What do you do at night?

[ReeRee1]

Hi all, just looking for some advice. I have always made up a daily batch of bottles by sterilising the bottles, putting boiling water in, leaving them at room temp and putting in the formula as and when I need it. I did this with DS1 and have been doing same with DS2 (11 wks) but have just been reading that this is a very bad, unsafe thing to do! So my question is this- if you make up bottles and store in fridge, what do you do at night time? My ds2 HOWLS at the top of his voice when he wakes during the night- I keep the (water in the) bottle warmidj by having it under the covers with me- I pop in the formula and feed... To not do this would risk waking ds1 who is a v light sleeper. So what are you doing with your cold, refrigerated bottles? I can't see myself running downstairs, boiling kettle, sitting bottle in it for 5 mins, all the while ds2 howling, waking up ds1, now howling too...!! Help- am I just sleep deprived and stupid or is there an easy way to do this?
Thanks v much

So you add formula to room temp water? And you're asking should you have cold prepared formula in fridge and warm it up? If so, that's not right either. The only really safe way to prepare formula is to make it up with water 70 degrees Celsius and cool it down. It is a total pain! I think with my ds we had thermos of hot water upstairs then made formula up and coolef it down under tap in bathroom. It prob did take 5 mins tho. Will he take a dummy while you make bottle?

By the way, lots of people don't do it the 'correct' way, and their babies are just find. It is a v small risk that formula is carrying any nasties.

What I did, and what my HV told me was fine, was to make the formula up in the usual way (boiled water cooled to 70ish degrees and then add the formula). Then it can be stored made up in the back of the fridge safely for 12 hours which would cover your night feeds. To warm up, you could stand in warm water that you've kept in a flask, or what I do is pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and give it a very good shake to make sure there is no hotspots.

The bit that is important is dissolving the formula in water of 70 degrees or above to kill any bacteria lurking in the powder. I would say it is less safe to add formula to room temperature water, than it is to make it first and heat it up from cold.

I make up my feeds (for day and night) and keep them in the back of fridge for up to 24 hours. WHO says up to 24 hours in fridge is fine

I then warm up bottle in bottle warmer - honestly it's soooo much less faff than kettle etc. In your situation you could keep pre-made up feed in an icebucket near your bed, pop in warmer. Or use cartons for the night feed?