Bottle feeding - is friend's hv right or am I?

[MissHairspray]

Morning all, one of my friends has just started bottle feeding her three week old dc, and has struggled to find any decent information on bottle feeding. So, she asked her hv who told her the guidelines had changed and she should make all feeds up fresh, BUT using water that she had boiled earlier in the day and left to cool to room temp. My reaction was to tell her this was totally wrong and it needed to be made when water was hot and then cooled down quickly, but it was 18mths ago that I last made up formula feeds, have guidelines changed ?? I hate giving out any kind of 'do this do that' parenting advice but it's the kind of thing that could be quite serious if wrong.

You are right. The water has to be at 70 degrees to kill dangerous bacteria that may be present in the formula. It's the formula that is a danger not the water.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/making-up-infant-formula.aspx#close

It's mental that a Hv doesn't know this.

You are correct. HV is giving out dangerous advice water needs to be hot enough to kill any bacteria in the formula. Google it and send her some links.

Thanks Rachel. That's one of the links I had in mind.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/making-up-infant-formula.aspx#close

You are, bottles should be made up with water no cooler than 70 degrees C (ish 69 isn't going to hurt iykwim) we make up several bottles at a time and then rapid cool them in the fridge they are then ok for 24 hrs. They still need to be used in 2 once out of the fridge though. Boiling the water is not about sterilising the water but the formula powder therefore cold water won't work.

I think guidance is to make a fresh bottle each time. Boil water and add powder etc. However at 2am this is a pain in the butt! We made bottles up for the day then in the evening made bottles for the night.

Thanks for the replies, I'll send her the links. It makes me so annoyed that health professionals are going out potentially dangerous advice!

My HV told me this as well, this is the method I used because I thought it was the correct one. My HV told me the issue with formula was 'rapid bacteria growth' and as long as the milk was made fresh (using boiled water left to cool) there would be no 'growth'. Obviously, my baby is a happy and healthy one year old and completely fine. However, I am annoyed. The conflicting information is so bloody confusing. (BTW, I am not saying I am right here - I am cross because I am now worried that I might have put my dd's health at risk.)