FTM: Ratio of formula v boiled/cooled water

[clairelee17]

I'm due my baby in 6 weeks and reading up on bottle feeding before the big day as I will be exclusively bottle feeding - specifically the amounts/ratios required in preparing a bottle.

I've got a Tommee Tippee Prep Machine and was having a play with it over the weekend. However, for the times I won't have this at my disposal, how do I know the quantities of formula to water? I want to make sure that there isn't too much/too little of formula.

I've searched the internet, and although I can find information on ounces of formula at different ages, I can't find any simple, straightforward information on ratio of formula to boiled water and cooled water.

Would be so grateful for any advice of what you might do for 3oz, 4oz, 50oz, etc of formula, for instance? Wjhat ratio/amount of boiled water would you put in, and then what measure of cooled boiled water would you put in?

Apologies...5oz and What ratio...?

Hi, I use the PP as well and then when I'm going out tend to either prefill the bottle with the water and then just add the formula or if I know he won't need a feed for a while then I fill with all boiled water (so 5/6/7 Oz etc of boiled water) then just add the formula when it's cooled in time for a feed.

However I know that in theory you should have the cooled water in and then add the boiling water when out - so if you wanted to do it that way I would just watch the perfect prep when you make one up - first lot of water is the boiling and the rest is cooled so you'll be able to see the quantities you need

So is the amount of scoops you put in equivalent to the amount of water you put in? So 5 scoops = 5 oz of water?

This is where I'm confused! I don't know how much water I'd have to put in compared to the number of scoops.

The tubs have very clear, step by step instructions on them.

The tubs tell you exactly how many scoops to how many ounces of water. I think it works out at 1 scoop per ounce but double check with your formula of choice.

I promise you, within a few weeks, it will be automatic

Its normally 1 scoop to 1oz/30ml. The tub should tell you anyway

Hi OP, as PP's have said, the tub of formula will tell you the measurements, and your bottles should have the measurements for the water written on the side.

There isn't a 'one scoop to one oz' type ratio, as, just like making gravy, it will differ for different brands.

I would suggest this really isn't something you need to worry about in advance - most parents don't give it a thought until they come to making up their first bottle! - But if it would ease your mind then buy a packet of formula, or just look at the labels in the supermarket, and you'll see how clear it is on there.

Thanks everyone :)

I think most formula brands in the UK do have 1 scoop to 1oz /30mls instruction to prevent confusion. Certainly every brand I used here went by that

The cartons have instructions on, e.g 5 scoops to 5oz. However, it is advised never to use cooled water as the formula needs to be sterilized by having the boiled water added.

I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed with making bottles and feeding when it became clear that bf and pumping wasn't working, but we got the hand of it pretty quickly. The tubs will have clear quantities for formula and water.

What I did for my DD was: boil kettle, hot water (1/3 of end volume) in with all powder, shake, vent (open bottle pointing away from face to prevent any splashing of hot water etc), top up to desired volume with cooled pre-boiled water. Then I would refill the container for cool water with water from the just boiled kettle, so next time there was water ready and cooled.

The hot water in with the powder sterilised the powder then the additional cooled water brought the temp down to a drinkable level. You may have to slightly adjust the ratios according to your kettle, I found my mil's kettle gave hotter water and thus warmer bottles so I made sure to check the temp when I made bottles elsewhere.

One tip I will give is that once you are making up larger bottles you will almost certainly lose track of how many scoops you put in (interrupted when counting or middle of the night and half asleep etc). I kept track by keeping note of the weights of ingredients involved (and a rough idea of how much the bottles weighed) and making bottles next to digital kitchen scale; 1 mL of water = 1 g, 1 oz = 28ish g (I rounded up to 30 mL and 30g), I measured how much a scoop of milk powder was (you will get a measuring scoop in each milk container). Once you know what weight you're aiming for you (g of empty bottle + powder +water) can tell if you've put in all the milk/water needed or if you need another scoop of milk (think they were around 35 g so you could easily tell if you were a scoop short or not) This method was devised to help my dp with ADHD but it definitely came in handy when my brain was too knackered to work properly! I wasn't massively precise so didn't worry about getting exactly the right volume of water or amount of powder, just tried to get as close as possible without stressing too much. Something else I did was sometimes pre weigh the formula powder in small takeaway pots (eg rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F292595253808) and write on the lid with a Sharpie how many scoops/g were in it. These pots were then used for weaning and now in dd's pack lunch so pretty handy to have around.

