starting bottle feeding today - tips please

[hockeymum]

Have been topping up ds with formula for a week after he lost near to 20% of his birthweight, my milk took 8 days to come in! but have now decided to formula feed all the time.

Any hints?

Is it best to steralise once a day and make up the bottles with cool boiled water to put in the fridge and then just add the formula when i heat the bottle? or should i make them as and when i need them?

also where is the cheapest place to buy the bottles etc. i only have 4 at the moment and peresume i need at least 8 for this newborn phase.

Any other tips? thanks in advance

What you are suggesting sounds fine to me re:doing bottles of cooled boiled water once per day.

Not sure where is cheapest atm - I got mine from Boots.

Hi

this was my late night routine, sterilise bottles, once done put in boiled water and formula, shake to mix, put into cold water to cool rapidly then into the fridge, take one out as needed and bring back to room temperature, once at room temperature they are good for 4 hours, however once babies mouth has touched the bottle it's only good for an hour.

i used to make up 6 (that's how many bottles my steriliser took) - then if needed i'd do some more during the day in the early days.

hope this helps

My top, top tip would be not to heat the bottle. If you are making up feed beforehand and keeping in the fridge, only warm to room temperature. If you are making up on the spot, don't warm at all.

Though you'd think that babies want milk at boob-temperature, actually they don't give a monkeys though it's best not to give fridge-temp milk to a newborn as they aren't good at regulating body temperature. If you get them used to room-temp milk it is much less work, plus easier to transfer them to water/juice/cow's milk when they are older.

Other tips:

If you have the sort of baby who is grazing in bits and bobs rather than taking full bottles (note that those guidelines on the tin - 6 bottles of whatever size from birth are v unhelpful, very few babies want just 6 feeds a day or can eat that much at one sitting at birth) then you don't have to make "bottles" & end up giving 2 bottles at a feed or throwing half away; you can make up a jug of formula and keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Pour a small amount into the bottle and if they want more you can always add more. You will have to use a jug you can sterilise, of course and I used tinfoil as a lid - fresh tinfoil from the roll each time.

There is advice now to make up the feed in advance rather than at the last moment. However, I don't know why this is and have to admit I always make it at the last moment because it is so much easier. I would take up to bed 3 bottles (with cooled boiled water in) plus one of those Avent things with 3 lots of powder pre-measured in it. That way I could give the dream feed, 6am feed & have one for "emergencies" (eg if she woke early or if I overslept!) without having to dash downstairs in a panic.

With the summer coming, you will have to start offering water as well as formula. But note we are talking little and often - my GP said never to give more than 30mls at once before 6m, and aim for less. You can make them quite ill by giving too much at once as their little kidneys aren't developed enough to get rid of the water fast enough. You'd give the water after a feed, not before.

Can't think of anything else offhand. I'm afraid I don't know of a cheap source of bottles!

I always make up 6 (or 7 when smaller) at once. Boil kettle, sterilise equipment, fill bottles, mix up while still warm, refridgerate while still warm or cool by standing in a bowl of cold water and then put in fridge.

I dont know about the cheapest bottles, chain stores are reasonable, but check that he likes that particular sort of bottle. Our LO prefers Dr Brown's and still hasnt got used to the fact that in cheaper bottles the teats collapse. Some babies will use any sort, some are fussy, but its best to stick to the type he likes.

Despite all the advice you get, I ALWAYS use the microwave to warm up bottles. Our microwave takes 30 sec for a 6 ounce bottle. When you have warmed it in the micro, just give it a good shake and wait a minute to make sure it has stopped heating, then test on the back of your hand or wrist. If you are careful there is no reason why you shouldnt use the micro - just agitate and test.

You will soon get into it and it will become second nature. I love bottlefeeding!!! Good luck and be positive. He will thrive Im sure.

I always used to sterilise bottles and then just put the water in. didn't bother putting them in the fridge if they only had water in.
then just added formula and gave them at room temp

I did the same as starlover. My priority, and I imagine yours will be, was to get the milk to the baby as soon as possible - this approach minimises the time you spend on preparation at the time the baby needs a feed.

Avent do a little container with several compartments that you can fill with the right amount of powder for one feed. So you can keep the water at room temp and have the right amount of powder ready in advance, meaning that the whole process is incredibly quick. It took me AGES to work this out, after months of storing made-up milk in the fridge and then warming it. I still warmed the made-up milk a little in the microwave. Some people tell you never to do this, because of the danger of hotspots, but I just swished it around after warming it and never had any problems.

If your baby gets a lot of wind, try Dr Brown bottles. They have a valve that dissipates the air in milk. They are a bit more fiddly to clean than regular bottles, but I thought they were worth it. In particular, use a bottle-brush inside the vent to make sure you get all the contaminated milk out.

I did the "measured formula in the 3-section container, and measured water in the bottles at room-temp" thing too.

And you don't need to sterilise... washing in hot soapy water is enough. Will go and bump that thread.

Can I just say for all you room temp and fridge temp mothers, that that is all lovely in theory but babies find it MUCH more difficult to bring up burps from cold milk than from warm. I wish I'd been told that when struggling with my very very windy 1st baby, instead of everyone saying "oh, train them to drink milk cold, much less hassle for you"

So if you have a windy baby, make sure their bottles are very warm, and remember to swirl the bottle to dissolve the powder and not shake it vigorously, filling it full of bubbles!

Thats interesting PPH. Another one to add to the list of "things they never tell you".

Ds never had any problem bringing up wind, or indeed bringing up most of the feed. Maybe I should have given him his milk frozen...

This is the no-need-to-sterilise thread

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?reverse=1&topicid=1364&threadid=91585&rnd=8451850566534076\here}

It may have 6 posts from me at the top, saying things like "bump" and "bump, d**n you!" and "why won't this post?". Or it may not. Very strange.

I am a big supporter od room temp bottles. I warmed DD's bottles, and she'd scream bloody murder if it wasn't warm. In fact, at 3 years old she still asks for her milk to be warmed. DS get them room temperature, and at 11 months old he is very happy with room temp.

Neither of them had any trouble with burping. Perhaps if they had naturally been colicy babies then this plan would not have been a good one. But it most certainly has made my life easier. I will never heat a bottle again. Yippee!!!

i make DD one at a time (but started only at 6mths when she was weanign). i leave a cup of ice cold water in the fridge so i can cool the bottles down quickly. i would buy at least 8 bottles (if you are hand washing)

i leave the 2 bottles in the milton solution at any one time. i found cold water the best method of steralising as i could do her rattles as well.

i am using tommee tippee ones which are ok but the marking fades - but this could be due to the fact i leave them in the milton solution overnight sometimes

We usually make up about 6 or so at a time and store them in the fridge. We warm them in the microwave and have started making them a little bit cooler each time so he starts getting used to cooler drinks for summer.
Also you can get cartons of ready made up formula you can pour into sterilised/disposable bottles. A Godsend for the travel bag!

teacakes - I am having this problem with the tommee tippee bottles - the Nuby ones. I rang their help line last wweek and they are sending new ones! Worth doing - they say they have had a batch go out thaT fade tooo quickly.