Making up bottles after 6 months

[Udderly]

I've been mix feeding for the past month using the pre-made cartons of formula but now I want to use the powder. How does that work? Do I still have to boil water and all that faff?

yes you are supposed to use boiled water as the powder is not sterile and the hot water is needed to kill the bacteria in it.

Yes, boil the water and add it to the powder within 30 minutes so it is mixed at 70 degrees or above, then cool to drinking temperature (under a tap or in a bowl of cold water). If you want to make in advance, make it up hot then cool as quickly as possible and put in the back of the fridge - has to be used within 24 hours but ideally as soon as possible.

You do still have to use water above 70C but it doesn't have to be a faff. If you boil the kettle then add to boiling water to the powder straight away then cool the bottle in a bowl of cold water with an icepack then I find you can make a bottle from fresh in just over 10 mins.

Can you just add the boiling water straight from the kettle and not let it stand for 30 mins? I was wondering was there a reason why I shouldn't but the bug killing seems to be all about the formula, not the water so I can't see why not?

I don't wait for the kettle to cool 30 minutes Udderly. I use half just boiled water to disolve the powder then afterwards add the other half of previously boiled and cooled water using a clean bottle to get the correct measurements right. This makes the bottle just right for DD to drink straight away.

I would never think of that!!! Brilliant! Thanks everyone for all your help!!

There's been some discussion about whether using boiling water can damage some of the vitamins in the formula, but I suspect the 30 minutes thing is more so you don't scald yourself/your baby and sue the manufacturers.

Its a stupid bit of guidance as it depends on your kettle and how much water you've boiled as to what temp it will be after 30 mins!

Boiling water can damage some of the vitamin C but studies have only shown this to be a problem for young preterm babies. I agree with RitaMorgan that the advice to cool for 30 mins is more about the scalding risk.

My kettle actually takes about 10 mins to cool a litre of water to just above 70C after 30 mins its more like 40C. I think the British guidance should be like the Irish Guidance and advise the use of a thermometer to test how fast your kettle cools the water.

We boil the kettle in the morning, let it cool a bit and then put it in a flask. Then we use that and a flask of cooled boiled water from the fridge to get it to drinking temperature. If you make one bottle up properly you can note what the finished volume is.

I keep a bowl of water in the fridge to sit the bottle in to cool it faster than it would with cold water from the tap.