Just curious - formula mixing instructions

[raspberrycheesecake]

My 14 month old daughter drinks "follow on" formula milk.
Ever since we have been making this up for her we have been trying to following the instructions correctly namely draw fresh water (do not use reboiled water) boil and leave to stand for 30 mins before making up the bottle.

Just curious and it's not really important but does anyone know why the cooling down for 30 minutes? Is it just a straightforward "don't burn the babies mouth" reason (although if that is the reason for our kettle it would need longer than that!) or is there some other reason like the nutritional content of the milk is destroyed by very hot water etc.

I am guessing no one knows the answer to this one (apart from the manufacturers of the formula that is!)

If she's 14 months I'd get her on cow's milk, that doesn't need any preparation.

Sorry I have no idea about the 30 minutes thing.

i totally agree with belgo - she needs to drink full fat cows milk!

no idea but i'd just switch to cow's milk as well. It's a lot easier. just pour from bottle and warm as necessary (or be mean like me and serve cold)

Thanks for your replies and yes we are introducing cows milk by doing slowly supplementing the bottles with a mixture. When she was tiny 0 - 4/5 months she had terrible colic and we were paranoid about it being lactose intolerance. I am sure it wasn't but this is probably a contributory factor to my slowness to getting her onto cows milk. Plus she has had green nappies since we started to introduce cows milk into her bottles recently which I am putting down to teething but it adds to my superstition about lactose intolerance.

is it special lactose-free follow-on then?

No Mrs Badger and I totally take your point (if this is your point) that there are cows products / lactose in the formula mixture anyway so it is likely not to be that as she has got on fine with the follow on milk. As I say I think it is teething and I am trying to introduce cows milk now (slowly). just wondered about mixing instructions and how important they are (or rather the reasons for them)

I think you are probably right. Very hot water will break down the proteins in the formula. The instructions say to leave the water for only 30 minutes so that it is still hot enough to kill any bugs that might be in the powder (formula powder is not guaranteed to be sterile).

My DD was on formula from 3 months. At first I religeously stuck to the instructions, but it really doesn't work for unexpected middle of the night feed (screaming baby wanting milk now). I took the advice of a friend's mum who has fostered babies for years. Every day she boils the kettle and immediately fills the required number of sterilised bottles. She cools them, puts them in the fridge and adds formula to the cold water. Not using hot water does mean that any bugs in the fomula will not be killed, but if you are careful about the storage of the powder and having clean hands when preparing it, she felt the chances of causing illness this way were minimal. I did the same and it was much easier and DD has had no stomach bugs from it.

Not trained or anything but is the reason the same as for other formula (for younger ones I mean)?

In that case the reason for precise instructions are that the water needs to be hot enough to destroy any pathogens that may be in the formula (powder isn't sterile) but preparation with boiling water may alter nutritional composition or lead to poor mixing. Hence mix with once boiled and still hot water then cool mixed formula.

Try the world health organisation or food standards agency website (sorry too lazy to find links but should be simple to google) and they have detailed guidance together with rationale.

mumtoem - the 'bugs in the powder' do not come from the tin being open or from your hands as you prepare it, but from the formula production line itself. But you know the guidelines

raspberrycheesecake - yes that was my point, wasn't relevant but was hoping you might have a ligthbulb moment which'd make your (boiling cooling sterilising) life easier..

What Mrs Badger said

Here's what the WHO say www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/pif_guidelines.pdf

As far as I knew, it's not that you have to wait for thirty minutes, it's that you shouldn't wait for more than thirty minutes. After 30 minutes the water will be cooler than 70 deg, which is too cold to kill any germs in the milk powder.

The reason for not using boiling water (AFAIK) is because some bottles contain a chemical (bisphenol A) which leaches out into the boiling water, but at levels below the safe limit decreed by the EU. using slightly cooler water reduces this leaching.

If your dd has green nappies from cow's milk you could try goats milk? My ds couldn't properly digest cow's milk but is fine on 2 x 8 oz bottles of goats milk per day. It's easy to get from supermarkets but a good idea to introduce it gradually.