FF questions

[Chocolatecakefan]

My first baby is due next month and I have chosen to FF her straight away.

We've bought a perfect prep machine to make life easier but I just wanted to check some things to make sure I understand everything correctly...

Water Temp:

I know that the formula needs to be made with water at least 70 degrees so that any potential bacteria in the powder is killed. However, how do you make sure that the water is the right temp? Do you use a thermometer?

• I know that the advice is to boil the kettle with fresh water and leave for 30 mins, but if the baby is screaming that sounds hellish. Can you simply turn the kettle off before it reaches full boil, and check the temp using the aforementioned thermometer? Therefore as long as it's 70 degrees, it's ok to use?

Formula temp:

What temp should the actual formula be used? Presumably it's just as OK to use it cold/room temp as it is warm? As long as it has been prepared using the 70 degree water, and hasn't been left for more than 2 hrs?

Is it possible to prepare any in advance at all? I get so confused as there seems to be such a wide variety of answers on any of the threads....

As I say, we will be using the PP so that will make it easier, but I'm thinking more if we stay at mums for whatever reason....

Formula brand:

I know each brand contains the same ingredients, but what is the diff between each one e.g. Aptimil seems to be at least £1.50 more than C&G - presumably this is mere marketing?

Also, if I need to switch brands at any point, is it OK to just switch straight away or does it need to be done slowly? I presume you shouldn't mix the powders in one bottle due to different amounts of water needed. The reason I ask is that I know with animal food, any changes in food need to be done gradually so as not to give them tummy aches. Is this the same principle in babies?

Sorry, I hope these don't seem ridiculously daft questions but I figure if I don't ask, I won't find out the answers!

I think that the advice re 30 minutes is more a case of don't leave it any longer than 30 minutes ie anymore than 30 minutes and it will have cooled down too much. I used recently boiled water (but I did always boil it) and never used a thermometer.
The temperature depends on your baby to an extent, luke warm- so you can't really feel it on your wrist is common. Ds would take it room temperature fine, my friends little girl had it really quite warm. Obviously never hot.
Formula is heavily regulated so the different brands are essentially the same. Anecdotally I've heard of different brands giving babies tummy troubles. I went for the brand that they sold the powder and carton versions of at the local shop. If you need to switch brands you can just do it straight away, don't mix different formulas in the same bottle-just stick to one.
It is possible to make in advance, f can be kept for 2 hours out and 6 hours (I think, it will say on the tin) in the fridge(you cool it and put it into the fridge straight away). Cartons can be poured into a sterilised bottle and ready straight away in the event of an emergency crying situation.

Thanks Nicky!

Agree with Nicky, the advice is to leave the kettle for no longer than 30 mins, otherwise it will be too cold. So nothing is stopping you using the water sooner, although you would then have to cool it down more to get it to a drinkable temp. You can give formula cold, at room temp or body temp depending entirely on what suits you and your baby. The important thing is to minimise how long formula is kept at the temperature that bacteria breed at (so above fridge temp to 70 degrees). Hence using prepared formula out of the fridge within 2 hours. Any bottle that has been drunk from but not finished should be thrown away and not kept (apologies if this is stating the obvious).

It is ok to make up formula bottles in advance as long as you cool them as quickly as you can, and store them in the back of the fridge then use within 24 hrs.

You can get small cartons of ready to use formula which are very handy in the early days when feeds are small and frequent. You can also get larger cartons/bottles of ready made formula which can be kept in the fridge when open, and can result in less wastage. Ready made formula cartons don't need to be refrigerated before they are open, which is also handy if your baby will take formula at room temp, as you can just open and feed. Ready made is more expensive though.

For formula brands, really they are all the same, and whichever you choose is up to you based on however you want to decide. You can swap straight between brands should you need to.

Good luck (this post is making me very broody for some reason!)

Thanks! I think it's my plan to buy some of the bottles of ready made stuff for nights and then to rely on the PP during the day, when there is more time!

But if this turns out to be too costly, I could make up 1 or 2 bottles before bed and pop in the fridge ready for night feeds? Presumably to warm it you just need to run it under a hot tap (as long as the water doesn't touch the teat)? Then I just need to chuck them out in the morning?

Best advice - take the perfect prep with you!! We've done it if staying over at parents or in-laws as I didn't want to make bottles in advance and needing to wait for them to cool when baby hungry sounded awful.

The ready made bottles are next best. They are a bit more expensive but if just for when you're out and about then definitely worth it. DS is happy with room temp for ready made cartons as that's what he had in hospital for the first few weeks.

I get the feeling that the PP is going to be a good investment lol

Also handy to know, is that if you are going to be using the milk immediately, you can make it with cooled boiled water, according to WHO guidelines. Note this is only if you are going to use the milk immediately!

Sorry - just noticed your latest posts. If you have the machine just use that at night, it literally takes 2 mins so is much quicker than faffing about running a bottle under the hot tap.

If we use the ready made bottles when travelling we have a bottle warmer to hear it to the right temp after taking it out of fridge. I'd say the perfect prep is quicker than this too.

We used ready made whilst out and about.
Perfect prep whilst at home (bloody love this machine!)

First time round I made up 3 feeds at a time so roughly 8-12 hours worth in the early days rapidly cool and store in fridge and then repeat for the night. At night I used to run downstairs, out of the fridge, microwave for 20-30secs give a really good shake test and then feed. All a huge faff.

The PP uses cold water to cool the milk quickly, so you could do the same by keeping boiled water in the fridge when not using the machine. In reality though, if you use boiling water then cool the bottle under a tap, the process doesn't take an outrageous amount of time.
You might not have to heat pre prepared bottles. Some babies are fine with cold milk, at least when they're older.