Formula feeding must haves

[BrokenWing]

My ds is 18, was mostly ebf with the occasional bottle, so my knowledge is both limited and waaaaay out of date. My niece is due in the next few weeks. Due to various health issues her pregnancy is very high risk, it is likely she will have a fairly early planned c-section as she needs several specialist consultants available, after which she will be unwell herself and on various medications that she has been told are not compatible with bf.

I have heard from a work colleague whose dd was told by their MWs to avoid the perfect prep machine due to reports of mouldy pipes and studies saying the hot shot was not big/hot enough to effectively kill the bacteria in the formula, but other than that I am clueless.

I thought about buying her some gifts that could help her and her dh with feeding, especially in those first few weeks when they are finding their feet again and her dh will be heavily involved supporting her.

What were the best newborn formula feeding products/tips you had?

We use a Nuby Rapid Cool flask and it’s great! Microwave sterilise bags are also good for if you quickly need to sterilise and extra bottle

We used a flask with hot water and one of those pots where you can put the scoops. It had three sections and the top spun around so you could put the powder in the bottle.

That Nuby Rapid cool flask looks great and there is a set with 2 cool flasks and a hot water flask too which looks perfect. 👍

Looked up reusable microwave sterilising bags too, but when looking at the Nuby flasks their UV steriliser came up that only takes 3 minutes (it was steam or milton fluid in my day! 🤣) - does anyone use these?

Got the little pots for formula in my amazon basket now too! ....and a nuby cleaning brush.

What are the most popular bottles now, are there any features I should be looking out for? Can see some are glass is that better than plastic?

Mam bottles can be sterilised directly in the microwave which is quite useful. We don’t need a separate steriliser and just use the microwave bags for dummies etc.

I use the Perfect Prep and think it’s fine as long as you clean it regularly. The NHS advice hasn’t been updated recently and may be based on earlier versions of the machine. Each to their own about whether the risk is worthwhile so you’d want to know her opinion before buying one.

I also like the containers to pre-measure formula, especially for overnight.

For the very early days the small pre-made bottles could be useful. No need to wash bottles and sterilise stuff. Expensive though. Consider pre-made formula generally for the early weeks so you can make bottles quickly. Probably safer too although the risk of bacteria in powder is pretty minimal.

We only moved to the Perfect Prep once DD started drinking 4 oz.

Hi! I am a 3rd year product design student, doing a project on improving the formula prep machine!! I have created a very short survey to understand the problems and what to improve, if anyone would like to complete it, I would appreciate it so much! Thank you :)Here is the link