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Infant feeding

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

I’m struggling to understand if I’m making baby formula correctly.

36 replies

BoyMumToBe34 · 13/01/2026 19:18

I use boiling hot water pour it into a thermos flask and overnight use it.
i pour the water into the bottle to measure it then into the nuby rapid cool, I add the powder and cool it using the rapid cool.

now I’m told the water can’t be too hot so the first bottle I make the water if practically just boiled when I add the powder, but a few feeds later the water in the flask will have cooled down. How am I meant to know exactly when it is 70 degrees unless I constantly have to boil the kettle, wait 30minutes during the night when I’m feeding baby every 2 hours and keeping him upright for 30-45minutes. I’m exhausted and it just feels too much. Please advise

OP posts:
Gentlydoesit2 · 13/01/2026 21:21

Can you get a prep machine? It was a lifesaver for us. Press a button for a hot shot, mix in the powder then it tops up with cooler water to get it the exact temperature

BoyMumToBe34 · 13/01/2026 21:31

@Devilsmommyplease can you share a link or name of one I can purchase? Please

OP posts:
Mymanyellow · 13/01/2026 21:38

MarvellousMonsters · 13/01/2026 19:33

“basically boil and let it cool. Then fine to have for up to 4 hrs.”

Actually no. Very much no. Powdered formula is not sterile, and needs to go into hot water to kill as much bacteria as possible. Boiling the water then letting it cool before putting the powder in doesn’t kill the bacteria and can cause gastroenteritis. Ready made formula is sterile, and just needs to be warmed or can be used at room temperature.

Step-by-step guide to preparing a formula feed
Step 1: Fill the kettle with at least 1 litre of fresh tap water (do not use water that has been boiled before).

Step 2: Boil the water. Then leave the water to cool for no more than 30 minutes, so that it remains at a temperature of at least 70°C.

Step 3: Clean and disinfect the surface you are going to use.

Step 4: It's important that you wash your hands.

Step 5: If you are using a cold-water steriliser, shake off any excess solution from the bottle and the teat, or rinse them with cooled boiled water from the kettle (not tap water).

Step 6: Stand the bottle on the cleaned, disinfected surface.

Step 7: Follow the manufacturer's instructions and pour the amount of water you need into the bottle. Double check that the water level is correct. Always put the water in the bottle first, while it is still hot, before adding the powdered formula.

Step 8: Loosely fill the scoop with formula powder, according to the manufacturer's instructions, then level it using either the flat edge of a clean, dry knife or the leveller provided. Different formulas come with different scoops. Make sure you only use the scoop that comes with the formula.

Step 9: Holding the edge of the teat, put it into the retaining ring, check it is secure, then screw the ring tightly onto the bottle. Make sure the ring is attached firmly.

Step 10: Cover the teat with the cap and shake the bottle until the powder is dissolved.

Step 11: It's important to cool the formula so it's not too hot to drink. Do this by holding the bottle (with the lid on) under cold running water.

Step 12: Test the temperature of the formula on the inside of your wrist before giving it to your baby. It should be body temperature, which means it should feel warm or cool, but not hot.

Step 13: If there is any made-up formula left in the bottle after a feed, throw it away.

https://www.nhs.uk/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/making-up-baby-formula/

Do you have to do this every time, or can you make up a few at a time? I only ask because when mine were little I used to make up 6 at once using that method.
As I say mine are long past bottle feeding days just curious.

Coconutter24 · 13/01/2026 21:46

MarvellousMonsters · 13/01/2026 20:11

Ahh right, I see! It should be used immediately though, not stored for 4 hours.

If stored with ice packs in a cool bag it can last 4 hours. At room temperature it doesn’t need to be used immediately it can last up to 2 hours.

