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 ....

oh it's very low, tori, the number of cases, very low indeed. although i read a news report about the parents in france and they were devastated that they hadn't been told of a risk.

there wasn't infant formula around thousands of years ago..........

and, er, the human race did not too badly without formula as well...

oh BLOODY hell... a fatality rate of 75% in a netherlands outbreak.

the last link is the best (ie most frightening) one. how anyone could take the chance if they don't have to (micro method... less than a minute ) is beyond me, tbh.

• I take the risk

Tori - you are right, there isnt a need for everything to be completely sterile. For example, bottles, dummies etc dont need to be sterilised, just washed in hot soapy water and left to air dry. Indeed, they can be washed in the dishwasher at a hot setting and then left to air dry.

This is advocated by microbiologists in particular for the care of babies in NICU.

The point here is that formula is not sterile in the first place, and has been found to contain this particularly nasty bacteria in it. So the idea is to sterilise the bacteria when making up the formula, and ensuring that it cannot multiply.

So I can see where you are coming from, but, what you are advocating could be considered to be 'careless' advice in respect of this particular issue.

I apologise for my flippant responses earlier, btw.

tori is actually a midwife, if I recall correctly, but she has assured us on other threads she does not pass on what she does to her clients.

tori - you are talking absolute bollocks (and not for the first time).... you are now claiming that disregarding the evidence-based guidance is a good thing in order to increase an infant's exposure to pathogens, how crazy....

Think about it. A breastfed baby (the physiological norm) gets protection against pathogens in a double-whammy sorta way - the milk comes to the baby direct from the source with no preparation or reconstitution needed, but with a nice amount of skin-friendly bacteria on the mother's nipple, plus there are live antibodies in the breastmilk. The formula fed baby gets none of this, and as a result you say it is a good thing to deliberately risk introducing more pathogens into his body by potentially unsafe preparation of powdered formula.

You are a piece of work, bless ya!

No tiktok, I am not a MW, I am a (common garden) nurse . I am not advocating doing it any way, just what my beliefs are.
Each to their own. The OP said do you obey the rules. My response is no and why that is.

Sorry VVV apology for mine too.

You are a childminder aren't you?

tori, sorry, got the midwife bit wrong. I am sure you said you had new mothers as clients, though - have you done maternity nursing or been an HCA?

No I worked in the PMRAFNS in Cyprus along side RSCN civilian nurses running pead clinics.

Yes I am a CM since having dd1 and I hasten to add that I would obviously follow the guidelines for minded children because otherwise I could be sued if something went wrong. Although Ihave never had any babies to mind and will probably never have one as am now on mat leave.

Without meaning to denigrate the work that you do, do you not think that these beliefs that you hold affect how you purvey advice to patients and people that hold you in high regard because you are a nurse? (ie, believing in the advice you are giving out)

For example, if someone approached you and asked you about making up formula - in an official capacity, or, as a friend asking you because you are an hcp, would you answer giving official guidelines, and leave it at that, or, would you give official guidelines and add a "but I think.....", or, would you just tell them how you did it?

VVV I would say well 'it is recommended this or that' but I just did this because of xyz if it was a friend/family.
If it was in a professional capacity I would just say it is recommended you do this IYSWIM.

so you wouldn't point out the risks associated with the formula? if i was your friend or family i'd be pissed off, tbh.

Oh i see

You see, I feel that when posting something on here - particularly wrt to any advice on infants - the most current guidelines and advice should be posted over and above personal choice/story because there are so many hundreds (possibly thousands) of people who could be clicking on this thread and gleaning information from it.

Certainly when making up DD's formula I just did it however it made sense to, because I didnt know of guidelines for making it up at the time. I'd certainly not post that as an option now, having read the latest information.

Can you see where I'm coming from?

Obviously it's up to you how you choose to do things with your children, but, it's something else to suggest that it doesnt necessarily matter to other people, when you know that this isnt perhaps the case, and that they should be given the opportunity to read the facts and decide for themselves whether they wish to disregard it also. Am I making sense? (its very late you see I really must go to bed now)

I meant to add "It never did my DD any harm" with a huge

aitch
do you mean 70 degrees F?
you can't feed a baby milk at 70 degrees celsius
sorry if i'm barking up the wrong tree have never made up a ff (so have made note of this thread if ds ever decides he will take a bottle) but that just caught my eye...

hi - weamed ds from bf to ff a few weeks ago and every feed has been made up by the book. simply cannot bring myself to do it any other way because of the risks.

one of my french friends told me that the women in france make up ff by using evian (not boiled or anything~). she checked with her french paed who confirmed it. she is currently looking into whether there are any differences from the brands available in france (nestle mainly methinks) and those here.

the DOH here dont recommend doing it that way i hasten to add, but now ds is 6 months, i may relax a little and not do every feed by the book.

oh, and when out i use cartons. all other feeds, ds is on a good routine, so i know what time to make his bottle for.

ultimately do what is right for you is my advice.

Aitch - 70 deg c would be too hot for a baby to feed. Milk would need cooling down.

(onepieceoflollipop re warming cartons for night feeds - try taking it into bed with you!)

I actually make up DD bottles for the day (24 hours) and store them in the fridge but if going out i bring cooled boiled water and enough powder to make it up on the go!