Making up formula - do you follow the rules??

[MumtoHarry]

We have just moved Harry onto formula and I am worrying about how I should make it up ... does everyone follow the new guidelines about making it up with boiled water cooled for less than 30 mins, and then let that cool enough for the baby to drink it (which seems a real faff - and a bit impossible to get the timing right if you are letting the baby demand-feed)... or do people make up the bottles of cooled boiled water in advance (and make up the feed with water at room temp)... or do people make the feed up in advance and keep in in the fridge?? I am probably over-thinking this, but it all seems SO much hassle to do it properly and yet if baby was ill because I couldn't be arsed to get it right I'd feel awful ....

X post with Daisy!

So why the buggeryboo don't the instructions say to make up with boiling water!!! Simpler, no? The waiting just adds a layer of unneccessary faff and confusion!

"Boil kettle, recite Mary had a little lamb, perform adequate version of riverdance, THEN make up bottle, not before..."

I just sterilise them, then pour in boiling water and leave at room temp then add powder when needed.

When my first went onto bottles I did the whole making up storing in the fridge thing but find the way I do it now much easier and the bottles are so much easier to wash up afterwards as well.

I did exactly what Ledodgy does, and it appears to have had no adverse effect.

I've read that using boiling water might 'denature' the milk and that the reason why formula companies are not yet putting 'use water of 70 degrees and over' (as recommended by the WHO and the DOH) on formula tins, is because of their concern that even water of 70 degrees temperature might affect constituents in the milk (plus of course, they're not going to willingly admit that a worrying proportion of their product is contaminated with entero-bacter sakazakii and salmonella, hence the reason for the recommendations to use very hot water in the first place).

My understanding is that the new recommendations are aimed particularly at newborns (babies under 6 weeks), preterm and sick babies, who are more at risk than older babies.

The risk of not preparing your bottles in this way is very small - only a handful of babies in the West have died from proven enterobacter related infections in the past few years. That said, as enterobacter sakazakii is linked to meningitis it's also likely to be being very under-reported. Most babies in the UK get formula - how would they ever know how many cases of menigitis are linked to enterobacter sakazakii? Given that studies have found up to 14% of some formula batches are contaminated........

I used to make up bottles in advance then put water in fridge and add powder later. According to all this that was very wrong

With second child I only ever used cartons - if you can afford to it os soooo much easier.

verylittlecarrot - if you use boiling water the powder can clump and not dissolve completely. The teat then gets clogged and baby is not happy!

We found this out the painful way, we now pour the water in the bottle, leave in cold water for the time it takes to change a nappy and then add the powder - no clumps.

I've not checked if the water is 70C or above though, others have suggested putting boiled water in the fridge, then nuking in the microwave for the required time and adding the powder. The required time for microwaving needs to be worked out using a thermometer and trying various timings.

Funnily enough Hipp organic first milk says to cool the water to 50-60 degrees (I think they say to let it cool for the reason that the sealing and shaking of a bottle of boiling water could cause scalding). It also says that "for convenience" you can store bottles of boiled water in the fridge for 24 hours, warm up, add the powder and "...it is ready to feed your baby" ( I notice that it doesn't say anything about warming it to 70degrees, and if it were that hot I doubt you'd be able to give it straight away) - I'm confused!!

blimey I bf dd1 but may move onto ff with dc2 due in July, this is all very confusing...

Well I'm glad its not just me who finds it all a bit of a minefield

I think that it's one of those things that sounds infinitly harder in theory. Nearly every Mum I know brings out a bottle of water, heats it up in microwave then adds formula. Or they bring out made up formula and nuke that. No thermometers in sight.

Both of my children guzzled their bottles if nice and toasty - I would put an 8oz bottle, straight from the fridge for one min in the microwave. This is probably much hotter than recommended. I also know lots of Mums who only serve bottles cold or at room temp.

DS3 likes his 8oz bottles for 1 minute too

I remember when he was younger I was warming his milk in a jug of hot water at toddler group and I offered it to him........he starting screaming hysterically - other mums asked if it was too hot. They looked shocked as I stuck it back in the hot water - but when I took it out about 1/2 minutes later and he drank it without batting an eyelid they realised it hadn't been warm enough for him

It's the same with food with mine - we stayed with a friend not long ago and she served all the children pasta which she had let cool down for ages! Mine wouldn't eat it so I had to apologise and re-heat.

They also only like baths which leave them with pink legs

MumtoHarry - you'll figure out what's best for you.

I know that the guidelines changed between when I had DD1 and DD2 - i.e. that now you should make up the bottles with hot water then let them cool, and store the made up milk in the fridge, but I didn't do this for DD2 even though I was vaguely aware of the change, (I put boiling water into sterilised bottles and left them on the side to cool to room temp. When I needed the bottle I heated it for 30 secs in the microwave and then added the milk powder). However, I only introduced formula at about 5 months. I think with a newborn I might have followed the guidelines a bit more strictly, but once they are a bit older and more robust then i'm not sure it's such an issue - i.e. in the unlikely event of food poisoning of some sort they'd cope with it? Or maybe I was just careless and lucky....

On the rare occasion that DD gets formula, i make it up after leaving the kettle for 5mins, and then leave it in cold water or run under the tap to cool. But, she only has formula once or twice a week at the very most, so it;s not much of a faff.

I'm considering stopping BFinf, and would probalby make up the morning's bottle the night before in a sterilised bottle and leave it in the fridge overnight. If I'm making it up to feed her right there and then, I never usually bother sterilising.

The NCT has recently publicised the misinformation confusing people about the correct way of making up formula here

my theory is that if you use the bottle as soon as it is made up the bugs won't have a chance to multiply but then I am only introducing formula at nearly 6 months

sorry that link was wrong here

ok. read all that. so whats NCT advice for oing out as, warming up a chilled feed is a no-no.

the gov suggests flask for fresh make when out. but will flask keep water at 70oC? and for how long?

this is a mine field.

and fresh made feeds, take about 5 mins to cool in cold water. by which time my LO is screaming with tears running down his face.
(tried it last night)

test your flask with a thermometer, puppy

www.nct.org.uk/info-centre/publications/view/43

NCT suggests a flask, which should only lose heat very slowly.

oh yeah, so it does tiktok. missed that bit

just another question. once i make a feed at 70oC. how long can i keep it in a thermal bag? the bag says it will keep the heat for 4hours. but will the feed be ok to use after that amount of time??

You could keep the water in the bag for that time, but not the made up formula.

Keeping formula hanging about, especially warmed formula, hanging about is not considered safe.

they should be made to put warnings on the tin, informing mums what bacteria could be in the powdered formula and what damage it could cause to a baby, as i don't think many mums realise quite how serious it is not to make the bottl up correctley aznd if they knew im sure they wouldn't do it.

hmmm.

ok so i guess i'm better off taking a flask of hot water and empty sterile bottle.

and very cold water in a little plastic bottle in a thermal bag to cool it down.

OR

cold water in flask to cool down bottle. and hot water in baby bottle in thermal bag.

putting the bottle in the bag would save me having to try to measure out right amount of from the flask when in the car or shops.

right? or wrong?

sorry, if i'm being thick... but don't wanna make baby sick. already been doing it wrong, and will put that down as lucky escape.

Thanks to the advice given on this thread, it's a minefield isn't it? We've had our first FF day today and it's been successful.