How on earth to make up feeds according to guidelines!?

[CoffeeMum]

I understand that you need to add the formula powder to boiling water as it's not sterile, and you need to kill any bacteria...

But HOW is it possible to boil a kettle and leave it to cool for 30 minutes while your baby screams to be fed??

Does anyone have any advice about how to make this work in real life? At the moment, i'm using the ready made formula cartons, but it'll get pricey to continue that. I've seen advice about adding boiling water to formula and cooling in cold water - does anyone do this? How long does it take to cool it down to a drinkable temperature?

Any advice gratefully received - thanks very much

yes ive cooled hot bottles in cold water. it takes about 5 mins. just replace the water every 2 mins as the cold water heats up.

There is another way but you have to be careful and measure the water precisely - you add the powder to just boiled water, say if you were making a 7oz bottle you might use 4oz hot water, and then from a jug of cooled boiled water you add the other 3oz, to make it up to the correct dilution and the correct temperature all in one go.

I am not sure though why you are supposed to leave it for 30 mins to cool down - I just thought the water had to be no cooler than 70C to kill any bugs in the powder. Something about BPA? Or it might just be idiot-proofing the instructions so people don't burn their babies' mouths (though 70C is still plenty hot to burn, so I have no idea)

it is ridiculously complicated isn't it

when i first tried it dd (then 6 months) thought i had gone mad and couldn't believe how long it took

but i did find that shoving it in the freezer works quickest (prob not ideal for all your frozen stuff though)

could i add a question - once they are older and eating all kinds of unsterile things, is it ok to add the powder to cooler water? i have been using a mix of boiling and cold tap water for 8mo dd's bottles, it hadn't occurred to me that the powder might need sterilising!
i guess that's not miles off bertiebotts's technique though.

I read another thread on this recently I think the reason for leaving it to cool for 30m first is something to do with freshly boiled water being TOO hot and it can destroy some of the nutrients in the milk, but 30m later it's just right for killing any bacteria, but preserving the nutrients.

yikes, glad I asked! thanks for advice. and sorry for sort-of-threadjack OP.

When i switched to bottle feeding i was making the bottles up as i went along. It was so time consuming.

If you poor it in the bottles too hot and then shake once added the formula the pressure will squirt hot water out of the cap. Happened to me a quite a few times in the beginning. I also noticed after a while that my bottles cracked at the bottom too.

I still make DD night time bottle with formula and i add the powder to boiling water then stand it in a jug of cold water for about 15mins.

For night feeds when she was younger i'd make one up before i went to bed cool it in cold water then put it in the fridge until i needed it.

I will be doing this again when my twins arrive, making the bottles for the next feed up in advance.

According to the Aptamil packet here (Germany), the boiled water is to be cooled to 40°C before making up formula - so it can't be anything to do with killing bugs in the powder, you only have to cool it to make sure the temp is ok for the baby - that gives it another 3° to cool down to body heat while you make it up. I can't imagine the powder could be any more sterile here than it is in the UK...

In terms of making up the formula in advance, Dr. Carol Cooper in Twins and Multiple Births suggests making up a big jug of formula for a 24-hour period and storing it in the fridge, heating up the amount you need when you need it.

Sorry - just have to contradict Starlight! IT IS NEVER OK to mix formula in and then top up with water. Constipation/gastroenteritis ahoy! You must always put the correct amount of water in first (whether that is a mix of boiled and cool) and then add the powder.

Blimey, lots of information here! Thanks so much for all your replies. I have a touch of baby brain at the moment - DD1 is only two weeks old! - so i will need to come back and read this all properly and process, and figure out what i'm going to do.

But isn't it interesting that we all have different strategies, and what some people think is okay, other people don't at all? It's so hard to know what is okay, and there doesn't seem to be clear information or advice anywhere...well, apart from the guidelines, but as i say, i don't know how these can possible work in the real world. And midwives and HVs are no help either as they will inevitably want to steer in the BF direction and IME don't seem to want to advise on FF - though PLEASE - i am not starting that debate!

Thanks again for replies

That's ridiculous, Noseprawn. Whether the powder is mixed with 7oz water at the beginning, or 3oz then topped up with 4oz, as long as the end result is 7oz water, it is fine. The powder needs to be dissolved in hot enough water to sterilise it. After that it is fine to add cooled boiled water to make up the volume.

This is the current NHS leafelt on bottlefeeding: www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_084165.pdf

Honestly, CoffeeMum, it is easy:

Keep a jug of cooled, boiled water in the fridge.

Mix 4 scoops powder with 2 oz hot boiled water. Add a further 2 oz of the cooled boiled water, (so 4 oz water= 4 scoops powder), then check temperature.

If you find it is too hot, run it under the tap for a minute or two. If too cold, make the next bottle with slightly more hot water, and slightly less cold.

The only way you can go wrong is if you add the powder to the hot water, then top up to (say) the 4oz mark, because the powder will have displaced the water volume slightly. It is important to measure accurately both the water and the powder.

Just to be clear, we were going to use the closer to nature bottles and their formula pots which sit in the neck of the bottle until ready for a feed.

So, I was assuming you add the boiling water to the bottle and then don't mix the powder in until baby is ready for it, meaning the water could have cooled significantly. We were then going to heat the bottle back up once mixed.

Is that ok?

hollyoaks - nope

I'm assuming its not safe to do so, this is really confusing when these products are on the market.

get a thermos
fill with freshly boiled water from kettle
measure powder into fancy holder thing in bottle
pack bottle and thermos in nappy bag
at feeding time, add appropriate amount of hot water to bottle, add powder, mix

personally I thought it sounded like an awful lot of hassle compared to bf...

Do you not just make a batch up anymore?

The powder must be added to water that is at least 70deg, or must have boiled less than 30 minutes previously (unless its stored in a flask as MrsB suggested)

You could keep a just of previously boiled water in the fridge, add 7 scoops of powder to 4oz of boiling water, then add another 3oz of cooled water. BE CAREFUL THOUGH - AS SOMEONE MENTIONED, IF YOU SHAKE BOILING WATER WITH FORMULA IN, IT CAN SQUIRT OUT, AND ALSO BLOW THE SAFEFY VALVE THING (not sure whether on all bottles but def TT), which means when you use them to feed it squirts everywhere and renders the bottle useless.

I know Starlight - but if you top up water with formula already in it you run the risk, as somebody said, of not putting enough water in. Leading to constipation/gastro bugs etc. I suppose you could do it that way if you premeasured the water and did not just top up to the line - you must be careful though when doing it that way.

I think, in reality, most mums make it up in batches and store in the fridge. Not recommended of course, but the vast majority of mums I meet do it that way.