to go against HV & midwife's advice

[Boymamabee22]

Combo feeding but I've been ff more this past week.

May have to move into temp accommodation so thinking of selling my perfect prep machine due to lack of space, etc.

Been told I shouldn't make bottles in advance and store them in the fridge (like I did with my first). Can somebody tell me why? Obviously I'll cool the bottles before storing them and I always make sure the fridge is clean.

Waiting 20 minutes for the kettle to cool and then another 20 mins for the milk to cool is a faff and v difficult with a screaming baby.

You can replicate what the pp does with cool boiled water. But I doubt you'll sell it for much, couldn't even get £10 for mine.

Oh goodness. I used to make up a day's feeds and keep them in the fridge. I used to make them up, cool them quickly, and put them straight in the fridge. This was 20ish years ago.

My DC are all now healthy adults who have barely had a day's ill health ever (touch wood).

@Kidsaregrim .. I am intrigued that you have had 'lots of poorly babies' and my understanding is that cases associated with Cronobacter sakazakii, which is the main concern, are incredibly rare: Approximately 130 cases of Cronobacter infections, including 20 cases in adults, have been documented worldwide in the last 50 years including 27 deaths.

https://www.anses.fr/en/system/files/MIC2000sa0003FiEN.pdf

Yep a Rapid Cool will change your life!

The Nuby rapid cool is great and doesn’t take up much space.

I have an electric kettle with temp settings. It shuts off just at boiling, so water is not properly sterile though. So, my work around is to boil a pot of water on the stove each night (rolling boil for 5 mins). Then I transfer the water to my electric kettle. When I need to make formula I set my kettle to 40c but remove it at 38c and mix a bottle up as needed. It's a matter of 2 mins and perfect temp.
I did try using completely cooled previously boiled water to make up enough formula for the day kept in the fridge in a mason jar and also in bottles ready to heat but it was far more work to then boil the kettle and plonk a bottle in a cup of water to warm.
Discard formula and water after 24 hours and start fresh.

Did it with all mine made up 6 bottles, rapid cooled them in the small compartment of the sink and put them in the fridge. Used within 24 hours. My youngest isn't a year old yet so not years ago. Once they were on solids I stopped and made up as and when. All my kids were greedy and impatient in the first few months, I wouldn't have survived without doing it this way. You do have to be very careful making sure they don't go over 24 hrs, are cooled correctly etc. All advice is just that, so do what you thinks best!

Second this! nuby Rapid cool is the one!!

My children are in their 20s . I made up bottles every evening with boiled cooled water and left In fridge! All alive and well 🤷‍♀️

It’s the second safest way. You absolutely can do it and anyone who doesn’t know that, hasn’t read the WHO or the NHS guidance.

Making up bottles in advance, flash cooling them and storing in the back of the fridge is safer than the flapping around with hot shots etc people do and safer than the perfect prep too.

Basically make up each bottle one at a time as needed (ideal)
or make in advance, flash cool, store in fridge and use within 24 hours. Obviously the less time you store the safer they are.
This is how they prepare powdered formula in NICU too.

Forgot to add, I now use the nuby rapid cool as feeds are less frequent - life saver!

They don't really take up that much space and you won't get much for it. Tbh I'd keep the perfect prep, it was the best thing anybody bought us!

@Mumtobabyhavoc... but that doesn't kill the bacteria in the powdered formula - it needs to be not less than 70 degrees when added to the formula.

You are not trying to kill the bacteria in the water by boiling and cooling, it's bacteria in the powdered formula that is the problem.

NICU do not prepare formula by leaving it in the fridge for 24 hours. Why would they? Premature babies are far more vulnerable that others and there are staff there 24/7 that can help with making fresh bottles if needed. Any unit taking a risk like that with premature babies needs seriously looking at.

Buy a Nuby rapid cool. I bought mine for about £25 on Amazon and wouldn't have been without it. It cools the bottle made with boiling water to the perfect temperature in 2 minutes. I wouldn't have been without it when baby was newborn. It's also great to take out if baby is screaming for a bottle in a restaurant so you don't have to wait ages for it to cool down. By far the best purchase I made. Keep a flask of boiled water so that you don't have to boil the kettle each time too.

Hmm. That's quite a discrepancy.

I've never seen a case of a baby I'll sue to formula prep hit the headlines, I know that.

Boil water in advance - put it in a flask, or two flasks, for the day.

Put dry scoops of formula into your bottles for the day and secure the lid. When you need to make up a bottle, undo the flask, pour in the boiled water and shake.

This will drastically cut down bottle making time, but won't run the risk of the milk spoiling and causing illness (which can happen when you mix up bottles in advance - dry formula doesn't start to spoil until it's mixed with water)

Even doing 12 hours' worth at a time (if you understand the theory and the risks) prevents that bit where a hungry newborn melts down if they don't get a teat within 60 seconds. There's no reason it has to be 24 hours' worth made up at a time.

In the UK HV and midwives will tell you that the water has to be boiling when it touches the powder as the powder is not sterile. But here in Germany there is no instruction on the milk packets to do that and none of my friends here was ever given that advice. I made up bottles of boiled, cooled water and stored them in the fridge, then added formula and warmed in the microwave.

I was advised against pre-preps because the tubes get dirty and it doesn’t get the formula hot enough to be sterilised.

you can’t win 🤷🏻‍♀️

I bought the ready made stuff which was a lifesaver with multiples

The water should not be boiling when it touches the formula, it releases BPA from the bottles at a rate of 55 times more than cooled water and destroys nutrients including thiamin, folate, pantothenic acid and vitamin C.

This

I prepared all my bottles in advance when I had my baby 15 years ago. It’s not recommended by my hV now but it is actually on the NHS website saying it’s fine to do so the advice very conflicting.
I had a baby 8 weeks ago and using the prep machine didn’t agree with her, I’ve swapped to pre-making them and she has much less wind and her poops are better too.
Just do what works for you.

The only reason perfect preps get a bad rep is because of idiots who don’t read the instructions and don’t clean them properly. Also people who buy cheap filters that shouldn’t be used in them, or never change the filters in the first place.
.
There was a mum I knew who heard they could get mouldy, took hers apart and shouted from the roof tops that it was and how dangerous they were. Turns out, she had used it over two babies for 3 years solid and had never done the cleaning cycle or even washed it out.

This isn't quite true. Yes the filter and cleaning is an additional issue, but the reason they aren't recommended is that the hot shot isn't of sufficient volume to destroy all bacteria.