Making up bottles for the night?!?

[2wwmadness]

Hello!
1st night tonight using powder not pre made stuff for my 4week old son? How does it work. Can I sterilise a few bottles and pre mix and put in the fridge?
The official guidelines say one made up when needed, but waiting 40mins every feed with a screaming newborn seems crazy?!?
I should add he has been breastfed so all this is new to us? Hv not been very helpful either and all push the boob. I've made my decision I just want to know how to do it safely n least stressful for us both
Thanks in advance!

Firstly, congratulations and hope the sleep deprivation isn't too bad.

Yes, absolutely no problem to sterilise, make up the bottles in one go and shove them in the fridge (the WHO guidlines allow for this).
There are two key things to be aware of though:

1. Make sure you cool the bottles quickly (we used to leave in an iced water sink for about ten minutes and;
2. Any bottles made need to be used up within 24 hours (we used to make up all feeds in one go each evening and just throw out any that hadn't been used by the same time the next day)

Also, as long as you and DP are confident you will remember to really agitate the bottle well afterwards, you can warm in a microwave, rather than going through the warming water on a stove top palaver.
The reason this isn't in the recommended guidlines is due to the risk of a sleep-deprived parent forgetting to sufficiently shake the bottle to get rid of hot spots when it comes out of the microwave and thus giving the baby internal burns.

Good luck and hope all goes well.

No problems at all and I did everything as moonlight said.

Congrats on your new baby!

Hi OP,

Personally I make up the bottles in advance and cool them down and then put them straight in the fridge. I heat them up when required by standing them in a bowl of boiling water from the kettle. Depending on how full the bottle is it only take a few minutes, but just keep checking and you will know how long it takes and be ale to time it on the kitchen clock in future.

Otherwise, you could sterilise the bottles and put the boiling water into a flask, when you need the feed, put the bottle into the sterilised bottle, and add the milk powder, then stand in a bowl of cold water to cool it down to drinking temperature.

My HV isn't great either, but the NHS website has quite a lot of useful information on how to sterilise and bottle feed.