Making multiples bottles at once.

[Wend1]

I've read lots of debate on here about this but not actually a conclusion.

I was wondering if anyone else makes a days worth of bottles in one go? And if so what process you follow.

I don't want to make them and keep the water at room temperature until it's ready to use as I would rather add powder to hot water.

Therefore would you just put the bottles straight in the fridge until ready to use? Or is there a problem with doing this? I read about cooling the bottles quickly before putting them in the fridge but am unsure or how you would do this or why you would need to.

Thanks

A friend of mine used to make up the next bottle and cool it down in a jug with some cool water and a tray full of ice cubes then pop it in the fridge for the next feed?

You need to cool them quickly so they don't spend too long at a warm temperature which bacteria would thrive in. By flash cooling (ice/cold water etc) you quickly get the temp down to a low range, and then you can store them in the fridge. As far as I can see, it's ok to make a set of bottles up and store them in the fridge, as long as you use them within 24 hours. Store them at the back of the fridge to keep them at an even temp.

People talk about the perfect prep machine which makes bottles quickly at the right temp. It's quite expensive though.

Buy a thermos flask from Argos mine was £25 and is 1.5 litres boil the kettle let it cool with the lid off for 5 mins then fill the flask. Use it during the day to make bottles refill for night time. Easiest way I pre made had the prep machine etc but found this easiest

Does the water stay 70 degrees plus for the whole day in a thermos flask? Don't you have to cool the bottles anyway, so it will only save you a little bit of time over boiling the kettle each time?

Regarding the OP, the reason you shouldn't put hot bottles straight into the fridge is that they would raise the temp of the whole fridge, thus potentially ruining other food, take a fair while to cool down and so be in the bacteria breeding temperature range for too long.

This so what we do:
Boil kettle, at least 1litre. Must be fresh from tap not reboiled.
Once boiled, make bottles within 30 minutes of kettle boiling.
When I say make, mix with formula whilst hot. Don't add formula to cold water as the cold water won't kill any nasties in the powder. That's why mix within 30 minutes and at least 1 litre means it's hot enough to kill nasties.
Then fill sink with cold water. Stand bottles in and remove when room temp usually about 20mins.
Store in the back of the fridge, never in door.
Use within 24hours of making.

Current advice is to make a bottle as and when you need it however I got a leaflet through the door when pregnant from hipp which said where possible make fresh each feed however if this isn't possible do the above. So that's what we're doing. DS is 8 months so it shouldn't be too out of date, if that makes sense?

Yes the water stays up it bes 80 degrees so I pour it in the bottle let it cool for 30 seconds add powder then cool in a jug which only take 2 mins time to change a nappy etc it worked well at night for us as I when baby woke I made up the bottle and changed the nappy had a quick cuddle then it was ready. Less than the time it takes to warm a bottle from the fridge

Left over water is good for washing bottles/dishes as it's warm an now little one is weaning I also use the water to add to porridge or to food to smooth purées and to fill a bottle for drink of water during the day

Hobby2014 - this is really helpful, thank you. The NHS website says that it's okay to make up feeds and store them in the fridge but doesn't tell you how to do it which isn't very helpful! Aptamil told me about the flask method but I would rather carry on buying the ready-to-feed milk rather than do that approach. Only looking to change because it's getting so expensive. I have a school run and clubs to dash about to and want to make it as easy as possible. Can I just ask what you do if you're going out? Do you just take a ready made feed in a cool bag?

I have a tommy tippee perfect prep machine and it's fantastic. Saves all of this trouble!

Yep I did the same as katiegeee. Made up at bedtime then straight to back of fridge. Take out and warm as needed. Combine feed both mine making bottles like this and neither ever had an upset stomach.
I was told as long as bottle made up with hot water to kill any bugs then it's fine.
I used to use a cool bag with ice packs then if I needed to take a bottle out, and a carton or flask of hot water and measured out powder if we were out for any length of time and needed more than one feed.

If the feed will be used within 4 hours I use a tommee tippee cool bag. Any longer then I do use the ready made bottles and take an empty sterilised bottle with me.
If visiting somewhere I know I can get boiled water, then I take a little pot, again from tommee tippee, and count the scoops into that and take with me again with a sterilised bottle. Then when I know DS is coming up to needing a feed I just make fresh and cool for him.

I did - but only once they got to about 5months ish - for some reason it seemed less risky in my head then...

Used to boil kettle, wait for it to cool down for 20 mins, make up 6 or 8 bottles, cool in a sink of iced water and whack in the back of the fridge.

I used to use a bottle warmer but by the time they were on three bottles a day I microwaved and shook well to get rid of any potential hot spots.

Then when they went to two bottles each a day I just went back to making them as needed - doing 4 a day was nothing to the original 12/14 in the beginning!

We make them when we use them and have a stock of ready mix ones in the cupboard in case we are late or whatever.
We boil the kettle 30 mins before a feed. Make the bottle after the 30 mins and dunk it into cold water for 5 mins then use it. We never leave a bottle longer than 2 hours before throwing it away.
If your baby has a routine (ours is 8 months so definitely does) then actually it's easy and this method is the method advised.

The Perfect Prep saved my sanity and still does a year later! And it's currently on sale in Asda in the baby event, very much recommend here!

We also have a flask for going out, I fill that with boiling water, and put some in the bottle (sometimes I cool the bottle before we go but if not it's normally ready for when we need it) and take some powder.