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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

QUick formula quesiton URGENT

57 replies

katierocket · 12/05/2007 09:22

going to start giving DS2 one bottle a day (rest of time he's BF), and I have a dum formula question!

using cow and gate comfort - can I make up the bottle, cool in down and use later - it says you have to use immediatley but I'm sure I remember with DS1 that we used to make them cool them down then reheat them later.

OP posts:
Original poster
katierocket · 12/05/2007 16:14

He's 16 weeks on Monday mears.

God formula seems complicated!

OP posts:
mears · 12/05/2007 16:25

Out of interest, why are you starting a daily formula feed?

LadyTophamHatt · 12/05/2007 16:48

God, I've made the bottles up in advance fo rall 4 Ds's.

I just can't get my head around doing it one at a time.
DS4 won't drink room temp milk so how do I go about it??

Warm the water then add the formula?
Surely 70 degrees is too hot though? And it doesn't dissolve properly if the water isn't warm enough....

So making them one by one I'd have to cool the water to add the formula, making sure it dissolves properly, then cool it further for ds4 to drink because it will then be too hot.

Bloody hell.

When the older Dss were tiny they said "do not cool hot formula in cold water" or some such...

can't I just carry on making them up as I always have???

Original poster
katierocket · 12/05/2007 18:12

Well we did for DS1 LTH so I know what you mean.

Mears - because I can't master expressing and DS2 is so very timeconsuming htat I can't see when I'd be able to. And I need to be able to leave him with other people the odd day.

OP posts:
hatrick · 12/05/2007 18:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

daska · 12/05/2007 22:23

I know the revised guidelines are a major hassle but I was babysitting for my neice when, at 2 months, she went down with salmonella poisoning - eventually traced to the milk powder. Believe me, you don't want to go through that, it was highly distressing for everyone involved. She's now on long term antibiotics because of the damage the salmonella did to her. The best solution I've found for days out etc is to make the bottles 1oz short with nearly boiling water, cool rapidly, refridgerate/ use an iceblock and good quality insulated bag and carry a thermos of boiling water with which to take the chill off.

clutteredup · 12/05/2007 22:27

hatrick that's a good one my mum started that one in our house till i discovered that 20 secs in a microwave gets it to perfect temperature - I KNOW !!! you're not supposed to because it might heat unevenly but 20 secs doesn't even heat it much and by the time you've shaken the bottle with the powder in and left it to settle for a bit to get rid of the cappucino effect i can't see it would be a problem

mears · 13/05/2007 12:52

LTH - you can do what you have always done - the guidelines are just that but they are there for a reason. You will see that the ammended guideline says that milk should not be kept longer than 4 hours. Is that workable?

katierocket - you don't need to give daily formula feed so that you can give feeds on the odd occasion when you are not there. I worked very part-time when my babies were small and they only had a bottle when I wasn't there. If a baby is hungry they will take milk.

LadyTophamHatt · 13/05/2007 14:09

I'm going to do a trial run today mears.

It was something you said about warming milk in the microwave destroys the vitamins contents (you did, didn't you?? or am I imagining that??) that stopped me using it this time so I'm going to try it out because the mighty mears has spoken.

mears · 13/05/2007 14:21

You are quite right LTH - milk should not be heated in a microwave and I did say that. It also says it here in the revised guidance

If you read it through (doesn't take long) the advice is milk should be used within 2 hours at home but 4 hours within care settings.

Milk should be reheated in warm water

clutteredup · 13/05/2007 16:48

Pls note i was talking about the water and not the milk - this is just to heat the water up orior to putting formula in, the micro kills all the nutrients in the milk, but if its just warming the water there shouldn't be any harm in that.

Original poster
katierocket · 13/05/2007 18:59

Thanks mears, TBH I feel a little bit pressurised by various family members to give him a bottle. He will be going to nursery 2 days a week but not until September so not sure why I need to be worried about it now!

OP posts:
Cazee · 13/05/2007 19:37

katierocket, have you tried exppressing while you feed? It saves loads of time, and you get a lot more. My old pump broke and so I bought an Avent isis hand pump and it is BRILLIANT.

LadyTophamHatt · 13/05/2007 20:38

Right, Ok.
So I've done the bottles but not added the milk.
I've measured out 2 feeds worth of milk into the little pots ready for tonights before bed feed and the 4am feed.

Do I warm the water first, the add the formula?
Or add the formula then warm it??

bewilderbeast · 13/05/2007 20:59

you must warm the water first so that it kllls the bugs in the formula if you warm the made up formula you just multiply any bacteria its a bit like using a handdryer instead of paper towels

LadyTophamHatt · 13/05/2007 21:10

Ohhhh I get it now.

I just couldn't work out why it had all changed so much. Warming the formula increases any bugs..... of course it would

Honestly I really couldn't get my head around it.
Thats made it perfect sense, thanks bewilderbeast.

LadyTophamHatt · 13/05/2007 21:11

Btw, is you fullstop button broken??

bewilderbeast · 13/05/2007 21:23

cheeky...,... no it's not broken I just don't know how to use it!

LadyTophamHatt · 14/05/2007 07:32

LOLOL, I'm the same with every other form of puncuation.

I just use lots of these ......

First night of the new method worked well. It seems to take ages for the water to warm up though, which is madness because it was room temp to start with so of course it didn't take longer.

Anyway. I'm converted.

hatrick · 14/05/2007 07:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LadyTophamHatt · 14/05/2007 07:54

I'm going to try a later hatrick. DS4 likes it quite warm so I need to experiment with the amounts to add.

Also I need to get a new thermos because ours is old and manky

mears · 14/05/2007 13:04

read this guidance - last link not working

It states that the water must be at least 70 degrees C to kill off the bacteria in the powder.

For night feeds I would either make feed with hot water out a flask, or make the feed before I go to bed, cool it and store it in the main body of the fridge. Reheat with hot water.

Adding powder to cooled water is not recommended.

thehairybabysmum · 14/05/2007 13:29

I used to prepare the bottles of boiled water in the morning, then add the formula as required and then heat the formula to the required temp (using a microwave).

When out and about i used to have a bottle half filled with the cooled boiled water and a flask of boiled hot water and thte formula pre measured in a plastic tub. Would then add the hot water to the cold to make up the necessary amount which was then also at the right temp to feed straight away, then would add the powder.

Not sure how this fits with the guidelines but it worked a treat for us and ds never ill with stomachy things.

LadyTophamHatt · 14/05/2007 14:27

Mears, I can't get any adobe acrobat links to open for some reason.

I've been warming DS4s water up and added the formula, he does like it quite warm so would 70*c be alot hotter then milk warm enough for them to drink IYSWIM??

I'll be come obssessed with this at this rate.... fortunately I haven't got a thermometer to test it, otherwise I'd drive myself mad testing evey 5 minuts.

Heating it to 70*c and then cooling it again for him to drink increases the faff factor a whole lot!

mears · 14/05/2007 15:48

What it says is that boiled water should be left uncovered for 30 minutes to cool to 70 degrees. Once made up, milk temp should be tested on the inside of your wrist.

If feeds are made up in advance if making fresh feed is not possible, it states feed should be cooled rapidly under cold running water and kept in the main fridge, not the door.

Would copy and paste it for you but it won't let me.

For night feed, I would make it in advance of going to bed, cool it as above, then reheat in hot water when needed.

The longer milk is stored, the more bugs will grow hence the advice not to make batch feeds.