Bottle feeding logistics/equipment advice

[WildFinch]

Hi all,
I'm feeding expressed breast milk and formula to my 2 week old. I was so hopeful I could EBF but it wasn't to be. So I'm trying to work out the logistics of how you take formula/breastmilk out with you. At the moment we're going out between feeds and haven't done one out of the house. Pumping also takes time as well.
I'm after advice on:

1. how people prep bottles and take them on trips/days out
2. what equipment would people recommend for preparing formula/bottles? I've heard good things about Tommee Tippee prep machines for example. Thank you!

I would do this for nights and on trips, it sounds slightly complicated but it’s easy once you get used to it. I got 2 basic flasks (ikea) just helps if you can tell the difference between them. So for example I had a black one and a white one. Also a glass bottle/ jug for the fridge.

glass bottle/jug will hold cooled boiled water that you keep in the fridge. You will take some of the cooled boiled water in one of the flasks with you let’s call it flask A.

Second flask (flask B) be hot boiling water straight from the kettle.

Then when making up a bottle, put the powder in the baby bottle with a few ounces of hot boiling water from flask B and shake/ stir to kill the bacteria. Then top up with the cold cooled boiled water from flask A which will bring it to a drinkable temperature straight away.

(Obviously depending on how many ounces of powder you are doing depends on how much of each water to put in. I would play around with it home at first so you know how many works for you.

So for example if it was 6 ounces of powder, I would probably do 2 ounces hot and take it up to near the 7 ounce line with the cold boiled water as you need to take into consideration the formula taking up room in the bottle already. My child is 2 so can’t quite remember the exact measurements but it worked for us and was a lot cheaper than the nuby flasks. Good luck, I hope you find something that works for you!

Thank you so much @Crumpets12 this makes sense and does seem quite straightforward. I'm going to experiment and see how we get on.

I think the hot water just needs to be above 70c for it to kill the bacteria so for peace of mind you could also get a thermometer and check how long the specific flask you stays above that temperature for and then that gives you your time window on when you need need to replace the water again. I think the flask I had was hot enough for about 7/8 hours.

You could also buy ready made formula

I exclusively expressed milk. I pumped every 3 hours and once in the night for the first 2 months, then dropped the night pumping sessions and pumped 3 times in 24 hrs; as soon as I woke up, middle of my waking period, and before bed. This would give me enough milk to feed baby. I just kept the milk in bottles in the fridge and made sure I took one out with me if I left the house and would heat up in warm water beforehand if needed (would throw away if not drank within 4 hours). I would always carry a bottle of instant formula with me as a back up.

@Tamboreen that's amazing! I would love to get to that point. I'm trying to build my supply now. It's increasing but slowly. I'm currently doing every 3-4 hours. Do you remember how long you pumped for each session?

Think it was 20 mins but honestly most of the milk had come out by 10-15 mins so probably could have just done 15.