To make formula up in advance and store it in the fridge?

[novaissuper]

Stores in the fridge for no more than 24 hours and heated up with a bottle warmer. What do you think?

We still do that at work. (Paediatric nurse) and it's what I would do for my own babies, should I ever have any.

Or you could just buy the aptimil ready mades that you just shake and put in a bottle.

I did this quite a few times with my first but one time he got horrendous Diarrhoea and I never did it again ( could have being a coincidence) I bought a bottle maker for the second.

Rules when DC1 was born 20 years ago: make up formula, cool quickly, in fridge, not in fridge door, use within 24 hours.
Rules when DC2 was born 13 years ago: do not make up formula in advance. I asked why the rules had changed. Midwife explained that babies had died and listeria was found in their bottles. So the new rule was sterilise bottles , put boiled water in bottles, leave at room temperature for up to 24 hours. When ready to feed, add formula powder, shake well and feed. If you want to warm it a little you can, but you don’t need to. When out for the day, I used an avent powder container that meant you could measure out up to 3 amounts of powder and then you swivelled the top round and it dispensed the amount for one bottle. No need to keep bottle chilled, you just took the bottles with only water in.
Which was the easier way? Second way.
Has the rule now changed again and you are allowed to make up bottles in advance? I can’t see why as the water/only way was great. Bottles were lined up on the kitchen side and you just added the powder and shook well. Simple.

You were right 20 years ago but not now. Bottles do need to be sterile but powder also needs to have contact with hot (70 degrees) water. Research into why babies were admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis led to changes in advice.

No. Put the hot water in and then use the powder things that slot in yo the bottles.

They changed the guidance between dc1 and dc2. Dc1 is 15 and we made up bottles OF formula mixed with very hot water and cooled quickly, stored at the back of the fridge and reheated as needed. Dc2, age 14, we sterilised bottles and added boiling water, left at room temperature and added formula just before feeding her. The guidance is now different again. Looking back, dc1 was probably more at risk of bacteria as dc2 literally got the formula as soon as it was ready so there was no chance of bacteria multiplying in the 5 seconds between making up the bottle and feeding her. Neither ended up with any tummy bugs or problems so ....

I made up batches for 12 hrs, flashed cooled in ice cold water and stored in back of fridge.

For people saying this is against guidelines, it really isn't. Both the NHS and WHO state this is the next best to making up fresh.

@Jangle33

You’re not suppose to do that

Isn’t the advantage of formula feeding that it’s much easier to get the babies into a routine so you just get the kettle boiled well in advance and let it cool! I wouldn’t risk going against guidance it’s there for a reason!!

You're advised to feed responsively whether you're BF or FF. The advantage of formula isn't getting baby into a routine, it's if you can't/don't want to BF (there are some other advantages but I won't say what because people who didn't FF will get very angry and say it's not true)

We made the formula to the instructions because when we where in scbu and made DS milk, this is the way it had to be made.
Add the milk powder to a sterilised bottle, add slightly cooled hot water (still hot but not boiling), run under a tap or sit in cold water for 10 minutes. Make it up just before they need a feed. It's the way we always done it.

Add powder to 1/3 required hot water and mix then add in pre-measured cooled boiled water to cool it down. Bottle in two minutes.

Always made 24 hours worth up at once. Cool fast and fridge. Add a bit of boiling water to top up and warm. . ... shhhh but at night I didn't even fridge it...
No one died, they are 8 and 14 now and alive and kicking.

My little one gave virtually no notice of needing feeding and then rapidly became hysterical when we couldn't produce milk immediately. She had no routine whatsoever for the first 3-4 months, so we couldn't pre-guess when she wanted a feed at all.

For almost a week we listened to nearly 40 mins of hysterical screaming every time she needed a bottle - 2 mins to boil the kettle, 30 mins to cool the water, about 8 mins to make up and cool it. Then I tried making a batch in advance and life got so much less stressful. Unfortunately I had a judgemental health visitor who already disapproved of me formula feeding and made it very bluntly clear that I was endangering my child and must stop that immediately.
In desperation we paid £££ for a pefect prep that was in stock locally and we could collect immediately - the health visitor conceded that this option was not ideal but acceptable if I really couldn't manage to read my baby's signs and start preparing her milk in advance.

I guess my message is that things are incredibly difficult with a little one and the pressure of feeding is immense, so try to be kind to yourself and think through options clearly - maybe with your partner to help?

I did this but for 12 hours not 24. It was a complete gamechanger and had no issues

DD1 spent a lot of time in the children's hospital as a baby. She had CMPA so all of her bottles were made up by the staff in the milk kitchen and taken out of the fridge abs heated as and when required.
I continued this when she finally came out if hospital with no problems at all.

@Flev

My little one gave virtually no notice of needing feeding and then rapidly became hysterical when we couldn't produce milk immediately. She had no routine whatsoever for the first 3-4 months, so we couldn't pre-guess when she wanted a feed at all.

