Formula - preparing it in advance

[bigpreggybelly]

Please would you let me know how formula is prepared in advance. I know people do it, but the packaging says that it must be prepared just before a feed by boiling water and letting it cool for 30 minutes - how can this be done when your baby needs feeding?

Very confused. Please let me know how to do it. Can I put the water into sterile bottles, let it cool then just add the powder when I need it?

We store pre-made bottles in the fridge and reheat them using a bottle warmer prior to use.

I believe you can store milk in the fridge for up to 24 hours, however, we try to not let the milk get more than 12 hours old.

If the water cools to much, you will have problems getting the powder to mix, or a very windy baby with all the air bubbles he/she will drink.

I believe that the current advice is that formula should be made up fresh for each feed, using water that is nearly boiling (87 degrees is the temp that springs to mind). Apparently there can be a bacterium in dried formula that has caused a small number of deaths amongst sick/premature babies in intensive care.

I formula fed my dses years and years ago, and the advice at that time was that you could make up a day's worth of formula in advance, and store it in the fridge, which I did, with no problems at all. I also used to microwave the formula to warm it - according to my health visitor the advice against doing this was because the manufacturers of formula worried that someone would either overheat the milk or not shake it properly, and a baby would be scalded by boiling formula.

I expect that other people will come along, with good practical advice on how to make up the feeds when they are needed - without the baby having to wait ages for the milk to cool. I would certainly make sure you have some cartons of ready made formula in the cupboard, for emergency use.

I have googled, and found this and this too - hope it helps.

Boil the kettle and fill a flask with hot water. Boil the kettle again and fill a couple of bottles brimful with boiled water then put in the fridge.

When you come to make up a feed put in half the water from the flask e.g 4 oz. Add 8oz worth of powder. Shake thoroughly and leave for a minute or two so all powder is dissolved. Top up remaining 4oz of water from a bottle in the fridge. Perfect drinking temperature.

We have a "one cup" kettle - THEY ARE GREAT! We put half boiling water in, then half cool water, then add powder and job done.

When we go out, I put the half boiling water and half cooled together in the bottle and put the bottle in a warmer bag, then add the powder later. The bottle of water always seems to keep its temperature.

Have just been experimenting with this myself and started another thread on it. Have found best method for me is:

Keep scoops of formula measured out in the wee containers you can get.
Keep bottles in steriliser.
Make feed fresh when needed with water from recently boiled kettle.
Keep jug of water in back of fridge.
Cool bottle in jug of water - drinking temp in just a few mins I've discovered.

For out and about, I plan to take cartons... too much hassle otherwise.

Night time feeds (hoping I don't have to do them) will take flask of very hot water and bottles of cooled boiled water in a wee cool bag for the bedroom to cool down the feeds once mixed with the hot water.

bump!

god these methods sound complicated!

My tried and tested method:
(yes I know the current advice is to make up bottles fresh, but sorry - I wasn't that organised)

1. Wash bottles, switch on steriliser
2. at the same time, boil a full kettle of freshly run water
3. 15-20 mins later, once the steriliser has finished, take the bottles out and fill with correct amount of water from kettle
4. add correct amount of scoops
5. add lids and teats and shake the bottles very well.
6. stand bottles in a sink of very cold water, so they cool rapidly (i used to have the oven timer to remind me to take them out after 20 mins)
7. Stick in the back of the fridge

if you can't make it fresh each feed , then i would recommend ready prepared formula, especially if this is for a newborn.

have a search for threads on this topic, there;s lot of good advice

btw - i'm never sure about adding formula to cooled water, as the powder itself isn't sterile. that's why I faffed about with my (carefully considered) method

thw whole point of fresh boiled /cooled for no longer than 30 minutes water is taht the powder is not sterile, there can be nasty bugs in it, and the water needs to be hot enough to kill the bugs

same as PureAs i did this my child was never ill my sister and friend also did this. i think they advise against it in case you make a mistake and leave the bottles in the fridge for over 24 hours.

xpost lulumama

addicted no the advice is there to stop infants becoming seriously ill from the bacteria that is in the powder
the fact that you and your mate did it and your infants didn't become unwell doesn't mean anything
the advice is there for good reason

andiem - then why am I constantly reading that it's advised to add powder to cooled boiled water when out and about? surely that's worse than making in advance?

andiem the potential bacteria is killed in the preperation process the bacteria cannot magically reform itself. you need to get your facts straight

no the advice is to take a flask with you or to use pre packed only in circumstances where neither of these 2 options is possible is that the advice here

addicted my facts are straight and the advice is not to pre make up bottles see the leaflet in my previous post

andiem - I meant on here.

not interested into getting into a debate. i know i have never put my child at risk of bacteria.

oh well pure that is different then

it does annoy me though - I consider my method of making up bottles to be a second-best option (as the water was always over 75C when I made up the bottles, and then they were rapidly cooled, so limiting the time spent at room temp when bacteria is likely to breed).. plenty of people think it's OK to add powder to cold water, or slightly warm water (which I disagree with)

DS fed every 90 mins for the first 6 weeks - I was going mad constantly boiling the kettle and timing everything. I didn't know what day it was, let alone how long it had been since the kettle had boiled )

I asked for advice on this from my HV and MW, neither were 'allowed' to give me any advice on making up formula for some reason.

if you are ff pure then they have a duty of care to give you advice for the safety of the infant so it is rubbish for them to say they can't
initiallly they are reluctant as they want to promote bf but if someone does not want to bf or can't then they should give advice
I always tell mums to get some cartons in for the difficult times but I know these are expensive

I am not a hv by the way my clinical work as a lecturer is on a children's cardiac unit and we have lots of newborns

Ladies!! Just get the instant hot water machine, problem solved!

ooh have you got one of those boiling taps I am coveting one for my next kitchen