Taking bottles out

[lazycat]

I'm just starting to use bottles after bf dd for 5 months. How do I take a bottle with me if I want to go out? Do I prepare it in advance, or do I take a sterilised bottle and a carton of formula? How long can I keep the bottle of formula for before I neeed to throw it away...?

From what I've seen others do (I bf) you take a bottle with just the water in it and then add the powder when you need it. You can get handy little tubs with separators in so you can have several feeds measured out in one little tub.

I'd second Indith. Or take the carton - it's failsafe. And remember a flask of hot water to heat it.

Taking the carton sounds nice and hassle free. How do I keep the bottle sterile until I need it?

Lazycat, my steriliser (Tomme Tippee) says the bottles will remain sterile for three hours... don't know whether that's just their rule or a general thing?

Anyway, there have been lots of threads on MN recently where people say don't even bother to sterilise - no point according to some scientific studies done in US etc. Apparently, no-one sterilises anything there!

Was wondering about the sterilising thing actually. DD is now trying to shove everything in her mouth - her clothes, muslins, baby gym - and has been okay so far. Wondering why I make such a fuss about other things!

Its not actually necessary to heat bottles before use. If the water is hot when you put it in the bottle then it is usually still luke warm when adding the powder later. Cartons are good but quite expensive if you go out a lot. I just made up the bottle and took it as it was in the thermal part of my bag, never had any problems with tummy upsets etc. (PS I am not saying it is correct, just how I did things.)

Bottles should be sterilised due to the teats being difficult to get clean otherwise and bacteria growing in them. I wouldn't worry too much about the time limit on it though IYSWIM>