Help - can you make up bottle feeds in advance?

[SparkleandShine]

I'm sure I've seen people talk about making up bottle feeds in advance... the Aptamil box says not to do this (along with a load of guff about boiling a kettle waiting 30 minutes then making up a feed - how does that work in the middle of the night??)

Do I need to sterilise??

Baby is 10 months and exclusively bf to this point, can't seem to mix feed as my supply has dried up within a week of starting one bottle a day! so its bottles all the way now....

Help! - thanks in advance.....

You can store formula for 24 hours in the fridge as long as it has not been heated.
Have you seen the ready made formula in cartons?

Yes I've been using the ready made stuff - I'm just trying to economise a bit - formula is a shock to the food bills after bf!

I sterilise bottles and then fill them with boiled water. Goes without saying that you then have to wait for the water to cool, which can take up to an hour. That said you can accelerate the process by putting the bottle in the fridge. I do them in batches of four/five letting the water cool naturally. In theory they can be kept for upto 24 hours.

i found the best way of making feeds quickly in the night was this way:

say its 6oz feeds you want to make. fill the bottles with boiling water to the 2oz mark and leave to chill in the fridge. when a feed is needed top up to 6oz with boiling water and add formula. it should [fingers crossed] be just the right temp for feeding straight away or if not its much quicker to cool down under the tap.

I put water in and leave to cool (whole days worth). I put 4oz of water. Then I have a flask of hot water by bed, top up an ounce and add powder when feed required.

I haven't got a link but the advice did change a few years ago. Ready made cartons can be put in bottles and stored for up to 24 hours but due to the risk of bacteria getting into the powdered milk it is advised not to make them up in advance.

Well, I last did this bottle mallarkey 10 years ago, but then we used to put made-up bottles into a padded flask container to keep them warm overnight. But that idea might have been discredited by now as Bad Mothering, along with starting solids at 3 to 4 months. Although we've all lived to tell the tale.
Also, I was lucky in that my DCs would both take milk that was room temperature, so the other thing I would do was to put the water in the bottles, but add the powder when they were ready for it. This was useful when we were out and about.

OP it sounds like Aptamil is following the current UK guidelines from making up formula. it isn't guff A few babies in the EU have died from E sakazakii infection which is a contaminant in infant formula powder. that is why the making up instructions have changed. (2007)

In the night you can fill a flask with hot water and bring it upstairs.

You don't have to wait 30 mins for the kettle to cool down, you can run the bottle under a cold tap to cool down the milk faster. Of course during the day you can also keep a flask of hot water was has been cooled own for say 15 mins and use that during the day too to make up bottles.

You have misunderstood the instructions slightly. You should add the powder to the water before 30 minutes in order that the water is hot enough to kill any bacteria in the powder. You can then run the bottle under cold water which gets it to drinking temp in about 5 minutes.

However this is crap for night feeds so you can either use ready made or make a bottle up in advamce. IMO at 10 mo that should be pretty safe, I used to boil the water, add powder immediately then stick straight in the fridge to minimise contamination possibilities. Up to you if you want to risk that.

Clam I remember it well lol when I had ds1 11 yrs ago this is what I used to do as well! I never forget the look of horror on my hv face when i had ds2 2 yrs ago and mentioned this is what i had been doing with him......same as weaning him, i did so at 3 months because he was so hungry.....HV almost had heart attack

Thanks for all your help - the ready made might be the ticket for night feeds and the powder for day time - with the no cry baby sleep solution any luck we might be off night feeds soon

I've never found a cheaper formula - they all cost about £7 a tin.
And LES _ I'm not surprised your HV was shocked. Weaning at 3 months is ridiculous. If your 3mo baby is hungry give him more milk

kat2907 - sorry but you are wrong on two counts here.

1. I've just read the instructions on my formula box - definitely says to allow the water to cool for 15-30 minutes BEFORE adding powder
2. How can you call someone else 'ridiculous' for doing what they think/know is right for THEIR OWN BABY. Sorry if this sounds harsh but imo you really can't go round telling people what to do and what is right and wrong

some of the ready mades are a bit cheaper but its only a few pence a carton....shame tesco don't make formula!

kat2907 - have checked my tin too - it definitely says

1. boil kettle
2. wait 30 mins
3. fill bottle
4. add powder
5. shake and use immediately

Kat, I went with the same "rules" as had been in place when I had ds1...in fact ds1 was under 3m when I started giving him baby rice because he was a very hungry baby....9oz milk every 45minutes at 8 weeks.....and that was the hungry baby milk.

DS1 is now a very slim 11yr old with no health problems.
DS2 is a very healthy 2 yr old who eats pretty much anything.

While I don't advise everyone to do things the way I did, I feel that a parent knows what their child wants/needs and mine needed food...something more substantial than milk.