Formula Feeding Confusion

[Ems0]

Hi All

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and totally unprepared to welcome my little one next month!

I lost my first baby after a long NICU stay so haven’t dared buy anything / do any research etc.

I exclusively pumped for him and he was fed through an NG tube so apart from sterilising a breast bump - that was the extent of my knowledge re feeding.

I will likely formula feed but am totally over whelmed / confused by all the equipment, things you need / don’t need to buy.

Can anyone provide an idiots guide for making up
Bottles / what is actually needed / what you take up
To bed with you in the night to make things easier?

Do I need bottles / sterilizer / prep machine / nuby rapid cool / self sterilising bottles?! I’m
Clueless by all the options!

Have stated UK mum’s purely because I think different countries have different standards for sterilising requirements etc…

Thank you

I’m sorry for your loss. I wouldn’t worry about researching too much, you’ll end up making most decisions based on what your baby is actually like. Some of the bottles depend on your baby and what they will take and whether they end up with colic or reflux. Therefore which sterilised you buy might also depend on the bottles.

We bought a UV steriliser but honestly didn’t use it after a few weeks. We had a baby with reflux and found the MAM self sterilising bottles great. They worked for us because we do a bit of travelling and they can be sterilised in the microwave, so as long as you’re not camping you don’t need any extra equipment for these ones. If baby doesn’t like MAM bottles and you need to find a different option, you might need to look at sterilisers. If you do go camping or somewhere without a microwave or don’t have room for a steriliser you can always get a tub and some Milton tablets. You’ll be able to find those on Amazon.

We had a perfect prep and a Nuby rapid cool. Health visitors won’t recommend a perfect prep but there are steps at every stage of prepping a bottle which reduce the risk of infection - sterilising a bottle, not keeping formula open for more than 4 weeks, cleaning the prep machine, not storing milk for more than 24 hours or 2 hours once started. So it’s up to you if those mitigation measures reduce the small risk of prep machines for you. We used Kendamil formula and at the time they didn’t have ready made bottles (this might have changed now) so I used the rapid cool when out as I would need to make a bottle there. It’s a bit of a pain to wash and sterilise. You can use a flask of hot water and cooled boiled water instead. Or if you get into a predictable routine you can prep a bottle in advance and know it’ll be cool for when baby is hungry. I wouldn’t order a Nuby rapid cool straight away but see how you get on when you’re out and about. Ready made milk is the easiest when out but gets expensive if you’re out all day several times a week. You can get chilled bottle pouches though which are quite cheap and useful, you can make a bottle at home and keep it chilled as if it were in the fridge. These are handy if you’re popping out for a coffee mid morning, that type of thing.

Take some starter kits to hospital, they come with teats so all you need to do is screw the teat on and feed. You don’t need to worry about sterilising. You can buy some bottles and formula from supermarkets if you need them.

I would suggest the mam self sterilising bottles. You clean them put a bit of water in the bottom and pop in the microwave to sterilise.

We do use a prep machine but I know lots of people on mums net don't like them.

My baby slept through from 9 weeks but prior to this I just went downstairs to make his bottles up in the night (I found if I stayed in bed, even sitting up it was easier to fall asleep while feeding compared to sitting on the sofa)

I also have the rapid cool, only because aldi had it for half price. We have found it excellent for days out but I don't think I'd have paid full price for it!

Have a look on Facebook for bottles, I got a pack for free and a tub of unopened milk for nothing also!

