Bottles in the night. Using a flask?

[NoTeaForMe]

When people say they used a flask of hot water in the night to prepare bottle feeds...what do they mean? In sure that's a really dumb question?!

imagine it's so you don't have to boil the kettle and wait for the water to cool when you could be in bed. You boil it before bed so it's sterile, then put it in a flask to keep it warm enough to dissolve the powder and give to baby.

I think so anyway. I don't do that, but it would make sense right?

Mummymog - you don't boil the water to sterilise the water, you use 70 degree+ water to sterilise the powder.

I think people take recently boiled water to bed, possibly plus cooled boiled water so they can make up the feed with sufficiently hot water to sterilise the powder, add some cold water to bring it to drinking temperature. So make a 6oz bottle with 4oz of hit water and the add 2oz of cool water.

Ahhh! now that makes more sense! They should write that on the carton, I got the boiled water so it's sterile and then use it within a few hours so it's still sterile from soneone else. Didn't realise the temp was important.

But now I think about it, its so obvious that of course the powder isn't sterile either...

Can I be forgiven on the grounds of baby brain ;)

So I'd add 6 scoops of formula to 4oz of water from a flask and then add 2oz of cold water to cool it? Is that right? Would that be drinking temp then? Would the water in the flask be hot enough to sterilise the powder?

My health visitor just told me about this today. She said boil a kettle of water, leave for just under 30 mins then put in thermos ( one bought specifically for this, not preused for tea or coffee etc!). This will keep at the right temp for 8 hours so you just make up your bottles with this as you would if it were from the kettle. It is still hot enough to sterilise the powder that is added to it and only takes a minute or two under the tap to cool but saves trips to the kitchen. She said lots of people also pre measure the formula into little pots if they are going out and using this method. She said done like this fully complies with all health and safety guidelines.

Sorry - the example of 4+2oz was just off the top if my head. I was awake feeding and should've made it clearer!

But the important thing is that the water that hits the powder I shot enough to kill any bacteria in it. I thought the guidelines were on the side of the box of formula?

Anything the guidelines are on the side of the box. But that's just-use hot water to make the bottles. Not about a flask or doing some hot then some cold!

With my eldest I made the bottles like that and took them out in a cool bag and found a way to re-heat. I was just wondering I there was a different way for out and about or in the night...and I keep hearing people talk of a flask!

various food safety guidelines suggest that you shouldn't leave prepared food out at room temperature for more than a few hours. on a hot day, it seems to be one hour. i would have thought that this would apply to milk . if the 70 degree hot water neglects to kill even a couple of the bacteria, they will multiply rapidly once at room temperature and this might cause it to taste a bit weird or give the baby tummy ache.

I'm confused samebut when will it be prepared food left out at room temp?

Wow - I'm being spectacularly unclear today!

Key guidance is to use hot water to kill the bacteria. Once hot water has been added, some people add some cooled boiled water (within the water:powder ratios) to bring the temp of the formula down to a drinkable temperature. This is safe as the powder was sterilised by the hot water before the cold was added. This saves you having to run the bottle under cold water in the middle of the night. You must not over dilute the formula - only use the amount of water suggested on the box.

There's no issue with formula being left at room temperature, as the bottle would be drunk immediately and the discarded, right?

For bottles used out and about, I think the guidance is to make them up with hot water, flash cool, refrigerate, take out with you in an insulated carrier, warm once needed or discard after a couple of hours. Or use a carton! I'm less familiar with this element, but the fact remains that the formula must be made up with hot water in the first instance.

no it is me that is confused. it is the talk of taking 4 scoops, adding it to water from a flask then adding more water to cool it down. i thought that would then be kept till it was needed. sorry i shall stop confusing things!