Making up formula- half hot/half cold?

[raininginbaltimore]

You will see from my other post (bottle nursing) that I will be FF pretty much from birth for medication reasons, so please don't make this thread about how BF is easier! I know and I wish I could!

Anyway, I am thinking ahead to FF and I know that you need to make it with hot water so that it kills the bacteria in the powder. But what about when out and about or at night feeds? I can't imagine waiting for a hot bottle to cool with a screaming newborn. I know I could use ready made, but it is so expensive. In fact formula is bloody expensive as it is!

I am sure I saw somewhere that some people make up half the feed with hot water then add cool boiled water, so it is the right temp. Does that work? has anyone tried it? i am concerned it won't be the right concentration.

Thanks, that is good to know. I assume if I am ff I can take the good painkillers (codeine!). I hadnt thought about breast pads.

My midwife fully supports me ff as it is for medical reasons.

If you are ff you can take whatever you like (so long as it doesn't interfere with your other medication). So that's an upside

Co-codamol is your friend - the fizzy ones!

jackiefrost it's not just about getting the temperature right.

-Formula powder is not sterile (it contains microbes) but as it is dry, the microbes cannot multiply.

-Formula liquid is an ideal growing medium for microbes - and microbes love multiplying very very quickly in liquid that is warm but not too hot.

-To kill the microbes, the formula powder should be added to recently-boiled water (70-90degrees), not water that was boiled some time ago. This kills off the microbes. Water that was boiled half an hour ago will not be hot enough.

-You then have milk that is far too hot to drink, but if the bottle is kept sealed as it cools, microbes can't get in, so it is safe. "Flash" cooling refers to getting the temperature down to drinking temp as quick as possible, e.g. with iced water around the bottle (or one of those wine-chilling freezer wraps.

-The OP is wondering, correctly, about using a smaller amount of boiling water to kill the microbes, then adding some cooled boiled water (sterile if it was sealed in a sterilised bottle when boiling) to achieve cooler milk when she is out and about. This would work. Other posters are also recommending following the normal method and getting the milk all the way down to fridge temperature, and keeping cool in a cool back until it is time for it to be warmed up again, this would also work.

-The method you suggest would have formula not exposed to boiling temperatures at any point, therefore significantly less safe.

Head, a litre of water will cool by 1 degree a minute. Hence the guidelines tell you to leave it for up to 30 minutes to get down to 70 degrees

so you are saying add the powder to the tho milk and then refrigerate, then top it up with warm water to make it warm, that could work i would think as long as you make sure you pre measure both amounts of water? to make sure you are using the right quantities or water/powder.

i never got any leaflets on making up formula safely and i specifically called and asked to see a hv when i changed ds4 onto formula (i got pnp) and there were no leaflets and i got told i could add the powder to water that was no 70 deg!

Raining, your mw should fully support you ff for whatever reason, but it's good you know already she is supportive.

When I used formula for my ds1 and we were out and about we used to take a flask of boiled hot water and a tub to stand the bottle. We would make up feed with hot water and use tap to fill tub with cold water and stand bottle in it to cool. Alternatively if in a rush we would hold the bottom half of the bottle under the cold tap to cool it (making sure no water went on teat). It didn't take long.

I ff my 4 month old ds and when going out for the day I take a small flask of boiled water, sterilised bottle, formula measured out in a formula tub, a bottle of cold water and a cup/jug (all stored in a small thermos bag). Make the bottle up with cooled water as and formula then use the cold water in the cup/jug to cool it down. I also used this method during night feeds and it really doesn't take that long for the bottle to cool down, having a bottle of cold water in the fridge is always handy.

When going out, id take a bottle of pre made milk from the fridge, put it in the baf and feed it to ddwhen she wanted it.

Dd has never had warm milk. Always room temperature or fridge temperature.