to ask your advice on making up baby bottles?

[Wherearemycrayons]

Just a quick one, I have a 3 year old but we could afford to use ready made milk when he was born (which was a luxury!)
I really want to invest in powder this time round as I’m really trying to save money in all aspects of our life and I was just wondering how you go about making these up?
What I specifically mean is, do you boil your water in the morning and fill the necessary amount of bottles up and THEN put the powder in (frowned upon I think which is why I’m asking)
Or do you actually stand by the kettle in the middle of the night waiting for the boiled water to cook for 30 mins as per the instructions?
Even with using ready made at night for ease I’m still loathed to think I’ll have to anticipate each feed and wait for the water etc... or am I just being lazy?!
Completely happy to be told I’m lazy!

Thanks in advance all!

*sorry, cool for half an hour

I used to;

• boil kettle
• make one bottle
• cool bottle under tap/bowl of cold water
• feed

It was easier once I was aware of a rountine forming as I could preempt time of feeds to a degree.

Obviously you already know this but the powder has to hit the water when it’s hot otherwise it doesn’t sterilise the powder.

The powder has to be added to 70 degree (or hotter) water. We bought a Perfect Prep but they're frowned upon by some, so you can use a kettle or flask and a jug of cooled boiled water in the fridge to achieve a similar effect. Just make sure your measurements are all correct.

I actually breastfed my second to avoid night bottles in the end because I hated faffing!

You need to add the powder to boiling water (water which has cooled for no more than 30 mins) Some people add it to a small amount of boiling water and top up with pre-measured cool water to make a drinkable bottle immediately. Some add to entirely boiling water and then flash cool and store in the back of the fridge and serve cold or warm up before feeding. Some use a Perfect Prep machine.

Do what suits you!

Get a perfect prep machine! That’s what all the FF I know use (and is what I’ll do if FF).

You do need fresh boiling water otherwise, it needs to kill the bugs in the milk.

Honestly, I would suggest investing in a Prep Machine. You can normally pick one up for under £50, especially if you get the older model.

Whilst yes, making bottles is easy enough, straight forward and doable with a kettle, the prep machine just makes life easier.

I boil water and put powder in. Don't generally wait the 30 min to be honest and all has been fine. So boiling water in bottle, add powder, shake well and flash cool.

At night I make up bottles with boiled water, flash cool and refrigerate immediately. Warm when needed through night. WHO stated this was fine.

Years ago the advice was to make up a batch, so to speak.
The current advice is to make up a bottle fresh each feed.
With dd, we boil kettle (don’t wait the suggested 30 mins) add to formula in the bottle, shake and stand in cold water for 10 mins or so then put in the fridge. Mustn’t be in the door though. Works perfectly.

I did what wasn't recommended. I'd make 6 bottles up - a 24 hour amount.
It was like a military operation.
Wash bottles using I think Avent bottle washer thing (more expensive that usual bottle washers). Rinse well.
Sterilise bottles. Boil kettle. Wait until slightly cooled.
Make the 6 bottles, put them in the fridge.
Microwaved them as needed. Shake vigorously before feeding and test on inside of wrist.

I'll be shot for saying this, but ds never got a bug.

I worked out that for a 5oz bottle (150ml) if I did 50ml hot water from a flask then add formula and shake, then add 100ml of previously boiled cooled water that was perfect.
If I used just booked water for the 50ml it was too hot and I needed to cool the bottle for 30secs or so.

I also bought a perfect prep which I used at home, but the above method was great for when out or away.

For 6oz bottles I did 2oz hot and 4oz cold.

That worked for Hipp milk, other brands might be different.
We now have dairy free formula and that gets made up from room temp water, as per instructions

I also made them up for 24 hours, quickly cooled them, and stored in the fridge. Also never had a bug.

Most people I know in practice either make up a daily batch or use the perfect prep. There are some concerns though about the temperature of the pp, and whether it's safe enough, so I prefer to make up a batch in advance.

@LadyandGent why would you be shot? Best practice is to make up as needed but batch making and flash cooling is perfectly acceptable as an alternative as long as you store correctly and discard after a certain amount of time.

