Honesty time - who is making formula in advance?

[redxlondon]

I just can’t see how when baby is screaming hungry I can make formula fresh. So I make up bottles and store in fridge, then heat when ready to serve. I do this twice a day, so ones for night I make before bed, and ones for the day in the morning. A friend said to buy the TT perfect machine, but that sounds like it comes with health concerns too so I don’t see how it would be better?

What’s your experience?

I'm a fan of both ways, with the prep machine you don't have to pre make them, or flash cool. You just make a bottle when its needed and it takes about 30 seconds. No waste as you don't make a bottle you may not use or if you need an extra bottle it's easier to do.

I thought the water had to be hot to kill the bacteria in the formula?

First kid- made up 6 bottles at a time (steriliser capacity) and used to microwave them to take chill off.
Second kid- perfect prep.

So long as you are making the bottle to the instructions on the box - with very hot/over 70c water mixing with the powder - the risk of cooling quickly and storing in the fridge is very low.

I used to either make one ahead, or make with half boiling water half cold water.

Boiling tap water is to kill any bacteria in the water.

Adding the powder to very hot water is to kill any bacteria in the powder.

I have had pre mixed formula ready for these screaming hungry moments

The prep machine is absolutely fine! It uses boiling water...load of rubbish that it has health concerns. I trust the machine better than my own ability to make it to the right temperature 😂. Honestly, it's a lifesaver. People make too much fuss, if it wasn't safe there would be babies ill all over the place and they wouldn't be allowed to sell it.

I did but my Dd is 26 now. Guidelines I believe have changed regarding the risk of bacteria in formula powder.

I did the same as you. DD now 2 and absolutely fine. I also heated them up in the microwave and still do her cows milks now that she has before bed, I know terrible mother shoot me now 🤣

Same as you, OP, made them up twice a day..also heated them in the microwave. And took the.nihjt time bottles up to bed in a cool bag with a freezer pack in, and at each feed I just took the next bottle out and left it on the side to warm up.

We boiled it on the evening let sit for 30mins then filled the bottles with the water, was OK for 24hrs

It was our health visitor who told us

Well it basically depends on which generation you have kids coz the rules change all the bloody time!
The way you do it is the way it used to be done.
I used a prep machine and I was told not to by a health visitor but I said I don't believe for one minute there aren't 100's of health visitors using them as they are a genius invention.
Do whatever you are comfortable with.
What you are doing is no different from buying ready to use bottles from the shop.

The current guidance for making bottles has been on the boxes for at least 15 years though!

The difference with the ready made bottles is they are UHT so sterile. Powered milk isn't.

I pre-make 6 every morning and keep in fridge. Each time one is finished, I take the next one out the fridge so it's not too cold for the next feed.

This hasn't been the guidance for a long time now, 15+ years, as the risk from the powder is more of a worry than the tap water.

The guidance to boil a litre of water and leave for no longer than 30 minutes is so the water is over 70 degrees, hot enough to kill bacteria in the powder.

It's safer to make up the milk with 70+ water and then cool and store in the fridge, rather than adding powder to cold water.

I always made up enough feeds for 24 hours the night before, cooled them and stored them in the fridge. That was 8 bottles before they were weaned.

I used to warm each one in the microwave for about 30 - 40 seconds and give it a good shake to disperse any hotspots.

I always did it that way and I never had a problem. My "children" are all in their twenties now and seem to have survived unscathed. They were very rarely ill as babies.

Yeah that's what we did

Confession time for me - I never made formula in advance. But I would sterilise the bottles, fill them with boiled water, let them cool to room temperature and add formula powder on demand so it was a fresh feed each time.

I read a lot into this and know it goes against all UK advice, but I read that other countries do this and was assured that viral load would be very low in a fresh feed even if present. I was also concerned about the hot water destroying nutrients in the feed.

I did this with all 3 babies and they were all fine and never got an upset tummy until they were well past the formula feeding stage!

We usually made a few at a time. Usually the daytime bottles at breakfast time and the overnight ones just before bed. We never had an issue with him being ill. We made sure we were on top of cleaning and sterilising the bottles properly so we were only taking one risk at a time.

I used a perfect prep. I didn’t really have concerns as we followed all the instructions and cleaning recommendations, and everyone we knew who had used formula had one. We had it upstairs for night feeds when my son was little. I used to pre-measure the formula and then it’s just a matter of unscrewing the lid, press a button, shake, press a button, shake again and your bottle is ready to go. It was faster than warming pre-made.

I don't use a prep machine, but we did buy the Nuby cooler bottle thingy for £30 (loads on marketplace though), I can't remember what it's called, we just make the bottle with boiling water & throw it in the nuby for about 2 mins to cool.

I boil the kettle then half goes into a flask to stay hot and the other goes into a glass bottle to go cold. When it's time to feed I just put the powder in then add the hot water and mix. Then top up with the cool water. It's very quick and is the perfect temp to feed right away. I'll top up the flask as and when the water starts to cool down (usually after 6 hrs) and change the cool water atleast twice a day.

We used ready made bottles for the night and also a pre machine. I don’t really believe there’s any issue with it unless you don’t change the filter when you’re meant to. We’re one of the few countries where we sterilise past the very early first few weeks anyway. I don’t think they do it in the states for as long as us.

This is exactly what I did too, no problems at all .

Have a flask of boiling water and pre measured cooled boiled water in bottles like this (can get different sizes)

amzn.eu/d/aU01xab

Mix formula with 30% hot water from flask and then add remaining 70% cooled boiled water. Play around with this ratio depending on your babies preference of milk temp

Bottles made fresh instantly