How do you make up your bottles for baby???

[justbeingmummy]

Hi,
I know the 'correct' way is to make one as needed and boil the water, wait 30 mins add milk and cool for baby but how many of us actually do this?

With my DS 4 yrs ago I used to boil the water, fill about 4 bottles and leave them until needed and add the milk then. I know this is totally wrong and if I ask a midwife/health visitor they will stick to the guidelines so cant ask, but really cant imagine my DS being happy to scream for 30 mins while I make a fresh bottle from scratch??

We boil the kettle, leave it for 15 minutes then make up the bottles with formula, thereby ensuring the water is over 70°c as recommended. We then flash cool them and put them in the back of the fridge until needed. They are OK then for 24 hours. This was the only way that logically worked for me regarding temperature of the water when formula is added and was the method advised by my very sensible midwife when I was beside myself due to my breastfeeding traumas!

We keep a flask by the kettle which we fill 30 mins after the kettle has boiled so it is at 70 degrees. Then we have a flask in the fridge which was filled with boiling water then cooled.

Whenever DS needs a bottle we use half hot water, add powder and shake and then complete with cold. When we go out we just shove both flasks in the changing bag.

Fresh kettle, slightly cooled (careful about leaving for the full 30 as if you use less than a litre of water or your kettle is badly insulated the water cools faster), half quantity hot water into bottle, powder to water, half quantity water from fridge.

I make them the same way as Georgie22. I make two at a time, dd3 is fed on demand so sometimes needs two bottles or at least a top up within a short space of time. I also have a couple of ready made cartons for emergencies or if we head out for the day.

When ds1 was born (6 years ago) you could make up 6 bottles for the day with formula in and just keep it in the fridge.
For ds2 (rules changed) i made up 5 bottles with the water from the kettle, put in fridge, then added formula and heated when required.
I think making up bottles as you go is totally unrealistic, its just a ploy to stop people ff

when i made up bottles for my 5yr old DD i made up 6 for the day. With my DD2 aged 3 the midwife/health visitors said you couldn't do this. When i asked why, the response was nothing to do with the milk itself but that if you contaminate the milk or teat etc in any way then that bacteria has up to 10 hours to multiply in the fridge. So hygiene was the only reason given - apparently a few babies got gastroenteritis and so the rules changed. She did say though that making up 2-3 at a time wouldn't do much harm as in the fridge less. TBH i used to do the same as my DD1, i'd make up say 3 in the morning and then 3 at teatime when i was usually home. One of those made at teat time would be used during the night. Often for the morning one i would use a ready made carton is as my DD2 couldn't wait. One thing they said you should definitely not do is take water with you, heat and add powder - they said that was much worse than making up in advance as most people don't get the temp right.

I agree with mosschops30 that its a ploy to get you bf!

It's true that if you contaminate the teat it poses as gastro risk, hence fresh is best BUT the risk is minimal as long as it's kept consistently below 5C.

The biggest risk is now considered to be contamination of the formula powder itself so that needs to be heated to above 70C to kill the bugs in it.

mosschops - the way you made the bottles with your ds1 (if you made them hot) is much safer than with your ds2!

Yes apparently the important thing is to use 70 degree water to kill the bacteria in the powder. You can then chill and use in a few hours. So you don't have to make each one fresh (though this is best practice) but aren't adviced to make a whole days worth at once.

The 70 degrees thing is a compromise. Any hotter and it would destroy the nutrients. But at 70 the bacteria are reduced to safe levels, rather than all killed. That's why it's not recommended that their made up far in advance, it would give the bacteria that are left chance to multiply.

I tend to make 2 at a time - 1 to be drunk within an hour, and 1 for the fridge.

i do the following at the start of the day:
boil kettle, let it cool to 80 degrees.
fill thermos with water. this stays between 70-80 degrees for a good 8 hours.

boil kettle again
fill measuring jug with boiled water to cool and keep in fridge.

to make a 210 ml bottle:
pour 120ml 70 degree water into bottle. add powder. shake to dissolve powder.
then add a further 90ml cooled boiled water. bottles are made fresh in less time than it takes to heat one up.

cartons for out and about.

charlotte some threads looked at this some time ago and apparently the whole quantity of water needs to be 70 degrees to ensure it is still hot and has disolved the powder properly, therefore reaching a killing as much bacteria as possible.

