how do you make up bottles (store in fridge till needed, or make up as go along) and best way of warming them up

[tinkisinthe3rdtrimester]

hi

i am 29 weeks pregnant

will be just bottle feeding this one
just getting orgnaized
with dd made them all up in the fridge night before heard there is new guidlines about doindthis and that u should only make up as you go along
was thinking especially with night feeds if you make up as you go along wont it be too hot how do you cool down?

That's the other worry isn't it - boiling water into plastic bottles making nasty chemicals leech into the feed. It's a terrible mine field of potential death and disease! I have read somewhere - in fact I think it's in the Irish guidelines - that leaving the water to cool for 30 mins makes sure nutrients aren't destroyed, but it's hot enough to kill the particular bacteria. As for feeding a new born without a predictable routine - I'd go for ready made cartons. You can buy large ones and they keep in the fridge once opened.

i made up bottles as needed for about 3 months (from about 6 months old) and it wasn't too bad as we had a routine going by then. If we were out I'd use cartons, or put formula into cooled boiled water. The first feed in the morning was also cold boiled water kept to the side and then warmed up after adding the formula.

For those of you who are planning to change what you are doing - you really should know this too. If the water you add is over 70 deg the bugs are pretty much killed. If the water is boiling the nutritional value of the milk is reduced. BUT if the water has been cooled to 50 deg the risk is tripled compared to adding to room temp water. If only we all prepared milk in a lab .

I got the above info from page 33 of this WHO document

As for how common it is:
United States FoodNet survey in 2002 estimated the annual rate of invasive E. sakazakii infection 1 per 100 000 infants (i.e. children

Hiya just wanted to let you know what I do. Having read the guidelines and the instructions on the tins I made a choice that works for me. Not saying its the right way (in fact I know it isnt but its a realistic workable solution for me).

I understand the gold standard is to make each bottle up as we go, that is not workable for me. I sterilise 3 bottles, boil the kettle, leave the water to cool for 20 mins, add the powder, cool the bootles and store in the back of the fridge.

As far as I understand the doh 2007 guidelines say pre-making bottles is now not considered to be ideal but if you do dont store them for more than 24hrs. Plus the fridge has to be kept at 5 degrees. It also says that there is more risk for prem babies and babies under 1 month.

To the op at the end of the day all you can do is read the info get peoples advice and then work with whatever your comfortable with.

For the first month I bought cartons, much easier but more expensive. Sma do litre size cartons so you could make up a few bottle at at time then. If you want a supply in the frige.

Good luck, its so bloody confusing isnt it. Next time Im going to try so much harder at bf, far easier than all this faff!

To answer your other question about warming them up I bought an avent bottle warmer which I found great I used to put in our bedroom at night. When dd woke I just nipped to fridge got bottle then got back into bed and put bottle to warm then could cuddle her while waiting for bottle to warm up.

I'mjust going to do the part boiled water part cooled water way. That means you meet the gold standard AND it's faster than warmin gup a bottle from the fridge anyway.
It's kind of what I do with DS1's bottles already. He's 14 months so on cows milk, but he hates it fridge-cold, so Iadd somehot formula. So I put 2 oz of milk in the bottom of the bottle,then 3/4 oz of boiling water, then add the powder to the hot liquid (so I kill all the non-existant bugs that die at 70 degrees ),then top up with more cold milk. Works really well and is super-quick.

morning all.

Thanks to those who have mentioned the problems with making up using boiling water. I am pretty much sticking my head in the sand about chemicals from bottles (anyone have any links to hard facts on this?) but I am interested in what ohIdoliketobebesidethe says about boiling water destroying nutritional values. Could I ask where you learnt this? as I'd like to know more.

It's a minefield, isn't it.

thanks flourybaps -sounds like you've hit on the same solution that I have

I've just read the first page and I have to say what Ang said was what we were told to do by our HV too. To fill the bottles with boiling water, let them cool down, put in fridge, add powder when needed and then warm up bottle in a jug of boiling water.

But then again DS was born in March 2007 so I guess it could have changed again since.

But if the water only needs to be 70 degrees to kill the bugs then why should it be a problem that this kettle only gets to "near" boiling?

the point of the 70degC seems to be that it kills of fa particular bacteria that can grow in the open powder.

70degC is certainly not sterile and DOES NOT kill off the vast, vast majority of bacteria.

I think people should definitely continue to ensure the water they use has been boiled and cooled.