Devilsmommy · 13/01/2026 21:49

BoyMumToBe34 · 13/01/2026 21:31

@Devilsmommyplease can you share a link or name of one I can purchase? Please

@BoyMumToBe34 can't do links but go on Amazon and there's a hometronix 5l hot water dispenser for £49. That's the same as the one I had. Honestly it's a game changer for doing bottles

BertieBotts · 13/01/2026 22:28

You are overthinking this, please don't stress about it. The way you're doing it is absolutely fine.

I had similar utter meltdowns about formula prep when DS2 was tiny so please don't think I'm being critical or patronising. It's a totally normal thing to stress about but your brain likes to overcomplicate things at this stage of parenthood.

Just remember it's not a magic spell - there is a logic behind each step and you can follow the logic directly rather than the steps if that works better.

The main reason they have the whole "Boil 1L of water then leave for exactly 30 mins" stuff is because it's a measurable way of knowing that the water is over 70C if you don't have a thermometer handy. The NHS has guidance that its advice must be in plain language and accessible to an average 9yo. This is to ensure as many people as possible can follow it accurately. It's basically deemed that reading a thermometer is more complicated than boiling a kettle - which TBF, even though reading a thermometer is a fairly simple task, boiling a kettle is even simpler. Plus I've never been in a British house that doesn't have a kettle, but not everyone has a cooking thermometer.

The only important thing about the temperature is that it's over 70C. That's the temperature recommended by NHS/WHO in order to sterilise the powder.

Some people get very worried about the having to leave it for exactly 30 mins but this is irrelevant as long as it's hotter than 70C, so just-boiled water is absolutely fine.

Some people claim that if you have the water too hot it is going to destroy nutrients in the formula. I think if this was true the NHS and WHO would include it in their guidance. They don't, so IMO you can ignore it unless you're using a brand where it actually does make it clump up (but they tend to recommend making it with 40C ish water IIRC). In order to avoid overwhelm around decisions like this, I made a point of only accepting NHS or other relevant information, particularly when it comes to risk factors, rather than trying to follow every possible thing everyone on the internet said because you will go mad. They all contradict each other and promise absolutely terrifying consequences. But the NHS advice is based on fairly robust evidence. If they're not telling you it's a risk, it's almost definitely not. Or if it is, it's MUCH smaller than the scary internet post makes it out to be.

The first piece of guidance is to always make up powdered infant formula with hot water.

The second piece of guidance is about making them up straight away if you can, so strictly, no to the "can you do 6 at once" question... but they do give guidance for how to store made up formula, if it's made up with 70C+ water, you can keep it for this amount of time:

2 hours at room temperature

After being cooled:
4 hours in a cool pack
24 hours in the back of a fridge

So technically you could make up bottles in advance. This is what we used to do when we were topping up. We'd make it about an hour in advance and leave it to cool on the countertop because we'd find after about an hour, it was drinkable temperature.

You can also use ready to feed cartons, partially used cartons can be kept according to the same guidance. We used to use a sharpie to write the date and time on the lid (they are bottles where we lived)

And again remember none of this is magic or mystery, the logic behind the combination of the hot water + sterilised feeding equipment + time limits is simply the limiting of bacterial growth.

If the formula or bottle is contaminated (which is rare) then the sterilisation/hot water should reduce any bacteria present to a tiny amount that even a newborn's stomach can process without problems, and the time limits ensure that even if there was a tiny amount of bacteria present it cannot multiply to a level that would make a baby ill.

Arguably the NHS/WHO advice is overcautious, because dry formula powder is not a conducive environment for bacterial growth, you need moisture for that, the risk of increased bacteria levels only really start once formula is made up. The babies at highest risk from formula contamination are those under 2 months old, so there is an argument that after a baby is over 2 months old, there ought to be logically no problem in feeding them formula made up with cold, lukewarm or room temperature water, as long as you're feeding it straight away rather than letting it sit around made up. This is what various other countries advise.

If you can find a way to make the hot water method work then it makes sense as a sort of belt and braces method. But hot water + feed immediately is likely overkill and probably running Swiss Cheese theory (if someone makes a mistake with one step, it will be caught by all the other steps).

