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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU about making up formula at night?

324 replies

Chocolateorangegoblin · 30/01/2017 20:58

A friend of mine told me she boils the kettle, waits 30 minutes for it to cool etc before making a bottle all while her Dd is screaming to be fed during the night.
AIBU to think that's madness?! Surely most people don't do that?!
Obviously a lot of people have perfect prep machines now but that still involves getting out of bed etc.
I make up bottles in advance, cool them and keep them in the fridge and then at bedtime I take one to bed in a cool bag and DS drinks it whenever he wakes up. I am obviously a lazy sod but there's no way I would be standing about waiting for water to cool down at 2am!

OP posts:
LavenderRains · 30/01/2017 23:00

Bertiebotts posts are spot on👍

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 30/01/2017 23:15

But nreastmilk isn't sterile

Breast milk doesn't need to be 'sterile', it has antibacterial properties that kill any bugs from boobs, bra etc.

It's really basic science that boiling water kills bacteria, and so it needs to be in contact with the powder. Making up feeds to put in drive for 24 hours is absolutely fine as long as, when they're being made up, water over 70c is mixed with the powder.

Tap water should never be used to top up a formula bottle, if you did this and your child escaped illness you're very lucky!

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 30/01/2017 23:16

*fridge not drive!

Caterina99 · 30/01/2017 23:21

Controversial here - I'm in the US. I specifically asked the pediatrician about boiling water and sterilizing formula and all that. They said its unnecessary unless baby has some sort of immune problem or premature. The advice I was given (and all my friends) is to use room temperature tap water and then feed immediately. Discard any bottles after one hour. I'm guessing the bacteria doesn't multiply in less than an hour is the thinking.

Anyway, that's how millions of babies in America are fed, and I'd be interested to see if there's a higher rate of gastro problems over here than countries that advise strict formula prep. They don't even advise sterilizing bottles here. I figured that as formula is such big business, and everyone sues for everything here, that if it was a problem then they'd want it shown how to make it up safely on the box and paediatricians would be advising you.

Just my opinion though. Take what risks you deem necessary with your own child, but mine never had any stomach upsets from this method

LilacSpatula · 30/01/2017 23:27

Perfect prep machine here. It's marvellous.

It was on watchdog and the advice was that if your baby didn't have CF or an immune disorder then it's not proven to be harmful. Wouldn't make them up in advance as that's against all advice but I agree, I think it'd be madness to leave DD screaming for half an hour. Also, the advice on our formula says 30 minutes and no more. Seems completely ridiculous to stand next to a cold tap waiting for it to cool and I'd be worried it was still too hot.

Alwaysfrank · 30/01/2017 23:30

Gosh it's a wonder my 4 all survived! Powder straight into cooled boiled water and fed at room temperature, sleeping in own room by 8 weeks, weaned at 4 months (and I don't think I ever heard 4 month sleep regression mentioned then, I wonder if there is a link?)

Advice changes but it always seems to be in ways which make life more difficult for mums and ratchets up the guilt for anyone not doing things to the letter of the new advice

Blueskyrain · 30/01/2017 23:45

user892, your link doesn't work.

IWantATardis · 31/01/2017 00:25

We used to use the ready made formula when we did formula night feeds. It's more expensive but there wasn't any worrying about preparing a bottle wrong.

crazywriter · 31/01/2017 00:32

The advice on the formula is to make it up as you go. The advice from my health visitor and I think it was on the NHS website (may have been Mayo Clinic in the USA though) is that batch making is OK. Store in the back of the fridge and use within 24 hours. We did batches of four with both DDs and never had problems.

Neither of YABU really. I couldn't wait 30 minutes for the kettle to boil. There were times I realised at the last minute that we had no bottles in the fridge so put the formula airtight in and ran it under the cold tap to cool quicker. Still horrible listenIngham to a baby cry because she was hungry!

toomuchtooold · 31/01/2017 06:14

If it's any help, I once had a look at all the boxes of formula in the supermarket here in Germany and none of them say you need to add the powder to hot water and allow to cool. It's not part of the German guidelines. For me that was sufficient permission to carry on adding powder to cooled boiled water.

minifingerz · 31/01/2017 06:21

Depends on the age of the baby. Wouldn't do it with a newborn.

