silly question about making up formula

[appletiser]

just wondering - the instructions on the container say i should boil water, let it cool for 30mins then prepare milk and cool it under tap to required temperature.....as baby is usally screaming at point when milk is required and this isnt possible when travelling - do u make up formula in advance and what is best way to store in sterile way when travelling - thanks

if you're travelling go for the ready made cartons. A bit more expensive, but sterile.

WHO guidelines recommend that formula isnt made up in advance anymore, as it is not sterile, and can cause illness, there are some cases across europe in which babies have died.

Best bet when out and about is cartons.

No doubt someone will be along soon to tell you that its perfectly safe to make up bottles in advance as their hv/doctor/neighbour/granny/cat all did it and they never came to any harm

For immediate use I put some boiled water in the fridge. I make up formula at double concentrate, therefore at a high enough temperature and then dilute with cold water. The result being a feed at approx the right temp to give to baby immediately.

I use cartons for going out.

"unlikely to be anything wrong with the formula":

As soon as you open a new container of powder, you are letting whatever bugs are in the environment in it. Even the conditions in which they are sealed will not be 100% sterile.

Each time you dip the scoop in the powder it potentially introduces bacteria into it. The only way to kill any bacteria is to mix it with water that is 70 degrees or more.

Mixing with cooled boiled water means the water is safe - but the powder isn't necessarily.

Making feeds in advance means giving any bacteria time to multiply which is why it isn't recommended.

Cartons don't have these problems as the contents are sterile.

The old advice used to be that feeds could be made and stored hours in advance. Whether or not people still choose to do it that way is up to them but there is an increased risk of a stomach upset to a baby which in some cases could be very serious.

I personally have made a feed up approximately half an hour before I will be using it. This is making it up as per the guidelines, cooling it as normal then keeping it stored in the fridge in a jug of chilled water. If a feed was due at 11, say, I might have it ready and stored in chilled water, for 10.30 or 10.40 (no longer than half an hour in advance). This is not the recommended guideline.

This was only once the baby was 5mo as I felt he was a bit hardier then. Prior to this it was timed to the minute, or I used cartons.

I always made it up with v hot water, but sometimes water had only cooled for 5 mins not 30. Presumably that's bad but I don't know why.

I only worried about killing the bugs which you would achieve if the water was that hot.

GAL: the side of the powder box says its to avoid scalding!

If you use newly boiled water the bottle "fizzes" and squirts hot liquid around whilst you are shaking it (that's what happened to me )

Western - I meant that I make up the formula at double concentrate with freshly boiled water to kill the bugs then dilute with cold. I wasn't clear enough in my previous post.

I've always thought that diluting with cold will prevent scalding and I am absolutely convinced that my method is safer than letting water cool for 30 mins as it says on the carton. You don't know the water will be hot enough if you do that.

Ah yes BrettGirl, I was answering GirlsAreLoud's query "I always made it up with v hot water, but sometimes water had only cooled for 5 mins not 30. Presumably that's bad but I don't know why".

Your method sounds fine to me and a lot quicker. It ticks all the boxes - hot enough water to kill bugs, cooled boiled water to mix.

I think the reason why this isn't touted as a good way to make up bottles is that some people would find it confusing and get befuddled by the making up at concentrate then diluting bit, because as we all know, the powder to water ratio has to be precise.

However if you can get your head round doing it that way and end up with the right amount of water and powder scoops then I can't see what the problem would be.

I make up formula with fresh boiled water then shake bottle with a clean tea towel so I dont get scalded too often then stick it under cold water. for travelling I use pots to carry powder and a flask of boiled water. It gets easier to predict when lo wants feeding so always have kettle prepared. I also find myself never reboiling water when making hot drinks so we aren't usually caught out.

I agree re: the confusion because you have to consider the displacement that the powder causes, which is more confusing this way.

I am thinking of swopping (sp?) to formula in a few months (my LO will be 6 months) and I am at the new guidelines as I used to make all the bottles needed for 24 hours at once and then re-heat! That was the old days though.... LOL

So just to help my confused brain, can you boil water, put it in the fridge (when cold) and uses half this and half boiled water when needed?

That is how i read it and is what i have been doing for my 2wk old. At the mo he is only having 1 ff a day and he has been fine doing it that way

We washed and sterilised bottles, then filled with boiled water. These sit at room temp until they're needed, then powder added. You can warm them up a little before adding the powder, only takes a few minutes. Or give at room temp, which ds2 seems happy with. we also got a powder dispenser from boots which makes it easy to make them up when out and about too.

The temerature of the water should be no less than 70 degrees, which is why it should be cooled for no more than 30 minutes.

When DS1 (6) and DS2 (4) where babies, I was advised by the HV to make 24 hours worth of bottles up and keep them in the fridge. I was also told that I could make up a whole batch by putting 4/6 bottles worth of water into a jug and adding the scoops of milk, then dividing it between the sterilised bottles. I was also advised to sterilise bottles til they were 12 months old.

DS3 (8 months), I was told to make the bottles up to the new guidelines. And also that bottles only needed sterilised until he was 6 months old.

It is amazing how the guidelines change so frequently.

When you are out and about, I found the best thing was to use ready made cartons, and pre-sterilised bottles.

HTH

The guidelines dont change frequently. This change in guidance which took place about three years ago was the first change in decades, literally, and came about as a result of greater knowledge of the risks of powdered formula. The powdered formula may have bacteria in it, and this cannot be eliminated. Babies can become ill, and in happily rare cases, some have died.

You dont have to wait for 30 mins - you can mix straight away and then cool it down (being careful about scalds on yourself).

Diddledumpling, guidance says you cannot sit the water at room temperature until needed, and then add powder - it is not considered safe.

I don't know if this is "allowed" but what I did was put one oz of boiling water in the bottle. Then add how many scoops of powder that you need (DS had 8). Mix it all up and then add 7 oz of cold water. In my head the logic was that the powder is hitting water above 70 degrees so is being sterilised but you also don't have to wait for it to cool down because adding the cold water afterwards means it is the perfect drinking temperature.

I remember the first time DS had formula. I was told to use fresh boiled water and then cool it down ASAP to stop bacteria from growing. They said the best way was under the tap or in a container of water and not to just leave it on the side to cool down cos that would take too long so I put it in a container of ICY water and it still took forever!! I never wanted to do that again with a screaming baby so that's why I modified it a bit.

I am sterilising all equipment

Puuting boiled water into the bottles

Putting the measured amount of formula in sperate pots that have lids that fit conveniently into the bottles.

Screwing caps and teets on.

I then leave all the bottles sat in my kitchen.

When baby needs feeding wether it be out and about, middle of the night etc I just shake the formula into the bottle.

I don't refridgerate anything, water is sterile and formula is in a sterile pot.

Baby takes bottles at room temperature nd has never had them warmed.

I've never heard of the water having to be boiling when u mix the formula...why are these bottle seperator things I have available then?

Is what I'm doing wrong?

DD2 is 5 weeks and no probs

DD1 3.6 I made them up staright away and cooled down and stored in the fridge and reheated when needed.

Gillyan - this is not guidance, not sure if you are aware.

The water has to be no more than 70 deg C at the time you put the formula powder into the water. It is pointless boiling the water if you then let it cool down, truly - the water boils in order to kill the bacteria in the powder. The pot of powder may be sterile, but the powder certainly isn't.

So the powder isn't sterile unitl it has been mixed with boiling water?