In terms of how much milk to give your baby we followed the guidelines on the formula packaging and then increase the no of oz/scoops once my DD was regularly finishing her bottles, i.e. we'd do a few 5 oz bottles throughout the day once she was easily putting a 4 oz bottle away each time. Sometimes she'd do the opposite, not finish every bottle but I let her guide me as to how hungry she was.

To wash and sterilize the bottles I used cold water sterilization, that's Milton tablets or liquid in cold water, rather than microwave sterilization. I had one container with water and a bit of dish soap, and a second container with the Milton solution (a small IKEA Salma was the perfect size for use with 2 Milton tablets and could fit 4 or 5 bottles, tests, lids etc at a time). Bottles got a soak in the soapy water then transferred to the Milton container where they stayed until they were used next time (just shook excess water off and used, no need to rinse). The two containers were emptied and refilled every night before bed and we kept a pretty good cycle of rinse, sterilize, use. Dummies also got soaked in the Milton container when not in use. Once DD was past 6 month we just put stuff in the dishwasher.

Good luck with everything! You'll get the hang of it all pretty quickly (and as soon as you do the next challenge will come along!).

My clucky link didn't work...if interested search eBay for satco 4 oz, you'll get small containers with lids that are dishwasher and microwave safe.

As PP have said, all formula tubs have the instructions on the side, and formula needs to be made with the hot water to kill any germs in the powder.

Also, if you are adding cold water to make up a bottle, you need to measure the water separately. So to make a 6oz bottle, you would measure out 3oz hot water, add the powder and mix, then measure out 3oz cold water separately and add to the bottle. Otherwise, if you just topped up the bottle to 6oz with cold water after adding the formula, the ratio of water to formula wouldn’t be correct.

The tubs of formula now tell you to cool the boiled water for 30 minutes before mixing it with formula to get the water temperature down to 70 Celsius. You then cool down the made up bottle by running/putting it made up bottle. Depending on the brand you may find it doesn't mix up properly if the water is too hot. (When you get on to milk for 6months+ it doesn't matter so much if the water is too hot.)

If you are out and about you can use hot water from a flask but ensure the flask is only used for making up baby bottles.

In regards to washing bottles out you should rinse them before sterilising them and use a separate bottle brush for cleaning them. We are one of the countries where it is still recommended we sterilise baby bottles simply because people miss steps out like rinsing out bottles when hand washing them.

@ColaFreezePop the milk cartons said that 3 years ago when my DD was new but it was much easier to combine freshly boiled water with precooled water to get the correct temp, add powder, mix, then add more cooled water to give to full amount of water required, rather than wait 30 minutes with a screaming infant in the middle of the night.

I think I remember being a bit of a geek and using a temperature probe to test the temp of various ratios of hot/cold water, but in the end we had to use reflux milk which required (as per manufacturers instructions) cooler water so we just chucked the water (1/3 hot, 2/3 precooled) and milk powder in altogether and shook it up. After 6 months we just kept on with this method with the follow on milk.

In relation to waiting for the water to cool 30 mins that is not quite right. What it says that you must use water that has been boiled within the last 30 minutes (well Aptamil and Cow & Gate do, I've not used other brands), otherwise the water will not be hot enough to sterilize the formula powder, which is very important.

And it's a litre of water - if you have boiled less water or have poured it into bottles it will cool to below 70c much quicker than 30 minutes.

This is such a minefield isn’t it.
When BF didn’t work for me, well I was so adamant it was I didn’t know anything about formula we used ready mixed for first few days then got a perfect prep.
I don’t know how people manager without one but I’m prepared to accept I’m probably inept

The boiling water should be first to kill the bacteria on the powder. Never add the powder to cool water.