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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

confused about new way for making up bottles!!

54 replies

nappyaddict · 07/04/2008 13:29

is this right? you have to boil the water, leave it to cool for 30 mins and then add the powder after 30 mins? how does that work with a screaming hungry baby!!

OP posts:
cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 13:37

No, the water should be boiled, and then added to the powder within 30 minutes, so that the water is above 70'C. This is to ensure that any bacteria in the powder is killed off.

You can do this by keeping boiled water in the fridge in a sterilised container, and then doing the powder plus boiling water, and then adding the cooled, boiled water to it after mixing the powder and the hot water.

Quicker than warming a bottle, and safe too.

MerlinsBeard · 07/04/2008 13:37

how it works is this.... boil the kettle from full in the morning, fill all bottles for the day and leave to cool. when needed put forumla in and heat in a jug of hot water if needed

Dragonbutter · 07/04/2008 13:39

what? when did this happen?
i make up sterile bottles with boiled water in the morning. then just warm up and add powder when i need them.
is this not how to do it anymore?

MrsBadger · 07/04/2008 13:40

mumofmonsters, that's not what it means

Catilla · 07/04/2008 13:41

I thought that if you added the powder just before feeding, bacteria in the powder wasn't a concern. You should never use a feed which has been made-up for over an hour though.

Original poster
nappyaddict · 07/04/2008 13:45

oh so i can add the powder straight after boiling the kettle if i want? i don't have to leave it to cool for the whole 30 mins? someone told me it was the boiling of the water and allowing it to cool that helped kill the bacteria.

OP posts:
mummyhill · 07/04/2008 13:48

All sounds bloody confusing and one more thing to beat mums over the head with to me. Does this mean you cannot make your bottles up for the day and keep them in fridge till you are ready to use them anymore, or take cooled boiled water and a pre measured sachet out with you?

claraquitetirednow · 07/04/2008 13:48

????? I make up the bottles with water in the morning (or night before or whatever), add the powder when needed, heat up to required temp and feed.

Please don't tell me we can't do this anymore.

Next they'll be telling us we should be weaning at 4 months after all, or that it's ok to have a glass of wine while you are pregnant, or that peanuts during pregnancy don't give you a life-long peanut allergy or.....

spugs · 07/04/2008 14:00

i make mine up and stick them all in the fridge then heat them up when i need them. for over night or if im going out i just put the boiling water in and then leave them on the side. when baby needs a feed i put in the powder from one of those tub things. did this with the last two dds as well.

biglips · 07/04/2008 14:02

i used to boil the water, pour it in the bottle, added the formula, shake it and then run it under the cold tap water till cooled. i used to make 2 or 3 bottles at a time, i leave the others to cool down by themselves.

hazeyjane · 07/04/2008 14:10

Either

Keep bottles of cooled boiled water in the fridge - when needed, microwave for about a minute until hot enough to kill bacteria - add formula - shake - stick in bowl of cold water to cool

or

Keep bottle of cooled water in fridge - mix formula with half the amount of heated water - shake - top up with measured out amount of cold water ( eg put 4 oz hot water in bottle, mix with 7 scoops of formula then add 3 oz of cold water )

or

boil kettle - put water in bottle - stick in bowl of cold water for 5 mins - add formula -shake - put back in cold water until cool enough.

All of these take a few minutes, so unfortunately the baby does have to scream for a bit - sorry!

or use cartons of ready made, instant so no screaming!

hazeyjane · 07/04/2008 14:12

Sorry, by the time I had written my post, everyone else had typed theirs - must be very slow!

BTW I've found that if you add formula to just boiled water, the powder sticks to the scoop, and it is also a bit hazardous shaking it!

cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 14:13

The advice from the department of health were issued in November 2005, and were in response to some babies who died as a result of infection by bacteria in milk powder.

The advice is here

Original poster
nappyaddict · 07/04/2008 14:18

ah so it's wrong about needing to leave it for 30 mins to allow the bacteria to be killed. you just can't leave it for more than half an hour. so in theory if you wanted you could add the powder as soon as it has been boiled. that's what i do anyway. when ds had night feeds i would boil the water leave it for about 20 mins then pour it into a flask so it keeps the water at the slightly cooler than boiling temperature which made it quicker to cool in the night. i think that's ok.

OP posts:
MissingMyHeels · 07/04/2008 14:23

Powdered infant formula milk is not sterile and there has been international concern about the risk to babies, who are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illness, if harmful bacteria such as Enterobacter sakazakii are present in these products.

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 was told that the water should be room temp by my midwife though, think it confuses everyone!

RGPargy · 07/04/2008 15:14

So can you or can you NOT make up bottles for the day, stick them in the fridge and then heat when needed??

cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 15:15

No.

cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 15:16

As in, it is safest to make them up individually, using near boiling water to dissolve the powder.

MrsBadger · 07/04/2008 15:17

you should NOT

what you CAN do is make up bottles of boiled water
then at each feed
microwave till >70ºC (do a test run with a thermometer and your micro)
add powder
cool under cold tap

RGPargy · 07/04/2008 15:31

Oh right! Funny how things change! 17 years ago, you made them up for the next 24 hours and stuck them in the fridge! I wont be doing that now that i've read this when DD goes on to formula!

sassie23 · 07/04/2008 15:45

this is just so confusing and at least now I know what Im doing it does not explain this clearly n the back of the formula packet

cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 15:53

The manufacturers of formula have been given a warning about not having the correct instructions on the packets, and have a deadline for complying.

Babymilk Action did a secret shopper call round the manufacturers recently and they still didn't give the right advice.

mummyhill · 07/04/2008 16:20

Right this one is deffinatly being breat fed I can't be arsed with all that faffing around what do you do when you go out?

Catilla · 07/04/2008 16:56

How much is some of this just the modern politically-correct, health-and-safety view??

Powder has to be added when the water is close to boiling (70-100C) in order to kill bacteria.
But you shouldn't feed formula that was made up more than an hour ago, because bacteria love to grow in warm milky conditions.
Assuming they weren't all killed, or more appear from hands/mouths/air etc.

Basically it's not feasible to follow all the guidelines AND pacify screaming baby AND go out, ever, AND stay sane.

So each person just has to decide for themselves how best to cope.

There is another dilemma, BTW, if you do decide to keep water/formula in teh fridge: if you don't cool the water/formula quickly, bacteria will start to breed in the warm mixture. But if you put it in the fridge when hot, your fridge has to work harder.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaragh!

cmotdibbler · 07/04/2008 19:15

Politically correct ? Well, some babies in western europe are known to have died in a preventable way by taking a little more time to make up feeds. I'm sure their parents would be happy to comment on whether its worth it or not.