day

[TheNewStatesman]

www.fearlessformulafeeder.com/2011/10/the-fff-quick-and-dirty-guide-to-formula-feeding-mixing-bottles/
www.fearlessformulafeeder.com/2012/10/ready-to-feed-formula-may-prevent-cronobacter-infection-in-babies/

I really recommend reading these links for advice on formula prep that is safe and actually practical.

Cronobacter is very serious when it happens, but it is very very VERY rare and all known cases have occurred in premature or very young infants under 2 months.

For your baby, I would heat water or use liquid RTF for now. For older babies over 6 months or so, I don't think there is any need to be quite so cautious.

[FeckOfffCup]

You have to be careful if you're adding water to the powder as opposed to powder to the water. If the ratio is wrong, which is easily could be if you're filling the water up to 7oz for example when there's already powder in the bottle, you're not really adding 7oz of water - you're adding 6.something and you'll end up with a very constipated baby. Ideally powder should go in last, to water that is at least 70 degrees C.

Agree that any method is pointless and a waste of time if you're not using hot water to mix the formula.

I made bottles up fresh every time and waited for them to cool for nearly a year. It's not difficult. The whole thing start to finish was 10 mins, max.

I know people who make a big bottle and use it throughout the day which is grim IMO. I wouldn't want a glass of milk that had been left out for hours and hours so I wouldn't feed it to a baby either.

[BertieBotts]

You shouldn't be using one bottle left out of the fridge and used throughout the day, no. That's a bacterial risk. But making a big jug or something and storing in the fridge then pouring into a bottle and warming (or indeed feeding cold) is fine. It's not best practice but it's part of second best practice.

Some of the anti-reflux formulas have instruction to be made up with cooler water because they tend to clump.

[splendide]

I mixed fed and DS was quite unpredictable about how much formula he'd have. I just did cold water sterilisation. So a big tub on the kitchen windowsill and change the water every 24 hours. Bottles a can just stay in the tub till you need them. I also did ready made formula. Loads easier and less messy! I stopped sterilising bottles at about 6 months, obviously I make sure they're well washed. I don't want to start another debate but there's pretty good evidence to suggest that sterilising isn't necessary at any age but I did it anyway!

DS is 18 months and still has a small bottle of read made stage 1 aptimil at bedtime which I do feel pretty slack about but I'm terrified to mess with the bedtime voodoo!

[NickyEds]

You may well be better off using pre made anyway op, depending on how big the bottles are. At the risk of adding further to the confusion, f tins only last for four weeks when open! Dd only had one bottle a day and, although it did work out cheaper (by a out £1 a week) we Had to throw powder away after four weeks when she was little as we didn't get through it all.

Writerwannabe83 I can sort of see why parents get it wrong. When I was in hospital with dd there was a mum next to me who was ff and she just rang for a bottle and the mw brought it to her made up. As we were being discharged I heard the mw asking her if she knew how to do a bottle and she just said she'd work it out. I'm sure she would but the poor lass looked absolutely knackered and she'd mentioned to me she was going to be alone so I can see how mistakes could be made. The first time ds had f I was an emotional wreck and I'm glad dp was there to read the instructions.

[Writerwannabe83]

Why is why FF mothers should receive help as to their feeding choices as opposed to HCPs saying they can't promote anything but breast milk.

Mind you, from looking at this thread it seems HV aren't giving out "best practice" advice anyway.

I remember my second night of having DS at home and I was really, really struggling with breast feeding and come 3am in the morning I was beyond help, I was crying, DS was crying and I told DH to go and make a bottle of formula because I "just can't cope anymore" as we'd bought a tub of formula just in case BF'ing hadn't worked out.

Anyway, DH goes downstairs to make the bottle and he was actually gone for about 20 minutes and by the time he reappeared I had latched DS on and I remember thinking to myself, "How do people manage with the faff of making up bottles of fresh formula fresh during the night?!"

I can understand why people find their own ways to deal with it and reduce the stress

At work, if I'm making up a bottle of 7oz for example I would tend to put in 4oz of freshly boiled water, 3oz of cool pre-boiled sterile water and then add the 7 scoops of formula. It is still too hot to drink at that point but it doesn't take long to cool it down afterwards by running it under a cold tap.

[Sallystyle]

Another one who used to boil the kettle, make up enough for the day and put them in the fridge to microwave when needed.

A family member who had a baby a few years ago used to put boiling water in the bottles and keep them at room temp then just add the powder when the baby was hungry. Obviously that isn't safe but apparently that is how a lot of people made them. Mind you, I remember having to tell my step mum not to add powder to the bottle first!

If I was to have a baby now I probably would make up bottles the way I used to.

[splendide]

It's always a bit frightening on these threads how many people get it wrong. It's the powder that's the risk not the water. I feel like that should be made clearer on the formula packaging maybe.