Formula feeding?!?!

[nikkijo679]

Hi everyone,

Please help!

I have been sterilising a days worth of bottles, putting the water from the kettle into them and cooling them in the fridge. I add my formula when the feed is required and heat it up a little before feeding to my baby.

I'm being told this is not ok and I should be making up bottles as they are needed as the milk is not sterile..

I know lots of other mums who do it the same way as me, however I'm now starting to feel like a dreadful lazy mum... Is it really harmful the way I'm doing it?

Thanks in advance.

Nikki

You are supposed to make the bottles up fresh, if this is really not practical then the next best thing is to make them up and cool them quickly, keep at the back of the fridge and warm when needed.

The reason for this is that the powder is not sterile and can contain harmful bacteria, so it needs to hit the water at 70C+ to kill this bacteria. Even then, bacteria is not totally dead but is reduced to well below the level deemed safe. So here you get the problem with making up bottles in advance, because the longer in advance you make them, the longer that bacteria has to multiply into harmful levels again. Keeping them in the fridge keeps the bacteria inactive for longer, but it's still better than making up feeds with cold water, even if the water is boiled.

Don't feel dreadful or lazy! You didn't know :)

[http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/making-up-formula.aspx]] it's all here, and your HV/midwife prob have leaflets.

Risk is small, but real.

I do nearly the same but I reheat the cold water before I put the powder in so the temperature of the water kills the bacteria (I think!). Midwife told me to do it this way. Tis a faff however you do it

It's generally a bit of a pain - when I first found out that you have to boil the kettle and then wait for it to cool to 70 degrees I was pretty grumpy about it - my baby won't wait that long!

However I've been making formula for him for 2 months now and have generally got the hang of following the guidelines. DS feeds every 2 hours (unless he is napping) so I tend to boil the kettle an hour after the last feed, let it cool to 70 degrees, mix the formula in and then cool it in iced water. It's a hassle but I'm used to it now and think it's worth the effort. I keep cartons in the cupboard in case I feel like I can't be arsed with the faff.

If DS is napping and I don't know when he'll wake up (very unpredictable sleeping patterns) I put boiled water in a thermos so I can make up the feed when he starts to stir and then quick cool it in time for feeding him.

Hope this helps - I was really irritated at first but have benign acceptance of the general faffing now