Oh FFS making bottles as you go is no more of a ploy to make your life harder than wearing a seatbelt is. It's merely the result of evidence and research that has shown it to be safer. By all means do want you want...but don't make it out be a way to make people try BFing instead

Yea ha knew one of them would bite at the ff vs bf comment lol

mosschops - of course someone would 'bite' because it's fucking stupid to say that something that is done to kill bacteria in formula is just done to make people BF. What if someone were stupid enough to take your comment at face value and start making bottles up with cold water and their baby died? Would you still think it a great laugh?

Of course the risks are fairly low - but why do anything that would increase that risk. Fucking stupid.

Are you thinking if the same one I am where we played with food thermometers, moonface? If so, the powder will dissolve into about half the quantity. Different brands do at different concentrations but Hipp organic for example can be dissolve with a vigorous swirl in 1/3 of the recommended quantity but SMA for some reason takes pretty much half the full amount. As long as all the powder is dissolved into the hot water it's okay. You're then just diluting it.

Oh im sorry can you point out where i said that people should make bottles up with cold water??
No didnt think so?
Its about as stupid as people sayimg ff causes cancer, but we have to listen to that shite, doesnt feel so nice when the boot is on the other foot now does it?

What has formula preparation got to do with breastfeeding?

More likely formula companies make preparation guidelines complicated/unclear so you throw a lot away, or buy more expensive cartons.

I used to fill a large bottle with boiling water, then allow it to cool and put to one side.

When I needed a bottle I would boil the kettle then add half the amount of water that I needed to a bottle. I'd then add the whole quantity of milk powder and shake until all dissolved. Then I'd top it up with my cooled boiled water form earlier, so the powder was correctly diluted. The process takes about 2 minutes, including kettle boiling time, so it's perfectly doable. I used to measure out the powder into portions the night before so I could complete the whole manoevre with Ds2 - a velcor baby - on my hip!

This method is quick and hygienic, and ensures the formula powder is dissolved in water over 70 degrees.

And I agree with Lunafire and Chipping - stupid comments about food hygiene rules being in place to promote bfing are hardly reasonable or constructive

Thank you! The method of dissolving the powder in hot water and topping up with cold is GENIUS! I'm only slowly introducing formula but DS goes from sleeping to screaming in seconds, so waiting for a forumla feed to cool down is Not Going to Happen. At the moment he is on just one FF a day to get him used to it (he never finishes a bottle, it seems to send him to sleep!) and I tend to make it just after the previous feed, stick it in cold water to cool and then put it in the fridge.

Can I be dense and ask what people do when they are out for the whole day?

So far our longest day out has been at my parent's so I was able to put the EBM in the fridge when we got there, and express later on. We still took a bag full of sterile bottles though! We are going to London this week. So we can take one EBM feed in a cool bag, but that inly lasts 4 hours, so all other feeds need to be formula. I'm happy to take the pump but not sre I'll find anywhere to express. He is on the comfort formula, which they don't do in cartons. So Our options are to take cartons, but decant into a bottle half an hour early to let the colief do it's thing, or be brave and take a flask and powder... but again with the cooling it down fast enough thing. I feel like we're going to have to take a 75 litre rucksack and am freaking out about what happens if we don't pack enough bottles for the day...

Please don't dissolve the powder with hot then top up with cold. The powder will disperse space in the bottle so when you add the cold water you will actually be making the bottle with the wrong amount of water.

(Same goes for adding powder first then water)

It's fine if you measure out the cold and hot water separately before adding the powder though - so 100ml hot in one bottle, 100ml cold in another, add the powder to the hot, dissolve, then add the cold.

frakyouveryverymuch no the ones (I think there have been several) I am thinking of were when an MNer called tabuleh (?) was around on this board. She had done A LOT of research in to the matter ad I seam to recall her saying that disolve in hot, top up with cold was not recommended as it was not tested to ensure it killed enough bacteria. She recommended that you make it up a bit before you need it a keep at the back of the fridge iirc. Based on the Irish reaserch/guidance I think...as I say, she had done A LOT of research.

With DS I did as others have said and made all the bottles in the morning with above 70 degree water, cool rapidly and refridgerate. DD only has the odd one so I just make it a bit before I need it and keep in the fridge in the same way. I have a friend who is convinced she is doing the correct way by using previously boiled room temp water and making as she goes. She thinks i am reckless for making in advance! - there is so much misinformation and she is fed up of listening to me going on to her about it.