making up formula feeds fresh?

[ElaineB100]

looking for advice on making up formula feeds, my son is 7 weeks old and for the first 4 weeks I made every feed fresh, but as the weeks went on and my son got more hungry for his bottle we decided to make feeds in advance, we do the following and I wondered if anyone else does this?

we fill a sterilised bottle with 6oz of boiled water and we let it cool to room temperature before we go to bed then in the middle of the night we add 6 scoops of formula to the cooled boiled water and heat in a tommee tippee bottle warmer to drinking temperature?

I'm really confused because so many people do it different ways, does anyone do the above?

I did it this way when I fed dd1 four years ago, but in the meantime the guidelines changed. But I suspect I would do it this way again tbh...[awaits flaming]

I have not ff so I don't know how long a feed can be kept once made up (think it is just a couple of hours though). However, I would not continue to do as you are doing. The formula powder is not sterile, there can be bugs present in the powder which can make your baby poorly. In order to kill off these bugs the powder MUST be added to water of at least 70C, not cooled water. Using boiled water is just as much to kill bugs in teh powder as it is the water.

Elaine, the guidance is that for safety's sake the water must not be cooler than 70 deg C when the powder and the water are mixed - that is a lot hotter than room temperature and a whole lot hotter than the temp your water will be after it has been left until the middle of the night.

If you want to semi-prepare in advance then you need to keep the water hot hot hot - keep it in a flask and then mix later, and cool to drinking temp.

This is because powder is not sterile - and there is a risk of illness if the powder is not mixed with water at the right temp.

Hope this helps.

Esme - why would anyone flame you? Prob not your fault you did not know or were not told guidance (which had already changed, I think, four years ago).

A few of the mums I know do the same as me and I wasn't 100 percent sure this was right?

I was going to put 2oz of cooled boiled water in a sterile bottle and store at room temperature then keep 4oz of boiled water in a flask and then at night add them together and then add my 6 scoops of formula or I was thinking of mixing boiled water and formula together and storing the cooled bottles in the fridge then when required just heat in bottle warmer?

Which of the above would be the best?

the last one, as the powder is mixing with the hot water. As long as you cool it quickly under cold running water/in a bowl of iced water then get it straight in the fridge.

There is a leaflet somewhere which explains this, hopefully someone has a link handy? :)

Guidance here.

HTH

The first would be fine if you reversed the order but the second is more reliable at 1am!

As everyone else has said the powder must be combined with hot water to kill the nasties.

imake up 12 hours of bottles in advance, boil the kettle, let it cool for about 5 mins, mix, cool straight away at the back of the fridge and reheat when needed.I can see no logical reason why this would not be safe, the problem would be bacteria growing in the milk if it was left at room temp, as long as you mix it with boiling water you will kill any bacteria present.

Silver you need to let it cool more than 5 but no longer than 30 mins. If you make it up too hot then it can break down the proteins in the milk.

TBH the guidelines are . That's why I really wanted to bf each of mine!

it's the vitamins I believe, not the proteins button. :)

Ah, righto. I knew it was something that was necessary and that there was some reason!

How about making up a flask of boiled and slightly cooled water and taking it upstairs with premeasured formula and a jug of cold water, make up formula when required and cool it immediately, probably wouldn't take much longer than the bottle warmer.

How about a ready made carton just for night time? I did this and used to tuck it in my pjs so it heated to my body temperature - or close enough- while I was sleeping. Then pour it into sterile bottle when needed. Worked for me!

Why not make up the formula with half the amount of boiling water, then top up with cooled water? So for example, add 7 scoops of formula to 4oz of boiling water, mix well, then top up with 3oz of cooled water...

yes what icd suggested, we used to have a bottle that was sterilised and empty and another with 2oz/3oz of pre boiled water, then when baby needs feeding fill the empty bottle with the HOT water and add powder than just tip the water out of the other bottle into it, this generally makes it the right temp, you may have to experiment a bit to find out how much hot and how much old you need.

or make them with hot water, cool quickly, keep in the fridge and then just warm up when needed.

or use a carton!

thanks all will try some of the above ideas

i make mine up in advance i boil the kettle wait 30mins put powder in mix well and put in back of fridge staraght away. neva had a problem with that. as long as water hot enough and not kept at room temp for long then your ok but i neva use after 12hrs.