How long is boiled water good for?

[MrsMar]

If poured immediately in to a sterilised bottle and allowed to cool, how long is it useable for? Can I use it to mix formula the next day?

Given that a 6 month old is rolling or crawling around the floor and putting everything in their mouths, I really don't think it's worth worrying about whether boiled water is sterile. Once it's off boiling point it becomes less sterile. A freshly sterilised bottle stops being sterile as soon as it's out of the steriliser.

It's actually good for babies to be colonised by the bacteria in your house, provided it's not the listeria/ ecoli/ listeria type bacteria. You won't need to worry about that unless you have a particularly unhygienic house.

Thread re advice not to sterilise from UCLH microbiologists

The advice goes against what the FSA say, but then, I doubt we all have the same hygiene standards in our kitchens as advised by the FSA either. I bet not a single person on her has a "catering standard" kitchen. We're not all ill from food poisoning. There are definitely better things to worry about than boiled water.

Personally, leave bottles of water out in the kitchen for a day. Or I put them in the fridge if I don't think they'll be used up that day.

So, does that apply to the advice Fio quoted before??.... "To ensure that any harmful bacteria are killed, formula should be prepared using water that is at least 70°C. Agency advice to parents is, ideally, to make up formula milk using freshly boiled water that has been left to cool for no more than half an hour to reduce the risk of babies becoming ill. This advice is in line with the recommendations provided by the European Food Safety Authority and the World Health Organization (WHO)."

I'm doubt many mothers or carers have the time (or indeed the inclination) to freshly boil the kettle and then cool the water to a palatable temperature before every feed.

I'm not saying the advice is incorrect, I'm just saying it's not workable for most people.

I can't see this happening in a nursery either. Don't most nurseries expect you to provide bottles of water so they just have to make up the bottles as they need them?

I personally, don't think it's worth worrying about. Certainly not for a 6 month old who is eating food prepared in an non-sterile kitchen, out of non-sterile hands.

He's not crawling yet twelveyeargap, but he is rolling about and always putting things in his mouth, and I'm not too neurotic about that, I think it's good for them. However aren't the types of bacteria in formula powder really nasty? Not the sort of thing he'll pick up from a soggy toy he's been sucking for three weeks?

It's old bits of milk in teats that I would worry about.

I really just don't believe that people are realistically going to use 70 degree water to make up formula and then cool it down again to baby's preferred temperature. What a faff!

Think of the hundreds of thousands of babies who do just fine with milk made up with "previously" boiled water. And the millions of babies whose mothers were told it was fine to make up a jug or a number of bottles of formula and keep it in the fridge for 24 hours. Also bear in mind that food hygiene standards are much higher in the UK than in many (most?) other countries, so anything manufactured here is done so to high safety standards.

It just sounds like yet another think we're being given to "worry" about when the risk is minute. There's this, the recent stories about not heating water in plastic bottles and any number of other "scares". I don't give them credence unless a genuine and what I would consider to be "measurable" risk.

BUT, that's just me. Some people aren't willing to take minute risks. Others are.

Thanks for that twelveyeargap. Motherhood is a battle scarred minefield isn't it? My mum said they used to use salt to clean the teats, a few grains of salt in the end, gently rub it (I guess the salt grains clean out any bits of milk) then turn the teat inside out and thoroughly rinse.

My MIL said that about salt too, when I forgot our "teat" brush. I reckon teat brush is fine too, provided you push soapy water through the holes with your finger as well.

Suffice to say, if my kids can survive the grime on my kitchen floor, they can survive non-sterile follow-on milk.

I was told by the HV that I was fine to make up bottles with water 24 hrs in advance, and that is how I and all the people I know have done it.

I then zap the water in the mircrowave to desired temp and add powder. My son has always been fine, and I have done this since he was newborn!

I have also found out this is how most of my friends do it as well...

The following comes from a WHO leaflet from 2007 (after new guidleines brought in):

What if I do not have access to boiling water?

The safest way to prepare a feed is using water that has been boiled and cooled to no less than 70ºC.

? If you do not have access to boiling water, you may wish to use sterile liquid infant formula.

? Alternatively, you can prepare feeds using fresh, safe water at room temperature and consume immediately.

? Feeds prepared with water cooler than 70ºC should not be stored for use later.

? Throw away any left-over feed after two hours.

I did use water at room temperature for ds's bottles and he survived!!

The full leaflet is here - it is a pdf file:
How to Prepare Formula for Bottle-Feeding at Home