For almost a week we listened to nearly 40 mins of hysterical screaming every time she needed a bottle - 2 mins to boil the kettle, 30 mins to cool the water, about 8 mins to make up and cool it. Then I tried making a batch in advance and life got so much less stressful. Unfortunately I had a judgemental health visitor who already disapproved of me formula feeding and made it very bluntly clear that I was endangering my child and must stop that immediately.
In desperation we paid £££ for a pefect prep that was in stock locally and we could collect immediately - the health visitor conceded that this option was not ideal but acceptable if I really couldn't manage to read my baby's signs and start preparing her milk in advance.

I guess my message is that things are incredibly difficult with a little one and the pressure of feeding is immense, so try to be kind to yourself and think through options clearly - maybe with your partner to help?

Similar.

I tied myself in knots trying to adhere to the ‘feed responsively but make each bottle up fresh by boiling a kettle (don’t forget you have to boil a litre of fresh water each time even to make a 90ml bottle - that’s what it says on the tub anyway), leaving it to cool for up to half an hour then making the feed up then cooling it down. But absolutely be responsive to your baby so feed them as soon as they show signs - don’t let it get to the crying stage as then they’re over hungry, so feed them immediately but also do this process that takes half an hour.

We bought the perfect prep. Also totally against guidelines but everyone I speak to who bottle feeds turns out to use one, including a paediatric nurse and a microbiologist I was speaking to at a group last week (actually made me feel slightly better truth be told).

Contrary to what a pp claims I have in fact looked inside mine - after about 7 months of use as the motor died and DH decided to tinker Spotless and saw absolutely nothing to concern me. 🤷‍♀️ We do fill it with cool boiled water and I clean it more regularly than the recommendations but that’s probably overkill.

By about 4 months or so I could probably have predicted when she needed a feed enough to make the bottles up exactly as the guidelines say. But we already had the machine by then so kept using it.

I always did this too. They used to tell you you could do this - then with my last child they had changed to the two hour rule. I ignored it as i had done the fridge with the previous two and that was fine. Baby number 3 never had any adverse affects either

@Hamandcheeselife

Add powder to 1/3 required hot water and mix then add in pre-measured cooled boiled water to cool it down. Bottle in two minutes.

Exactly this.

We used to store bottles of pre-boiled cooled water in the fridge so that we could cool down the milk so the baby could have the bottle straight away, but added hot water to the powder to kill any bacteria in the powder.

Sterilising bottles and making sure the bacteria in the powder is killed are two different issues.

I also put DC's in their rooms on their own from a couple of weeks old, without monitors, and left them outside in their prams, in the snow, for hours
Same here, but mine were in their rooms from one week ie, when we came home from hospital. 70s babies, I guess today’s mums would be horrified 🤣

@skodadoda

I also put DC's in their rooms on their own from a couple of weeks old, without monitors, and left them outside in their prams, in the snow, for hours Same here, but mine were in their rooms from one week ie, when we came home from hospital. 70s babies, I guess today’s mums would be horrified 🤣

It's not that "today's mums would be horrified" but that the guidelines have changed. Why should we go against that??? It is even suggested that grandparents take a refresher course if they wish to provide childcare for "today's babies" BUT I guess maybe we should just ignore all medical advice because centuries ago it was ok to do it the other way around. I didn't have a car seat either so I guess it's ok to do that too as I survived??

Advice changes for a reason. Please keep that in mind when you are mocking new mums who are trying to do their bests to keep their babies safe and healthy.

You need a perfect prep. Worth every penny.

I used to prep feeds by sterilising bottles in the Tommee Tippee machine, boil the kettle and pour the right amount into the sterilised bottles. I had little formula tubs which you could count the scoops out into, insert into the bottle then screw the top on and put complete bottle in the fridge. When a feed was due I'd get one out, tip the formula into the water and shake to mix then use a bottle warmer.
I definitely must have been doing it wrong. I did ask for advice at Antenatal classes about how to prepare bottles but was told that they promote breast feeding and therefore would not advise me.
DD is 9. In the unlikely event I'd ever have another I'd go for a perfect prep machine.

Like @Hamandcheeselife says. I did this for both my boys. I steralised 6 bottles in the morning with 2/3 of boiled water.
Made six canisters of formula (little tomee tippe ones). Then at feedtime I’d put a 1/3 of boiling water into bottle and Add powder to mix then add in pre-measured cooled boiled water. Never any issues .

@Lndnmummy

Like *@Hamandcheeselife* says. I did this for both my boys. I steralised 6 bottles in the morning with 2/3 of boiled water. Made six canisters of formula (little tomee tippe ones). Then at feedtime I’d put a 1/3 of boiling water into bottle and Add powder to mix then add in pre-measured cooled boiled water. Never any issues .

Lol, how many scoops were you putting into each bottle?

I'm sorry, but I think that there needs to be a little bit of education for Mums & Dads about formula feeding.