We only do one bottle a day but tend to boil kettle and make up with hot water about an hour or so before we think it's needed, then put in fridge. If baby is hungry earlier than expected try to cool it quicker in a jug of cold water (can keep in fridge too), if longer than expected warm it back up in jug of hot water from kettle/hot tap. If we are lucky it will be the right temperature on time. If we were bottle feeding full time, I'd make one up as soon as a feed was finished so it would be ready for the next, and then make up the expected number of night bottles before I went to bed. Would probably also get a proper bottle warmer because jugs of water drip everywhere. As baby has got older he's become less fussy about exact temp but we don't like giving it to him fridge cold and obviously too hot can cause burns.

You can keep a made up bottle up to 24 hours in the fridge (though the less time it is kept, the better) so if we ever did night feeds we did it like that too. I have pretty much just always breastfed at night though.

I should note it's safer to cool quickly and then refrigerate, rather than let the fridge do the cooling, but I let DH decide what to do with bottles and he reckons this is safe enough for his preference.

30 mins advice is to wait no longer than 30 mins. You can use the water sooner.

Oh I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one to batch prepare.

Here's roughly what we did:

Option 1:

1. boil water and immediately put in flask.
2. When it's time to make bottle, add half the water to the bottle, and add the powder
3. Note the new level and top up with a jug of boiled then chilled water (keep a jug in the fridge every morning).

The hot flask lasts about 3 to 4 hours depending on your flask

Option 2 (the proper way):

1. Boil kettle
2. wait 30 minutes
3. pour out water into bottle, add powder
4. Run under cold tap or use ice bath to cool down

Option 3: Use perfect prep

Option 4: Use option 2, but put the made bottle in the fridge (keeps for maximum of 12 hours) and reheat by putting into a bowl of hot water.

Option 5: use ready mixed bottle (not possible with all brands though)

I'm aware not all of these are strictly speaking under NHS guidelines, but they were within the risk levels I was comfortable with.

Also batched prepared and cooled in a sink of cold water before refrigerating. DH used to sort them all out late in the evening ready for the following day.

So much easier for going out and about - just popped one in a cool bag. I also took one in a cool bag upstairs at nighttime. DS was happy to drink it cold but I had to heat DDs. Ironically DS is the fussy one now!

I do this for a job. What showofhands said basically

Another one here who found perfect prep a godsend. I got mine off local Facebook for twenty pounds. It would have been worth full price. Everytime I go on Facebook someone is selling one, no need to buy new, just give it a clean cycle. Filters are about a tenner each but last around three months.

@LadyandGent same method as you for all 4 of mine.
Only difference is I cooled all the bottles very quickly in a bowl of iced water and stored at the back of the fridge where the temperature is more constant, discarded any unused after 24 hours

I used to always have 1 prepared and then make up the next one when that one was being used iyswim

Perfect prep machine. Saved my life and I’m not exaggerating.
Prior to getting it I was making the bottles up each time with the kettle which is the best and safest way.

It’s the powder which isn’t sterile, not the water. So you need just-boiled water to hit the powder, to sterilise it. But that doesn’t mean the full amount.

• Boil the kettle
• Pour half of the required water into the bottle
• Add the powder and shake
• Top up the other half of the required water using a sealed jug of cooled boiled water that you keep in the fridge

That way the powder has been sterilised but the temperature is instantly drinkable

Pre prep machine. Buy one. I could feed and get dd asleep in 15 minutes middle of the night. Worth its weight in gold. Once bottle made up you have two hours if baby not drunk out of it and 1 if baby has. If using the kettle method Just make sure the powder has hot water hit it. I found bottle feeding vvv easy. My hv set up the prep machine for me and sterlizer as i couldnt move at the time.

NHS guidance actually says if you need to you can make bottles up with 70 degree freshly not re-boiled water add store at the back of the fridge for up to 24 hours. DS is mainly BF but has some formula top ups and that's what I do now. We were using ready made but it's so expensive. Also DS got terrible trapped wind with aptamil and we've moved him onto Hipp which he's much better on but it doesn't come in large ready to drink bottles.
My biggest recommendation would be mam self sterilising bottles. Senior midwife recommended then off the record when we were having feeding issues due to tongue tie and needed to FF until it was snipped. No faffing with big sterilisers or buckets of Milton. SIL swapped to them from tommee tippee when she saw ours. It's so easy if you're out visiting etc. 3 mins to sterilise