bottle feeding: preparing the bottles

[laurenlow14]

hiya, i have had two health visitors one has said its okay to make the bottles in batches, wait for them to cool then put them in the fridge. A different health visitor has said im not allowed to do that and they can only be made just before the feed. For me that seems a bit of a pain, does anyone have any advice or how do they prepare the bottles?

The second one is technically right, you shouldn't do it, but many people do. I would just make sure you don't make more than 12 hours worth in one go, cool them rapidly, and keep them at the back of the fridge where it's coldest. I would also only do this if the baby isn't tiny or has health problems.

I make mine in batches, stick in cold water to cool and then into fridge. Have been doing this since my lo was 1 week old he is now nearly 16 weeks and seems to be doing ok!
I take my night bottles up with me at night and he drinks at room temp.
Making them before feed is a faff and when you have a screaming baby who wants feeding it takes too long to cool the bottle, there are other ways of doing it though I believe but this suits us!

The World Health Organisation has guidelines on how to safely prepare formula, including if you need to do it in advance. Yes, you're supposed to do it fresh every time but you can make them in advance if required - the key thing is to make them up properly in the first instance, cool rapidly then store in the back of the fridge, using them up within 24 hours.

www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf

I make mine in batches too for the full day (make them on an evening) so they are cooled in a pan of cold water (i'm quite strict about setting a timer on my phone so I don't forget they are still out of the fridge) then once cool put in the fridge overnight and reheated when needed.

I've been doing this for 7 months with no issues but the official advice now is not to do it that way and make fresh each time.