Formula feeds - make up each batch fresh, with boiled water which has been cooled for 30 minutes... seems super impractical

[mooki3]

I’d like to move away from ready made formula both for price and plastic-wastage reasons but I just don’t get how this is even slightly realistic.

You need to try to guess 30 minutes in advance when baby will want to eat? And if he wakes up in the middle of the night hungry he has to wait 35 minutes before he can eat?! Very confusing

It is, get a perfect prep machine.

Get a perfect prep machine...was a game changer for us...

When out and about, I always had pre-measured formula, a flask of very hot water, and a bottle of cool boiled water with me...easy to make up when on the go when I got the hang of it...

Yep, horrendous, Perfect Prep all the way! I didn’t like doing it when he was very small but managed to unclench a bit at about 3 months and I used to keep some cooled boiled water (made up fresh each morning) in the fridge so I could dilute the bottle with cool and get it cold faster but I usually used that when we were out and about.

Yeah it is and we only started at 6 months so lot less feeds! We would make it up then cool in a jug of cold water from the fridge which sped things up a little. I would def investigate the prep machines.

We have a kettle with a temperature gauge on the front.

This helped massively when we introduced formula.

You can make up the bottles for the day in advance and keep them in the fridge to be warmed up as required. It’s not absolutely best practice but it’s basically fine. Or you can keep chilled precooked water in the fridge, mix the powder up with half the required volume of boiled hot water, shake well and then add the other half of the water chilled until it’s the right temperature.

Make the bottle and run it under the cold tap. They cool down quite quickly. Or get a big bowl of cold water and sit it in that while your changing the nappy and it'll cool down while your doing something so your not just waiting around. I used to do it with my 1st.

Theres really not much else to do, as I understand it bottles need to be made and drank in a certain amount of time and also made up with boiling water because once the formula box is opened its no longer sterile

The WHO advises that you can make a batch up to keep for up to 24 hrs at the back of the fridge. We did this with our first but get a perfect prep!! Life changing

I had a perfect prep which was great but I had read and was concerned if it was safe.

So I did my own version of it - it's many years ago but I think I used to put freshly boiled water pre measured into bottles (eg400mls to each bottle) and leave in fridge.

Then before a feed I'd boil water and add for example 100mls to an empty sterilized bottle , add a bit of cooled boiled water to the freshly boiled water- put in the scoops for e.g 500ml bottle , shake and then add the rest of the 400ml cooled water). It's sounds convoluted but I had it down to a tee and it was the quickest way for me to do it. Just to say I can't remember exact bottle amounts but in effect I made a quick hot shot, cooled it down to about 80 degrees by adding a little bit of cold steeliness water, added scoops for a full bottle and added remainder cooled boiled water.

WHO recommend fresh feeds but state that they can be made and stored for 24 hours safely. (See attached from the WHO guidelines pdf leaflet)

We followed these guidelines with my eldest and made a batch each evening - sterilise all equipment, fill each bottle with required freshly boiled water, add scoops, shake to mix, flash cool in basin of cold water and into the back of the fridge.

DS didn't seem to mind the temperature so at home we would just run under hot water or sit in a jug full for a minute to get rid of the chill - out and about we would either bring to room temp or do the same as at home if we could.

He's 14 and doesn't seem to have suffered.

Forgot to attach said excerpt 🤦‍♀️

Just make up the bottles for the day and store in the fridge and take one to warm up when needed. It’s perfectly safe x

Thank you all! The midwife said we can give him formula straight from the fridge which he happily has... but I’m guessing I can’t just keep cooled kettle water in bottles then add formula? You have to add formula to warm water right?

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s any chance my wife will let me make up the formula in advance since it says not to on the bottle, and I can’t see anywhere that the NHS says it’s alright to do either :(

Perfect prep looks decent but it’s yet another thing to have around and quite pricey. Will definitely consider it if we can’t find an alternative though

What @seething1234 suggested.

Or failing that, batch and flash- cool and store, which although not 100% risk free is very low risk.

The crucial thing to remember is the risk of infection doesn't come from the water (in this country at any rate), it comes from the powder. You have to use water hot enough to kill bugs in the powder.

Formula has to be added to hot water yes, over 70 degrees C. If you pour the water into the bottles rather than leave in the kettle it cools a lot quicker 🤷‍♀️

Thanks all, I will suggest the WHO thing of storing formula up to 24 hours in the fridge and see what my wife says, that would be ideal. Otherwise I love the idea of storing cooled kettle water in the fridge and adding it to recently boiled water sounds like it’d be probably quite simple when used to it.

As long as the water isn't boiling hot (it can break down some of the nutritional content if it's too hot) but is still above 70 when you add it, it'll be fine.

Honestly, get a perfect prep. They go for around £30 second hand on Facebook marketplace. In the grand scheme of things, their safety is not something to worry about. If it makes you feel better, you can boil the water prior to putting it in the machine for the day.

We just used to have some made up in the morning to last the day, stored in fridge and then put in bottle warmer for couple minutes? Then did a few in the evening to keep for night/first thing... Also had cartons in for an easy day... Absolutely fine!
Like you say, how are you supposed to know in advance when a feed is going to happen... And how on earth do you make up a feed if you're going off out for the day?

I kept bottles of cooled boiled water in the fridge for the day, then made formula with a fresh bottle, formula, boiled water and topped up with the cooled water.