We purchased a temperature control kettle, meaning we could boil water to just over 70 degrees. The water needs to be at least 70 degrees to kill any bacteria in the formula, but not too hot otherwise it may denature proteins in the formula (as far as I'm aware anyway!) hence the traditional method of boiling the kettle and then leaving it thirty minutes. By using the temperature controlled kettle, we can make and cool a bottle (we just hold it under the running tap or put it in a bowl of icy water) in a few minutes. We demand made bottles initially but started making a few at a time once we were more confident (you can leave them at the back of the fridge for up to 24 hours, although in practice we never did more than 12 hours). We heated them up by placing them in a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes. We did this overnight as well as our baby only needed 1-2 feeds overnight so it wasn't a massive imposition. Ready made milk is an option though and we've loved this for going out and about. For sterilising, we've really liked the UV steriliser as it is quick, can dry the bottles and gives us somewhere to store them. For travelling, we just use milton. My one tip would be buy plenty of bottles. For some reason at the beginning, we were making do with just a few and seemed to have a stress at least once a day where the baby wanted feeding and we were faffing around washing bottles and waiting for them to sterilise!

Best of luck with everything and I'm so sorry for your loss

We use the Mam bottles too. We have a prep machine that we bought after a few days of trying to make bottles the right temperature!

At a bare minimum you will need bottles (we have 8, baby has about 8 feeds each day so it means I only have to wash them once per day). A bottle brush for cleaning. A steriliser (we have a Milton cold water steriliser, the bottles stay in it all the time - you just tip it and refill with 1 Milton tab and cold water each day), and the formula. I suggest using a formula you can easily get hold of. They are the same ingredients and roughly cost the same. We use Kendamil but it’s hard to get hold of/always sold out where I live. Once you start on one formula brand you will need to gradually switch if you need to.

The instructions for making the bottle are on the tin of formula. We used the premade bottles in the first days and we buy it now to use when we’re out and about as it’s easier than messing about with powder, boiling water etc.

My baby doesn’t like cold bottles so we also have a bottle warmer that we take out with us. To make bottles in the night we use the prep machine.

To make a bottle without the prep machine, add some boiling water to the bottle. Then add the formula powder and shake. This kills bacteria in the milk. You can add a full amount of boiling water but then you will need to cool the bottle which is a pain if you have a screaming baby. So I keep some cooled boiled water in the fridge and top up the hot water with this eg for a 4oz bottle 2oz boiling water and 2oz fridge water. But the prep machine negates this need.

Thank you so much ladies that’s all really helpful information!

And another stupid question - do babies have their bottles warm / at a certain temperature? I have read about the pre made bottles for when out and about and I was just wondering if they then need to be heated and if you have to take something out with you to do that I.e if you were at the beach or something.

@Ems0 no they can be drunk as they are if your baby will take them like this. My baby will only drink them if they’ve been warmed up though.

Some babies will only drink warmed up milk but it’s a lot easier if baby will take milk at any temperature as that means you can pre-make some and store in the fridge.

I combo fed, I did ready made formula with pre-sterilised teats more in the early days when needed / when Dad was taking care of the baby. I had a really basic bottle set up, x6 different ones (3 large, 3 small) and a really basic microwave steriliser for feeding at home when we shifted to powder formula. I made them on demand and cooled under the tap. When out and about, we took pre-made until she was 1 (and shifted to cows milk). I didn’t heat up the pre made stuff, she took it at room temperature. This approach might not be optimal for you as we eventually went to just one bottle a day with breast feeding the rest of the time until 10m, but thought it may be useful to outline that you don’t need loads of equipment to get started. Would also advise taking a couple of pre-made bottles with teats into hospital to get you started too! I had trouble getting breastfeeding started and they were a lifesaver for me.

i didn’t get a prep machine as it would be useless after a year and I am frugal 😂

I hope everything goes well for you OP ❤️

Yeah I never used perfect prep. Pre made formula for hospital and actually I think I splurged and bought some pre mixed cartons for the first few days. After that just follow formula instructions for scoops vs water. I used normal bottles and had a steam steriliser but cold water works just as well tbh x

The best thing I ever did was to buy a hot water dispenser that you can set your own temperature on. That way baby always got a perfect 70° bottle. No need for a perfect prep or rapid cool that way. So all you need is bottles and I found the Milton cold water sterilising liquid better than the steam steriliser. Hope you figure it all out 😊