But everyone has their own comfort zones when it comes to risk taking behaviours with their baby.

Astoria7974 · 31/01/2017 06:58

I presume the people leaving a newborn's bottles in the fridge disinfect their fridge everyday? Fine if you want to take a risk but don't judge people who do it properly

Questioningeverything · 31/01/2017 07:00

I use ready made liquid formula for nights. Sterile bottles and add it. Works for us. Three bottles a night, i value the little sleep I get too much to go down heating or making up bottles

LilacSpatula · 31/01/2017 07:11

Should add that we used ready made until she'd had her 6wk check and only then moved onto perfect prep. 8 was old today Smile Smile

hatethegame · 31/01/2017 07:26

Why are people so confused when the instructions are loud and clear on the tins? Cool boiled water should not be used - the water needs to be over 70 degrees to kill the Bacteria in the powder.

picklemepopcorn · 31/01/2017 07:34

Just been on an American website, they say: no need to sterilise bottles and teats, and keep it in the fridge for 48 hours as long as the baby hasn't touched the teat. ShockShock I haven't found anything about the temperature of the water yet...

picklemepopcorn · 31/01/2017 07:44

And with room temperature water straight out of the tap, as long as you're on safe mains water.

Just goes to show...

BertieBotts · 31/01/2017 07:46

It's only the UK which advises to make bottles with 70C plus water. Americans don't usually have kettles so it would be difficult for them to heat the water for bottles anyway without microwaving it, which has its own problems for baby feeding.

I don't think this means the advice is overcautious. I think it's excellent advice if you think about the facts - which is that powdered goods can't be pasteurised, powder can be contaminated, and milk is a friendly environment for bacteria to grow.

QuackDuckQuack · 31/01/2017 08:01

Why would you need to disinfect your fridge? The milk is inside the bottle and the milk doesn't touch the fridge. The teat is under a lid.

toomuchtooold · 31/01/2017 08:37

Pickle it's much the same in Germany. I can't remember whether they recommend using boiled water or not, but they certainly don't specify it being over 70 degrees.

I understand that people will say "why take the risk" but if you have a crying baby waiting for a feed, the decision to follow the UK guidelines to the letter isn't a cost-free one. I had twins so it was even worse - you can't really effectively comfort two crying babies while preparing two bottles and waiting for them to cool.

myfavouritecolourispurple · 31/01/2017 08:44

I used to make bottles up and keep them in the fridge to warm up later (never in the microwave, always in a jug of hot water) or, I took hot water out with me with some powder in a tub and added it to the water when ds was hungry. By that time the water was lukewarm anyway.

DS never got a stomach bug. I sterilised everything until he was 2 - even spoons and the like. Even though he was probably taking toys off the floor and stuffing them in his mouth - and went to nursery which is one big germ-fest ;)

I'm not sure about the cold water from the tap though (advice in Netherlands). Is their tap water better than ours? I was even told not to boil a kettle more than once so had a separate kettle for making up bottles.

BertieBotts · 31/01/2017 08:51

I haven't bottle fed myself, but I always thought how I would do it would be to have one bottle made up in advance (two if twins). So when the feed is finished make up the next one immediately, with hot water, flash cool and store in fridge. It won't be sitting around for ages but it will be immediately ready to go when you need it.

That said I do think if you're feeding immediately it must make no difference if you make it up with hot or cold water, the bacteria don't have time to multiply anyway.

StrawberryShortcake32 · 31/01/2017 09:15

WiFi kettle is all you need in life. Minute you hear baby wake, switch the kettle on from your phone.

SomethingBorrowed · 31/01/2017 09:25

In France everybody uses Evian bottled water instead of boiled water.
I don't think this leads to more tummy bugs than in the UK.

gingina · 31/01/2017 09:38

AlwaysFrank. I was thinking the same thing. I weaned mine at 4 months on nasty baby rice then pureed everything. No such thing as baby led weaning back then. I also gave them both cows milk only from a year old which apparently is not the done thing nowadays.
My niece is a year old and I struggle not to roll my eyes at all these new ideas - I keep my mouth firmly shut though Smile

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