AIBU about making up formula at night?

[Chocolateorangegoblin]

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!

gingina, cows milk from 1 year old is the NHS advice now. (See the Cows Milk section of the advice about drinks for children: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/drinks-and-cups-children.aspx)

Oh... my SiL and several of my friends are under the impression that cows milk is bad now and they are using follow on formula.
I wonder where that idea came from???

I have no idea! Effective advertising of follow on formula perhaps?

As this page (www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/types-of-infant-formula.aspx) explains, first infant formula is fine until 12 months.

That stuff costs a fortune so I wouldn't be surprised if its a marketing ploy.
It has worked - you'd think cows milk was poison the way they go on!!!

DD is nearly 10 and I was told the same advice regarding having to use hot water to sterilise the milk powder. In my sleep-deprived state I think I tried many methods of making up the bottles, but became less strict about it as she got older. Its interesting to see the differences in advice in different countries. I don't think anyone I know in the UK would have thought to use Evian to make up a bottle!

If it was a smallish bottle (5oz or less) i used to make up with boiling water, mix, hook a pyrex jug over the draining board, put the bottle in it and turn on the cold tap, the water hit the bottle from the tap, plunged it around and it was cool enough to drink in 5 mins, just enough time to change the baby and then fed them back to sleep.

They slept through when their bottles were bigger and if they did wake it was for a cuddle, not for milk.

And it has always been cows milk from a year as far as I know, you can use in cooking, on cereal etc but not as a drink

For all 4 of ours we put cooled boiled water in the bottles in the fridge and then topped up with kettle water to correct temperature as they were needed ( I think it was 3oz boiling into 5oz cold, not too sure it's been awhile!) and then added the powder. I had little powder dispensers that fitted in the bottles as well so no losing count of scoops at the arse crack of dawn because I was too tired to count to 8.

What I can't get my head around is why, when it's an issue of safety, people ignore the instructions which come on the product.

Does anyone here also ignore the fitting advice on car seats because it's too much of a faff to follow it?

So is 1/3 recently boiled water to sterilise powder then 2/3 cooled tap water OK? That seemed safe if used immediately and will be right temp too..

What I can't get my head around is why, when it's an issue of safety, people ignore the instructions which come on the product.

I refer you to my PP. Twins, can't hold both while crying and prepare bottles at the same time. For me the gain in safety wasn't worth the loss of comfort for the kids. We have to do this sort of risk assessment in our lives all the time or else we'd sit in the house wrapped in a duvet all day to avoid any and all risks. I don't know why we're supposed to throw that skill out the window and accept any increase in the burden of difficulty of looking after babies as long as it gives an increase in safety, however small.

Probably has a greater impact on baby's health leaving him to cry for 30 minutes regularly waiting to be fed ... actually feel quite upset that someone is doing that with a little baby

I asked my doctor about this when switching to formula and she said that in all her years practicing she had never come across any baby in the UK that had got sick from unsterilised formula. The WHO advice covers all countries and is more relevant for places with poorer industrial hygiene standards. So long as you use proper hygiene whenever dealing with the powder (clean hands etc) it's not going to be harmful if you mix it with non boiling water.

People have been making bottles with non-boiling water for decades without swathes of the baby population becoming commonly violently ill from it. Formula is not exactly bacteria soup.

Why would they be waiting 30 minutes though? The guidance is to boil a kettle and then use the water within 30 minutes, not after 30 minutes.

I used to boil half the water and put in bottle at night. Then do a flask with the other hot boiling water. Put all on bedside table along with canister of powder. At night mix it all (without leaving bed). Worked great. No issues

Can I share what I thought was utterly revolutionary in the making of milk?

Get scales out. Weigh 8 scoops (if you happen to have 8oz feeds). Do this three times (I did 5 just to make sure). Take the average.

I then get a large jug and a Pyrex measuring jug.

Into the Pyrex I put 240ml (or one bottles worth) boiling water and 3x 8oz bottle amount measured for one bottle. Whisk (lovely smooth milk) and pour into big jug.

Measure 480ml (or two bottles worth) cold water and add to big jug.

Three bottles made. Voila.

I now make a days worth in under 2mins. I'm my own sanity hero.

"Probably has a greater impact on baby's health leaving him to cry for 30 minutes regularly waiting to be fed ... "

here

From the Centers for Disease Control and Infections

: Getting sick from Cronobacter does not happen very often, but it is often deadly in young infants. It usually occurs in the first days or weeks of life. Typically, CDC is informed of about 4-6 cases of sickness from Cronobacter in infants each year, but reporting isn't required.
Cronobacter bacteria can cause severe blood infections (sepsis) or meningitiss_ (an inflammation of the membranes that protect the brain and spine). Infants 2 months of age and younger are most likely to develop meningitis if they are infected with Cronobacter. Infants born prematurely and those with weakened immune systems are also at increased risk for serious sickness from Cronobacter.

Dd 6 months ff as refused to latch. You need boiled water for the powder from what ive been taught. Pre prep machine is a life saver and so easy. Who leaves a baby to scream for 30 minutes. I can feed and settle my dd in 15 minutes at 3am if shes tried.

At recent weaning talk full fat cows milk from one is ok. Bottle water was advised against and tap water has minerals etc they need. It all be different next year!

Minifingerz - have you actually formula fed your own child?

It is about risk.

As per your link, we used readymade formula for a couple of months before moving to the perfect prep machine. That was our way of mitigating the higher risk in the early months. Others make different decisions and as long as they are informed and well considered then that seems like any other part of parenting. Obviously not all of those following alternative paths are informed and that is a problem.

The car seat analogy is interesting. Relatively few parents keep their children rear facing as long as possible, despite it being known to be safer. The reasons for this vary - cost, child/parent preference and lack of information. Much the same idea.

As I said earlier, everyone has their own comfort zones around risk taking with their baby.

I'm just always a bit surprised that as making it up according to the instructions doesn't cost more, isn't really much harder and doesn't need to take much longer, that people are so willing to disregard the manufacturers advice. Also that people don't seem very clear about why it makes feeding safer.

With myou baby I boilove kettle add 2 Oz boiling water add 8 scoops. Give it a shake. Then top it up with cold tap water

I'm sure you do this, Ghost, but you should measure out the cold water for the top up in another bottle so you get the right total amount of water iyswim.

Cronobacter is found in the environment and people of all ages can get it so I think the hystrionics could do with abating a little. Do people sterilise everything a baby puts in its mouth? For years the rules were a lot different and there were hardly if any cases. Seriously,when you consider how many bottles one baby consumes and how many billions were consumed pre new regs,how it is everywhere and how few cases there are it is hardly playing bacteria roulette.

Don't the scaremongers just love to come out when there is a formula thread.

Mix up scoops with 3 oz water >70 degrees.
Add 5 oz cold premeasured water
Shake
Feed
Did this for all 3, very quick and risk of any bacteria in powder is minimised.

"and people of all ages can get it so I think the hystrionics could do with abating a little"

Yes, the Department of Health and the Centre for Disease Control - those hysterical old fusspots.

The difference is that the only thing nature designed to go into babies is human milk not vulnerable to airborne contamination. Adult bodies have developed immunity and can cope better with it. Not so babies. Hence the advice to prepare their feeds in such a way as to reduce exposure.