Should I tell my friend she's making up formula wrong?

[thenameiwantedwastaken]

Hi there. I'm exclusively bf my DD. Noticed one of my friends who formula feeds making up a bottle for her lo when we were out the other day. She added the powder to a bottle of cold water (boiled and cooled, I guess). From what I've read on here I think that's not what current guidelines say and that the safest thing to do is make up the feed with freshly boiled water, so as to kill any germs in the powder?

I didn't say anything at the time as I don't like to tell other mums what to do, have never made a ff myself and guess she is an intelligent woman who has read the instructions on the packet.

But now I keep thinking of her dc getting ill.

How can I broach it?

[mrsvee]

After reading this thread I am now totally bloody confused about what I'll be doing when I FF new baby in a few weeks time. Harrumph

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

it doesn't say anything about that on the side of the packs, i don't think and i can't find anything about it on google. i don't think most people would make feeds up with just-boiled water anyway, as you can't get the lids of the bottles on without an explosion.

[posieparker]

Best bet all round is to breastfeed!! Until they're old enough to take a couple of germs....(ds3 is 10 mths).

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

what's confusing you, mrsv? it's not at all tricky if you follow the guidelines. why the harrumph?

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

well, yes, but that option, sadly and for a number of reasons, is not as open to all of us as it should be.

[posieparker]

I know, I know.....

Here's another question. At what age can I make ds3 porridge with cows milk?

[tiktok]

The guidelines are easy to follow. The work rounds are easy to follow. I don't understand why some people find it hard to get their heads round them - rocket science and brain surgery are both far, far harder

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

6 mos, i reckon.

[dingdong3]

Amazed we're all still alive.....

Look, life is full of health risks...and we all have to make decisions for our kids that other people won't agree with.

There's no-one on this forum who would intentionally put their kid at risk but the fact is, we put our experience rearing children together with the lifestyle challenges we have and get on with our lives...if we read every study about everything that can kill your child, we'd never leave the house or have any more kids!

[tiktok]

posie - again another easy Q

Porridge mixed with cows milk is fine from six months.

Cows milk is fine from that age - just not as a main drink.

Mixed with foods - no problem.

[Stayingsunnygirl]

Well I have stopped scoffing, tiktok - honest!

I was just wondering how much guidance people get on making up bottles these days. I certainly didn't get any teaching at all, either in hospital or from the midwife or health visitor once I was home and clearly going to formula feed - hence I followed the guidelines that were available then added to the experience I had from living with a friend who formula fed her babies. I'm assuming that short stays in hospital, added to the shortage of midwives and their huge workloads, means no time for tuition in formula making.

[posieparker]

tiktok, are you a teacher in RL? You have a very diplomatic way of telling intelligent (ah-hem) women very simple things and avoid patronising them....

[Stayingsunnygirl]

Tiktok - I wish I'd known I could have used cows milk to make up porridge from aged 6 months - I kept on using formula milk until the dses were 1, though I did just make it up in the cereal bowl, rather than using milk from a bottle I'd already made.

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

lol, if you can't be arsed following the guidelines on this then you definitely 100% inarguably are putting your child at risk, dingdong. i didn't think that there is a huge risk of e-coli from dd patting a cow on saturday, but there was anti-bac there so i got her to use it.

it's only boiling a kettle... lol. why resist it so?

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

by the sounds of the people on this thread, stayingsunny, most people wouldn't listen to an hv telling them the proper guidelines anyway, they'd wait until someone came along with something that they were happier to do. weird but true, given that it's the only source of nutrition for the first six months.

[mrsvee]

Harrumph because thought I had best method sussed (DD1 was FF) but now suspect I did it all wrong! Reading the formula packet it says to boil the kettle, cool for 30 mins, add forumla, shake, cool under tap. From experience with DD1, it takes so long to cool down under tap that we regularly ended up with hysterical baby and hysterical mummy.

Also feeling slightly harrumph as clicked on thread thinking it would be useful and have happened upon typical MN bunfight.

[dingdong3]

It's not the boiling of water that's the issue, I do use boiled water, but I let it cool for more than 30 minutes...shock horror!

Actually was reading that you can make the bottles up with tap water from 6 months...hornets nest??!!

[becaroo]

Cartons are much easier when out and about IMO

[tiktok]

mrsvee - is it not useful to know that guidelines have changed since you last needed the information, that there are work-rounds for them, and that these are ways of avoiding certain risks?

Why describe a reasonably well-tempered discussion as a 'bun fight'? Just because you are discovering you might have to consider doing something different and new, and like you, people resist it?

You can please yourself what to do, of course you can, within reason...but why rail against the exchange of info?



posie - I am not a teacher

[becaroo]

oh, and the tommee tippee info instructs you not to use water that is too hot or it can damage the bottles!!!!

Dont stand a chance, do we? .....

[tiktok]

No, actually boiling water is not good - risk of damaging bottles, risk of scalding, some affect (I suspect not much) on nutrients, more difficult to mix (some powders mix better in water that's under boiling...the powder clumps in lumps if the water is too hot).

So leave it a few mins.

As long as it is under 30 mins, it's within the guidance.

Is all this terribly hard and confusing? Am I a rocket scientist manque for being able to 'get' it?

[dingdong3]

LOL at the bunfight!! I was supposed to be doing my Davina workout this am and have got all caught up this!! LOTS more fun tho!
Agree with becaroo on the ready made - I used it for the first three months. Was way easier and got around the whole bottle making confusion. Also easier to wash bottles funnily enough.

[twirlymum]

How do we know the cartons are sterile?

[mrsvee]

Blimey tiktok, calm down! With DC2 on it's way, it is reassuring to think that I have a faint clue what I am doing and I did have trouble last time with the practicalities of following the guidelines for FF (eg cooling the feed, being out and about etc).

I have described it as a bun fight because there have been quite a few posts where people have been getting uppity and making comments regarding babies dying, statistics etc.