Formula feeding and out and about

[PeanutButter99]

DS is 6 months and I ebf him until he was 18 weeks. Now he gets formula during the day as I'm back to work.
When we go out and about I used to take a sterilised bottle and a ready made carton.
Now cartons have increased in price from 47p to 60p in a week!! WTF
Anyway, how do you make up bottles with powder? Can you used pre boiled water and powder in a dispenser thingy? I know formula has to be made with water over 70 degrees but does it matter if he's 6 months and it's only now and again?
And if you just ask for boiling water out, how do you cool the bottle?
I do feel silly asking seeing as I if we're in a coffee shop I'll spend over £2 on a latte .
But I need to know the answer just incase I run out of cartons for whatever reason.
I'd say I'll still use them out of convenience though :)

If you make the bottles up at home for the day at 70degrees and then refrigerate them can you take the out with you in an insulated carrier so they stay cool? Even put an ice pack in with them. Then you would just need to ask for some boiling water to sit the bottle in to reheat?

I don't know if that's ok! I'd be interested to know too, so far I'm mainly breastfeeding and have only had to formula feed once when out, and I just used a carton! However this will soon change!

Insulated carrier? Ice pack? I miss the days when my changing bag only had a few nappies, some wipes and a change of clothes!!
Thanks for the advice though.
But I read somewhere that formala had to be used within 2 hours. Is this true?

You can make the bottles and keep them in the fridge for 24 hours. Once you've taken them out and reheated them you have to use them in 2hours. Surely if you keep them refrigerated ie in a cool bag with ice pack then that still counts as ok keeping them for 24 hours?

Would like to point out that I'm only telling you what I think, I could quite possibly be wrong!

That would make more sense! So I could make up all my bottles in the morning and then just heat them when I need them? And yes keeping them in an ice pack would be the same as the fridge.

Hi PeanutButter

Here is a good WHO leaflet on preparing and storing formula.

It can be stored for 24 hours after being made up so long as you cool it quickly and store in the fridge at 5 degrees or less (and in a cool pack in your change bag when you go out). Use within 2 hours if not refridgerated.

"Powdered infant formula is not a sterile product. It may contain bacteria
that can cause serious illness in infants, such as Enterobacter sakazakii.
Although infections caused by E. sakazakii in formula are rare, they can
be serious and sometimes fatal."

So ALWAYS use water at 70 degrees, even if he is 6 months and it's only now and again. It only takes one bottle badly prepared to make him ill, it's not a cumulative effect.

HTH

Which formula cartons have gone up that much?? I've been using the Aptimil ones which were about 50p but haven't bought any for a couple of weeks...

Woah they're up to 66p now - what's going on?

Aptimil. They're 66pm in Boots and 60p in Sainsburys. The tub has gone from 8.49 to 8.99. It's scandolous.
Am going to check my VAT manual now to see if there is any VAT on formula.
And even if there is the rise should not be that much.
And thanks RJandA for your reply. Will have a read at the articles when I'm not in work.

Surely there isn't VAT on formula?

That's outrageous, has Cow&Gate increased price too? I might switch seeing as it's basically the same brand and they do 500ml cartons too.

VATA 1994 Sch 8 states that milk and preparations and extacts thereof are zero rated.
So I guess there is no VAT on formula.
What's going on with aptimil?
Has cow & gate increased?

C&G looks to be 59p now, so that must be an increase - I seem to remember Aptimil was 57p before, and C&G has always been cheaper.

It would be useful to have bigger cartons occasionally though so maybe C&G is the way to go. I usually only use 200ml a day but my ds is spending 24 hours with my mum in a few weeks so will obviously need more.

It's absolutely outrageous.
The only reason I don't still ebf my DS is because I have to go to work and therefore I pay tax to the stinky government.
Sainsburys has 1/3 off baby products at the moment so I stocked up on nappies and baby biscuits. Plus DH has discount :)
Pity it doesn't apply to first milk :(

I exc.formula fed my DS in 2006.

There are loads of different ways which you are 'supposed to make up bottles but we always took a bottle of cooled boiled water with us and had a little dispenser that sat inside the bottle (tommee tippee ones, fantastic things) when using we just tpped it in and shook.

If you want to do it by the book (I did'nt know this at the time) you can take out a thermos of boiled water and just pour into a bottle then add powder.

You'd have to make sure the thermos water was hot enough though. Probably easier to make the bottles in advance and keep them cool.

Aptimil was still 55p at Asda at the weekend. Thought there wwas supposed to be a uniform price for formula?

We make up bottles of formula with hot milk, cool quickly int he sink withcold water, then keep in fridge for no more than 24 hours. When going out, I take some in a cool bag with ice pack, and baby drinks it cold- can't be doing with the faff of heating it up! All changed from 8 years ago with dd when you could add powder to cold water.

I thought so too. As you can't get nectar points or advantage points or other store points on first milk I thought I'd just but it whereever. But it's more expensive in Boots than Sainsburys.
A 6p a carton is a difference of 10%. That's alot.

Co and Gate was normally 52p for a carton. Just checked my Tesco delivery sheet from yesterday and I paid 59p per carton for follow on milk.
Agree withMoonUnitAlpha. Make with water you know is 70 plus. Remember the half an hour post boiling for the 70 C applies to a litre of water.

I think I'll just stick to cartons when out and about. Too much faff otherwise. And I can't really complain about 60p when coffee and a muffin costs a crazy amount of money!!

I used to take a thermos of boiling water out with me and put that in the bottle, leave for about 5 minutes then mix in the powder. Now dd only on 3 milk feeds a day (loves her food) I just take cartons, so much less faff. Just remember a pair of scissors!

I know loads of people who use cooled boiled water to mix, but to me its not worth the risk.

I'm also not agreeing with the price rise! Tesco the crafty B***s put aptamil follow on down to 54p before christmas now 66p! Would have stocked up if I knew!

SMA milk is a lot cheaper, and their cartons seem to come in 250ml and one litre - 200ml is not quite enough for one bottle now so maybe that's a better choice for me anyway.