That's what I do bubbaluv I sterilise 4 bottles, make them up with hot (not boiling) water, cool them in icy water and put them in the fridge and use within 24 hours.

Notsoserious- As I pointed out before boiling water in a kettle doesn't kill the most common of the dangerous bacteria found in water supplys though, so 70 degrees/100 degrees doesn't matter,it's the powder you are sterilising not the water.

Although you can always keep the water at a rolling boil for 7 minutes or so and that should kill the badies in the water (if they are there).Bit of a bitch for making formula though!

this all so confusing been trying to stick to the guidelines for the last couple of days and most feeds are fine but night and first thing in the morning he just screams the place down and then wakes up my daughter so i am now pre making those bottles and keeping in the fridge. i am also finding it hard when out and about as it takes so long to cool a bottle especially if somewhere with no cold water to cool so any suggestions. dont want to pre make these as i have no way of keeping them cool while travelling.

I was surprised that 70 kills this bug but from the work the WHO did it did appear to. On that basis I'm sure that reaching 100 deg even for a short time will kill off other bugs that are present in tap water. Tap water contains far more bugs than the powder - which they do attempt to make sterile.

The bit about reduced nutritional value if added to water at boiling point was from the first WHO document I referred to. It is also mentioned here 2004 prep infant formula.

The idea of adding a small amount of 70 deg water to the formula and then topping up with cooled boiled water seems a sensible compromise - but be careful that you are not making the bottles to concentrated. If you add the formula powder at the end you can end up with up to an ounce more liquid because of the volume of the formula. If you add the powder then only full up afterwards you may not be adding enough water.

Personally I am going to stick with adding powder to cooled boiled water and accept that there is a risk but that if I'm accidentally adding it to water that is too hot or not quite warm enough then the risks are greater.

But you always have more liquid because if you follow the instructions on the tin you put water in the bottle.. eg 240 ml and then add the corresponding scoops, which would be 8 scoops for 240ml, that actually makes up about 260 of liquid. it doesn't mean the measurements are wrong.

ang22 when out and about why not take a thermos to keep your pre boiled water at drinking temp an then mix in powder and feed as soon as mixed? It's not as per guidelines but if it's fed straight away it's not different to making up before and storing. Any bacteria won't have time to mulitply.

The way I do it is this:

In the morning, I boil the kettle and fill 4 bottles with 3.5 oz of water. I allow to cool and put in the fridge.

When DS needs fed the kettle is boiled again and I fill another bottle with 3.5 oz of water that has been cooled for 30 minutes. I add formula to that and then top up with the cold stuff from the fridge. Mix both together and hey presto a correctly made feed.

You need to have your water measurements correct though as when you add forumla to the warm water it increases its capacity.

For the 2 feeds at night which are usually 12 and 4 am he gets a carton and usually a carton first thing in the morning too.

Out and about is always cartons too.

sorry but I really don't understand these comments about the formula increasing its capacity when you add it. Obviously it does but if you follow the instructions eg 30ml of water to every scoop and add the powder to water and not other way round it doesn't matter if the end result is more liquid than water you used.
and how on earth do you measure it in fl oz? Are the instructions on uk tins in fl oz? it's all in ml here in Spain.

Because I use 2 lots of water. I use 3.5 oz of half hour cooled water and add 7 scoops of forumla to that and mix. If you look at the bottle at this stage you would see that the 3.5 oz will become close to 4 oz because the formula increases the water. I then add cooled water (another 3.5 oz) from the fridge which makes a 7oz feed or ml equivalent. This will however probably look more like 8 or so oz in the bottle but the water measurement is correct.

If I just topped up with cold water to 7 oz it wouldn't be correct and the feed would almost cetainly be too concentrated.

Does that make sense?

BTW all our bottles here are in OZ and ML. 6 oz is 180 ml and 7 oz is 210 ml I think.

no, it's too complex for me..it's addling my brain [hgrin]
I'll have to stick to what I'm doing I can't get my head round the way you're doing it.

the plot thickens......

Basically if you ahev two bottles, one of 3.5mls hot water (70) one of 35mls cold. Then add the required formula to the hot water it will look like more like 4.5ml, so if you added the right amount (3.5ml) it would look like more than 7ml.
Get it?
Basically just make sure water is measured before formula added to either, rather than have 3.5ml, add formula then top up to 7ml.
(I think I explained that all arse about face too though)