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??

Ok, I did it all wrong, and did it knowingly. I added powder to boiled and cooled water, one feed at a time, then fed immediately. I did not keep any left overs for more than about 10-15 minutes. I did this from the day DS was born with no problems. I also never warmed the milk, and now he is on cows milk he has it from the fridge.

I think the safer but practical alternative is to make up a few bottles (say 3) as per instructions and keep in fridge. Then try to persuade baby to drink them cold to save having to warm them! If your baby only has the occasional FF then ready made cartons seem to make sense. If you're out all day, probably cartons or maybe an insulated bottle bag.

Apparently several of the baby deaths from contaminated formula powder were actually in a hospital, where the nurses weren't making up feeds correctly

Where did you get this info from Rita?

I can't remember where I read it, WHO website maybe? It was in France in 2004.

Page 4 for the details of the outbreak, then it talks about the investigation - the report is in French though, coming as it does from the INVS website.

Justbeingmummy - I hope that your CBT helps with your OCD & anxiety, it must be really horrible to feel the way you do about things/life. I really wasn't being glib though, I think it's important to realise that babies are quite resilient, that there is a lot of incorrect and/or conflicting advice out there and that you can't be down on yourself if you believe something that you have been told that isn't right or do something when you don't know any different.... all you can do, as most of us do, is your best. It is scary how ill informed a lot (not all as there are so lovely ones on here!!) some HV's and MW's are, very scary x

I did realise it was your second :) Were you worried about things when your first was a baby? OCD & anxiety aren't too respectful of you already having had a child are they!

No I don't add the powder to water that is very hot as it does kill the nutrients and yes, it's fine to keep boiled water in the fridge.

The cartons are handy if you can get the ones you need, but generally I'd only use them if flying (just easier!) or if going somewhere else where getting a cup of boiling water is going to be a complete pain in the bum and I can't be bothered taking a flask and faffing about (a day out in a remote place walking etc).

70/30 - if I am making it because I think the baby will want it in a little while I will just make it with 70% water at 70deg. This gives me the option of heating it up or cooling it down depending on the 30% of water added.

If I'm in a hurry I boil the kettle and put the water straight into a bottle that is sitting in a container of very cold water so that it reduces the heat quicker than if left in the kettle. (I know pretty much how 70deg feels when I shake and hold the bottle, so I don't take the temp). I then put the powder in and mix it thoroughly and add the 30% of water out of the fridge.

As for sterilising - many people still do it because it's the way it's always been done and it stops them worrying about having to wash them properly, but if you put them in the dishwasher or handwash them carefully and let them airdry, it's completely unnecessary. Or you can just do the teats in the microwave. You just need to be sure you get all of the milk off/out of them. I think it is a bit when you first hear it as it goes against what a lot of people have done for a long time :)

It all sounds like a faff, but honestly it's just becomes second nature.

well from what I briefly read from this report is that the babies who suffered for E Sakazakii were premature babies and I could not spot any mention of the water at 70 deg. The issue came from the storage of pre-made bottles (see last page, half of it is in English). In fact the recommendation of this particular formula company was to use pre boiled water but not at a specific temperature.

Ah, I think the recommendation to use 70 degree water came in in 2005, after the outbreaks in France and Belgium in 2004 Elsie.

I'm using 50% water from the just boiled kettle and 50% previously boiled cooled water (measured out into a clean bottle before adding to the disolved powder). A previous thread on this issue said that the only nutrient affected by adding powder to just boiled water is Vitamin C and all the literature I have read says to use water that has been cooled for 'no longer' than 30 minutes. I'm taking that to include just boiled water with no adverse effects. I think the advice to let it cool a little is to avoid burning your hands and prevent any claims against the formula companies if you do injure yourself.

I make them up with boiling water straight from the kettle. I always assumed that it was 70c or over, not that 70c was an upper limit.

Previous threads have been very interesting on the subject.

However, I think that given that most children thrive on formula, quite often made with supposedly too hot water (so are clearly getting enough nutrients) and very very very few children have died from the bacteria in formula powder when their bottles have been made up from water colder than 70deg (so clearly the powder is not a big risk) it's probably not worth stressing ones self out over too much.

