bottles - making them up for the day

[mummytasha11]

hi everyone,

im new on here and it looks like a good place to ask advice, as i dont really know many other mums

do you make up bottles for the day - also if you are out for the day how do you make the feed? i am currently buying the ready made cartons but its costing me a fortune to do so and wondered if there is a cheaper way as it says on the tin to not store and discard after 2 hours??

Hi there

A quick reply to the above for you - I am sure others will come along shortly and give a little more detail of what they do. You will soon see that there are many ways to do this.....not all approved on either the tin or the relevant websites but used none the less!

Initially I made up my two bottles (I was BFing mostly but by about 3 months was giving a bottle at bedtime and a dream-feed) in advance. I flash cooled them (i.e. quickly cooled in ice cold water) and popped into fridge. This is very old school! Not really advised any more but still referred to occasionally and lots of people would still do this. After a few weeks I got cold feet and decided to make up fresh as I was only making a few so it wasn't hard to make them fresh (first child, plenty of time and plenty of time between the bottle feeds too) From then on, I made fresh bottles as needed until after 6 months when I stopped BF-ing and so needed one ready for the morning. I started to make that one up in advance (i.e. the night before, flash cool it and leave overnight in fridge) Still made any others fresh though

As for going out..........I always took a flask of boiling water with me and the powder measured in one of those powder dispensers. So then I could pour the correct water amount into the bottle and add the powder, shake and cool it to feeding temp with ice cold water which I also took out with me stored under the buggy! Square - moi?

Basically - advice is making them fresh is best. There is some pragmatic advice on if you can't make up fresh etc and this mentions flash cooling and storing but still, fresh is best. Water must be hot (no less than 70 degrees I think) to kill anything in powder as powder is not sterile and then you can cool to correct feeding temp.

HTH! Bit of a long one and only what I did......

Well it all depends how strict you want to be in following the guidelines.
I used a thermos bottle to store the boiled hot water and then used a Tupperware style box with compartments win which you can store pre-measured formula.
Now I no longer use the thermos bottle. I boil the water and then fill the bottles with it. The formula DOES mix with water at room temperature and you can do the mix at the last minute.
I know there is a lot of scaremongering with regard to bacterias and all that jazz, but considering that the boy stick everything he can put his hands on in his mouth, I am not going to go mad the bacteria phobia.
I only use the cartons occasionally, you are right they cost an arm and a leg! (It's a good idea to have one in the car for emergencies though).

This thread might help:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/1160988-New-guidelines-for-making-up-formula-issued-24-2-2011

AFAIK making them with hot water is the crucial bit that often gets missed - it's a case of formula being contaminated not just whether bacteria can grow in made-up formula. Babies have been seriously ill from contaminated formula.

Elsie, it's not scaremongering The bacteria that can be present in formula powder is a little different to a baby sticking things in their mouth - bit like saying well my 6 month old is crawling around getting in to all sorts, I might as well give him some raw chicken to lick.

I do think the comparison with licking raw chicken is extreme...
For info, I just read the guidelines about bottle feeding from another country and it doesn't say anything about preparing bottles with very hot water.

Both are a salmonella risk.

When I weaned onto formula feeding with DS and DD1 I used to make all my bottles in advance, cool them down and store them in the fridge. Sometimes I used to store just the cooled boiled water and add the formula to it and reheat as and when I needed them. Now, with dd2 I am still breastfeeding, but if I were to switch (if she'd let me!) then I'd still make them up in advance, but I wouldn't, after subsequent advice, store the water and add the formula to it when it was cool.

I make mine up in the morning and put them in the fridge and use as necessary. I did this with my dd as well and there were no ill effects. If I'm out and about I take the made up bottles with me

See page 13 of the Support for FF thread for guidelines on making up formula correctly, including how to make it in advance if you need to and correct storage etc

You can make it in advance, provided you follow their guidelines for doing so. It's always best to make up fresh where you can, but if that's difficult to do so the guidelines are to make it up correctly (i.e. with water that is hotter than 70c to kill any bacteria that may be in the powder - NOT cold or cool water), then cool rapidly and store in the fridge. Once taken out and warmed, it will then of course need to be used within 2 hours. Pre-made bottles must be used within 24 hours.

Oh, and if you're taking a bottle out with you it would need to be transported in a cool bag

hi there, i dont make mine up in advance i use those little formula pots measure the right amount in there, then put the right amount of boling water in bottle and use a bottle bag qhich keeps bottles warm when out and about and add the forumla as i go. at home i just make them up fresh as i go but usually have all the water in the bottles ready then add an oz of boling to warm up and mix the formula in, all up to you and how strict you want to be with the guidelines, my DS is 12 weeks now and never had tummy upsets or any probs

We make all ours up at night, then quickly cool them in a sink full of cold water before transferring them to the fridge. They are always used up within 24 hours of being made.

We have done this with all our kids. First two were only moved onto ff at 5 months so it wasn't many bottles, but I just found it easier to do it in 1 go. I now have twins and have been making up bottles for them since they came home at 15 days old. At the beginning we were making up 14 bottles a day and I just couldn't be boiling and cooling the kettle that many times while also trying to fit in everything else I had to do - there is no way my brain would have been engaged enough to get the water at just the right temp to add to the formula!

I do agree that the temp of the water when you mix it with the formula is vitally important - as we were told - you actually have to scald the powder!

As for making them up and storing them - perhaps it might interest you to know that that is exactly what was happening when they were in hospital. They are on a hypo-allergenic formula so couldn't have any of the small pre-made bottles the hospital usually uses. Their milk was made up every night and put into 16 separate bottles at the sick kids hospital, then brought across to the neo-natal unit and kept in the milk fridge in their room for the next day. I would say that if the NN staff thought it was OK, in an environment which is more fussy about bacteria, germs etc... than anywhere else, then it probably is!

As long as you add water at 70' or more to the powder any bacteria present in the powder will be killed. The bottles need to be used fairly soon because, as with any food, bacteria will start to breed and multiply in it. A warmer temp (eg room temp) will speed this up and a cooler temp (eg fridge) will slow this down.

The best method I've seen on here that meets the guidelines is to add 1/3 of the volume of water required to the powder - recently boiled water (70' or more). Then mix/shake well. Then add the remaining 2/3 of the volume as cooled/chilled boiled water. You get a bottle that meets the guidelines but doesn't need to be left to cool for ages before it's ready to drink.

If you were going out you could take a bottle with powder in, a bottle of pre boiled cool water and mix it up as above with hot water from a cafe.