Formula Milk

[robskinner163]

Hi,

had a little falling out with our midwife today, havent had a little baby in my life for 15 years, so sure its all changed. I have always with formula milk, boiled hot water, cooled and refridgerated for the day (morning ritual with my cuppa). then each feed, I make the required bottle up using this water and the amount of feed per the packet, shake and then put in a boiler bowl until its nice and warm.

our baby is growing nicely, feeds well, not constipated and has an amazing sleep pattern only waking up at 1/1.30am and then again 5/5.30. Was made to feel like i was putting my little girl at risk today.

the last baby (my neice), who i looked after for a year, was fed in the same way and grew into a lovely healthy young lady with absolute no issues all the way through childhood etc.

any thoughts - is there any reason that this is risking my daughters safety?

My feeling is, formula fed babies are more likely to become ill than breastfed babies because of bottles not being made up properly. It's minimal extra effort to do it safely, so when you have a little baby why wouldn't you.

Also keep in mind that the official advice varies wildly across the West. For example in Finland you can make up your bottles once a day. In NZ you make up bottles with cold, boiled water (they are very insistent in this!). Likewise, in the US, sterilising isn't considered vital.

My DS needed medication in his milk for a while, so my GP told me to make up his bottles with the powder, half the required volume of water, cool quickly, then refrigerate (adding the medicine during this process). It means that when a bottle is needed, I simply boil and the remaining amount, and the milk is at the perfect drinking temperature. DS no longer needs medication but we carried on doing this as it's so quick and simple.