How strict are you on 1 hr bottle rule?

[trrk]

My FF 11 week old is going through a snacky phase and often only taking 60 mL at a time. If we follow the 1 hr rule we are wasting a lot of milk and going through bottles quite fast. We are now using Perfect Prep so making 4 oz bottles. How strict would you be about the 1 hr rule for keeping formula? So far I’ve been pretty strict about it but DH sometimes restarts the bottle after 2 hr or so. Don’t want to make a big deal about this unless there is a real risk involved.

Hey OP, the NHS website says to use within 2 hours. And the Aptamil website says 'Once the powder has been added to the hot water, the feed will be suitable for use for 2 hours. After this time any leftover product will need to be discarded.'

My LO was like yours - he would take 2 oz and then be hungry again an hour later.

I worry though that I shouldn't have let him have his bottle again after an hour or so, all my friends babies seem to drink their bottle in one go. I've convinced myself it's going to cause him problems later in life (I have REALLY bad anxiety) but the NHS website and the aptamil websites says 2hours is fine! X

Does he need a bigger teat?

my Ff started going like this but she was exhausted with the effort of sucking so we moved up to the next one and she started with bigger feeds again. Funnily enough it was around the 12 weeks mark so what made me think of it.

Ds was exactly like this. He'd had 1/2oz every now and again. He's 15 now and has no issues and eats me out of house and home.

I think the two hour thing is from when it's first prepared. Once the baby has had their mouth on the teat, it's one hour because of potential for bacteria growth (passed to bottle/milk from the baby's mouth)

I think the two hour thing is from when it's first prepared. Once the baby has had their mouth on the teat, it's one hour because of potential for bacteria growth (passed to bottle/milk from the baby's mouth)
Yup this. I’d probably feed ready made for now or alternatively make a 2-3oz bottle using the kettle every time you give a feed so by the time it’s cooled (45 mins later!) it’ll be time for his next snack, then you make the next one etc etc.

Also sorry if you’ve already tried this but could it be time to go up a teat size?

Some babies are naturally snackers and don't want to be made to eat until full just to suit the formula industry.

I was fairly strict and just accepted there was going to be a lot of wastage.

If it's about bacteria on the teat, could the tear not just be changed half way through?

Thanks for the advice! I was using ready made but was getting sick of the time it took to warm it up if she was crying for food (since the 200 mL bottles needed to kept in the fridge once open). I was getting wastage there too as I would usually put 100 ml In the bottle (the maximum she takes but can be anywhere from 40-100 ml). I am thinking of going up a teat but concerned it might have the opposite effect. On the odd occasion where she drinks most of a 120 ml bottle or drinks too quickly she seems to have a sore stomach and spits up a lot.

I’m a Microbiologist so I was hard and fast with the 1 hour rule, it really doesn’t take much for bacteria to grow. Formula doesn’t have the same preservatives as it did 10+ years ago so answers from people with children that old are pointless.

I’d still try going up a teat size, but would stop for a burp halfway through. If she’s having to suck to hard on too slow a teat that can cause her too take in more air, so a faster teat may also help with that. Also I don’t know what baby is like otherwise but little and often feeders can sometimes have reflux, or silent reflux (the discomfort with the vom). A dummy also helped our baby when he just wanted to suck but didn’t actually want to eat.

Good luck, it’s a minefield isn’t it?

Just make up the minimum and decant half into a second bottle? That's how I got around the snacky stage.

Thanks again for the advice! Definitely a minefield, especially as a FTM without much of a support network. I’ll give the larger teats a go then. I have sometimes wondered if she has reflux or silent reflux and have spent plenty of time on Dr Google but the health visitor and GP didn’t think there was anything wrong. She’s not always unsettled after feeds and is usually happy enough on her back so I’m not sure. I already burp her half way through feeds and try to keep her upright for awhile afterwards.

I did try the larger teat a few times but not sure if it was a success. She did take closer to the upper end (100 mL) but spat up afterwards. The next time she seemed to drink too fast and did a large vomit an hour later which put me off so I’ve gone back to the size 1. How do you tell when your baby is ready for the larger teat?

Vomiting an hour later won’t be because of the bottle teat size. If the teat is too fast they will dribble out the side of their mouth and gag whilst feeding, in short you’d know immediately. If a teat is too slow you’d usually get a lot sucking (may even see it flatten), frustration whilst feeding like pushing the bottle away or kicking and drinking less than usual or taking longer than usual to feed. They’re all different but most babies would be ready for a size 2 at around 8 weeks.

Some spit up after a feed is also completely normal because their digestive systems are immature and it always looks like more than it is. I know this makes me sound like an idiot but I had to actually pour milk on a table spoon and measure it out to properly get this because when it comes out of baby, it does look like so much! But when I realised the absolutely ‘huge vom’ was actually like 2 tablespoons compared to the 4oz bottle she’d just chugged then I could relax 😂

we got some extra bottles and teats for this stage and split down the milk into 2oz bottles and kept one in the fridge for next snack. See if baby will drink cold ready made milk. The ready made can be kept for 24 hours in the fridge which solved the waste problem for us for a month while this phase passed.