I make it with water I deem to be around 70 deg and either top with hot or cold depending on the situation because I think it's the best option and not too much of a faff and I prefer to limit the chance of the bacteria/damaging the nutrients - but I honestly don't think it's the be all and end all.

Not sure I buy the 'damaging the nutrients if water hotter than 70c' line. I've just looked at the back of a box of aptamil and there is nothing in there that would be seriously denatured by brief exposure to 90c.

Yes, you can drive yourself nuts with it Chipping, I quite agree!

Sorry to butt in here but I am utterly confused now! am expecting dc3 (have dd 10 n ds 13 already) this is like the first time all over again! Am considering both bf and ff but now the ff sounds so flipping complicated! (please be gentle I have pg brain am not normally this slow to comprehend lol).

It's not too complicated, it's just safest to make bottles with powder going into very hot water (to kill any bacteria).

To answer the question in the title thread:

I make up my bottles by: boiling fresh water in the kettle (approx 1 litre) and putting the kitchen timer on for 20 minutes. I then make up the bottle with the hot water and cool quickly in a pan of cold water and transferring to the fridge. I then take it out and reheat when needed. If I'm out and about for along time I use a carton. If I'm just popping to a cafe or something and know that I'll use it within an hour or two, I take a bottle with me in a tommee tippee thermos bottle holder. And if I'm going to a friend's house or something for the day, I'll take a bottle with a wee pot of premeasured powder and make it up fresh. I've never taken a flask of hot water out with me - bit of a faff for me, and I carry enough around with me as it is!

When DD was a newborn, we made up a few bottles at a time as we found it impossible to make up as we went along (also BFing and expressing, so no time at all!), so they were always used within the recommended 24 hours. Now that DD is over 8 months, we find it easier to make them up as we need them, or only make 2 at a time, as she is really predictable about when she wants fed (and also because they have a 2 hour limit on them).

The mixing some water and topping up with cold method that people describe above sounds like a complete faff to me! Surely it is far easier, and also preferable (because it's in the DOH guidelines for making in advance) to make it properly in the first instance and coo and store in the fridge??

The guidelines are not 'complicated' because they want to promote BFing or flog their cartons The guidelines are as they are because of the risk of bacteria in the powder, and also because of the risk of bacteria multiplying in warm milk sitting around/being reheated etc. If anyone thinks the guidelines are complicated (and they aren't) for reasons like this, they're kidding themselves.

What rolli said. I suspect the 'wait 30 minutes nonsense' is more to do with the manufacturers fear of being sued by someone scalding themselves or their child.

Sorry, I think I've not been clear. I don't think the guidelines on the back of the tin are that complicated if you follow them. Nor are the guidelines for making in advance unclear if you follow them.

What is unclear, is where to get the guidelines for making milk safely in advance. My midwife told me them as did my sister who works in a child/mother unit, but this was backed up after I found them on Mumsnet in a a Department of Health download and a WHO leaflet.

I also agree that the reasons why milk should be made according to the instructions could be clearer. The back of the tin says it is because the powder "is not sterile" without really explaining what this means and why the water should be hot to kill any bacteria. And there would be room for putting it on if they took off the bumpf about follow on milks.

As for people thinking that the formula companies' lack of doing this being some sort of ploy to get people BFIng or pushing cartons - I disagree, sorry. Formula companies don't want you to BF - they want to sell their product (they're bound by law to include the info about 'Breastfeeding is best...blah blah" on the back). And if they wanted you to buy the cartons instead they would have "Buy our ready made cartons" plastered all over the tin also. But they don't. They do want you to go on to follow on milk, though, which is why there is lots of space dedicated to promoting that.

I think all of this can be a bit of a red herring. Your child is ALWAYS in contact with all sorts of bacteria. And so she/he should.
The likelihood of she/he to become seriously ill because of the temperature of the water the bottle is made of is pretty low tbh. If the temperature of the water was this important there would be more specific instructions than just let it cool for so many minutes. Your child can catch all sorts of things by you touching her/him, sticking thing in her/his mouth and so on....