To not understand...

[motherclucker44]

Prep machines? My understanding is that a prep machine dispenses a certain amount of boiling water into the bottle. This is then mixed with the formula to kill off any bacteria. Then the bottle is returned to the machine and a certain amount of cold water is dispensed to bring it to room temp.

But surely if this is all there is to it I could just as easily boil a kettle and top up with cold water rather than paying £100 for a machine to do it for me?! Am I missing something here or is there more to it???

Yes, that's exactly what they do. The cool water is filtered, but that's only good if you change the filter.

My sister did exactly as you propose (she has a boiling water tap making it even easier). It's not the recommended way, but neither are perfect prep machines.

Additionally, I wouldn't recommend that or a perfect prep to anyone with a preemy, immunosuppressed or otherwise not 100% healthy baby.

@gothereagain why is that? Are they not totally safe? To be honest we have only been using ours at night when cooling the bottles seems to take soooo much longer. But I just thought it was some revolutionary concept until I actually got one and now I'm a bit shocked at how simple it is...!

I had a prep machine, but while I was out and about I took a flask of boiling water (think the prep is 70 degrees and it was about the same in a flask if not higher, even after a few hours) and a bottle of cool boiled water. I used to make the bottle in exactly the way you describe and it worked perfectly. The cold water was measured in those little bottles you get for breast milk so the whole thing was fool proof and always the right temperature. To be honest you could just do the same thing in the house.

My kids wouldn't take the pre made bottles or else I would have probably done that, but they are pricey.

In theory yes, but the cold water would ideally need to be boiled then cooled, or filtered not straight from the tap. It would also need to be measured separately from the hot water or your water to powder ratio will not be correct (adding the powder to the hot water will raise the level of the water)

Yeah that's pretty much why I did it the way I describe - you need to measure the cold water separately. So I would do one Oz of hot water and then add 5oz powder and mix then have a little bottle with a pre measure 4oz of water to add. The whole thing ended up being about 6oz because of the powder.

The amount of hot water isn't enough to reliably kill bacteria in the powder, that's why they're not recommended

Any method of preparation that is not the way on the pack is not "totally safe". Most, if not all formula packs say to make up with 100% boiling water, then rapidly cool. That's what they've been tested with.

There was also evidence of some PPs getting mould in the pipes. It's not as common as was made out, but it is a risk.

Ah so the water ratios are worked out with the machine, that makes sense. Hopefully we will get along ok with it.