MarvellousMonsters · 14/01/2026 17:11

Mymanyellow · 13/01/2026 21:38

Do you have to do this every time, or can you make up a few at a time? I only ask because when mine were little I used to make up 6 at once using that method.
As I say mine are long past bottle feeding days just curious.

This is the most up to date guidance, each bottle made as needed, making formula in batches and storing it before use increases the risk of bacteria growing in it.

Nmumsiya · 14/01/2026 23:42

I think I’ve been making my babies bottles wrong.
So we (my bf and i) typically make bottles and leave them in the fridge for the course of the day
we have started using these prepared bottles and separating them for feeds. For example, if we made a 240ml bottle, we will separate it into 2 120ml bottles. And since they have been in the fridge to bring them to a decent temperature to drink, we have been topping up the bottle with cooled boiled water and adding more formula.
Baby hasn’t poo’d in a week (he hadn’t been very regular before we started doing this) but I’m getting worried that he may be constipated and this is what’s caused it.
we are going to the doctors on Friday but any no judgemental advice would be nice

LifeOnNeptune · 15/01/2026 07:03

Nmumsiya · 14/01/2026 23:42

I think I’ve been making my babies bottles wrong.
So we (my bf and i) typically make bottles and leave them in the fridge for the course of the day
we have started using these prepared bottles and separating them for feeds. For example, if we made a 240ml bottle, we will separate it into 2 120ml bottles. And since they have been in the fridge to bring them to a decent temperature to drink, we have been topping up the bottle with cooled boiled water and adding more formula.
Baby hasn’t poo’d in a week (he hadn’t been very regular before we started doing this) but I’m getting worried that he may be constipated and this is what’s caused it.
we are going to the doctors on Friday but any no judgemental advice would be nice

I have an almost 2 year old and we prepared her bottles for the day and kept them in the fridge. We didn't observe anything of concern by doing this so I don't know if it could cause constipation but I just wanted you to know you're not the only one who does that. I'd stop doing it now though, if you're concerned about it. You probably already have. I definitely wouldn't top up a refrigerated bottle with more formula though.

MarvellousMonsters · 15/01/2026 18:52

Nmumsiya · 14/01/2026 23:42

I think I’ve been making my babies bottles wrong.
So we (my bf and i) typically make bottles and leave them in the fridge for the course of the day
we have started using these prepared bottles and separating them for feeds. For example, if we made a 240ml bottle, we will separate it into 2 120ml bottles. And since they have been in the fridge to bring them to a decent temperature to drink, we have been topping up the bottle with cooled boiled water and adding more formula.
Baby hasn’t poo’d in a week (he hadn’t been very regular before we started doing this) but I’m getting worried that he may be constipated and this is what’s caused it.
we are going to the doctors on Friday but any no judgemental advice would be nice

It’s not recommended to make a batch of bottles and keep them in the fridge all day. You should make them up one at a time for each feed.

“And since they have been in the fridge to bring them to a decent temperature to drink, we have been topping up the bottle with cooled boiled water and adding more formula.“

do you mean you’re adding more hot water to the chilled bottle, and then adding more formula powder as well? Pretty sure you shouldn’t do that. There’s no NHS guidance on warming up bottles from the fridge (because you are not meant to make formula in advance and store it in the fridge) but I found this on the HSE (Ireland) website

https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/bottle-feeding/storing-warming-feeds/#:~:text=Remove%20the%20bottle%20from%20the,hours%20of%20starting%20the%20feed.

Storing and warming feeds

Find out the safest way to store and warm feeds for your baby. Get tips on storing and warming up refigerated bottle feeds at HSE.ie

https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/bottle-feeding/storing-warming-feeds/#:~:text=Remove%20the%20bottle%20from%20the,hours%20of%20starting%20the%20feed.

FrogsWormsandButterflies · 15/01/2026 19:51

I make 8 bottles a day and store them in the fridge, heat as needed, takes me less than a minute to get a bottle in the night.

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