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?

I have a newborn and I'm doing the cow and gate starter kits. SMA do it too. I know it can be expensive but its soooo easy at night!!!

I have a 17 week DD3 have breast fed all 3 for first 6 months and then introduced formula. This baby has one formula last thing at night. I have only just picked up recent guidance from another thread on here. With DD1 and DD2 the advice was not mixing formula at 70 degrees, have always used cooled boiled water! This really annoys me because not one health professional has advised me of this change. Have done a poll in the playground of second/third time and even sixth time
mums and none add formula to boiling water.....and we all heat in the microwave!!!! There is something seriously wrong with the system if none of us know, I will be asking my HV tomorrow why they are not advising people of the changes.

Sorry bigpreggybelly it's all very confusing but if you search the food standard agency website for guidance on preparing storing and handling powdered Infant formula there is very specific guidance. Sorry can't do link as typing on my phone and don't know how!

yummumto3 - in fairness it does say on every single packet of formula the directions for making up feeds one at a time.

The OP was asking how to make up feeds in advance..

You are right it does after checking last week, but this has changed over the last 9 years and I am afraid that I have failed to check the boxes daily just in case the instructions changed!

I keep a bottle of cooled boiled water in the fridge, when ds wants feeding I boil a little water in the kettle then straight away add say 3oz of the boiling hot water to a fresh bottle and add all the formula and shake (thus killing any bacteria in the powder).
I then add a further 4oz of the cold water out the fridge (using the bottles measuring marks as a guide)The bottle is then ready to drink straight away.
You can experiment with ratios to get the temp just right for your lo. This literally takes 2 minutes from putting the kettle on.

For out and about I put boiling water in a flask and the cool boiled water in a insulated bottle holder to keep it cold. I take the formula ready measured in a clean pot and as many clean bottles as I will need and make it up as and when needed.

When I used to do night feeds, I would do exactly the same as I do in the day, as it only takes about a minute for the kettle to boil and the bottle can be made very quickly.

I know this method sounds complicated but trust me once you get the hang of it, it unbelievably quick and efficiant. I believe it covers all bases as you've killed any bacteria with the boiling water, you are giving the feed fresh but it's ready to drink straight away at the perfect temp. Maybe I'm wrong but I can't see how this method would be once you are used to it. HTH

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

Addictedtolatte - you do know that bacteria are everywhere, don't you? Including in your baby's gut and on their skin. It is utter madness to say that you nave never put your child at risk of bacteria - as if not one single bacterium has ever come close to your child!

You have bacteria in your nose - do you wear a mask when near your child? Not that a mask stays effective for very long - research has proven that once the mask becomes damp right through it no longer prevents the bacteria from travelling through.

Cleanliness and hygiene are important - of course they are - especially when dealing with a newborn, but as far as I am aware, no otherwise healthy infant has died due to bacterial contamination of formula milk. The babies who did die were already in a very vulnerable state of health.

I made up 24 hours-worth of bottles in advance throughout the time all three of my dses were formula fed. Not once did any of them have a tummy bug. Nor were the papers and news programmes packed with stories of babies fed like mine dropping like flies.

yummum, well.. yes. good point!

Couple of issues:

1. The difficulty for non bf moms to find correct advice on safely preparing ff.I think it is unacceptable!! DOH document is current guidelines.

1. Ultimately you do whatever you feel comfortable with re exposing your child to 'risk'- whether that be sterilising/ff make up/ cycle helmets etc.

1. We have recently gone from ebf to ff. I do exactly as Pirate Very quick once you get the hang of it.

1. Evidence base informs DOH guidelines. If your child(ren) never cameto harm doing something it does not mean it is safe. Some sceptics question all advice (MMR etc) but andiem gave the info.

One question - I had understood that the advice toleave the boiled water for 30 mins so it's about 70C was because boiling water can denature the proteins in the formula?

Is that right? Would like to use a quicker method like Pirate and HerMomminess but if I've read properly you're mixing the formula straight into freshly boiled water.

Not criticising just genuinely interested as I've just started to introduce formula and
the new guidelines are a pain

Personally I haven' t measured the exact heat of water in the flask.

After (many!!) hours the temp might indeed drop. In which case: at home you could boil kettle again or if out&about you could get cafe/restaurant to do it.I don' t think the water in the flask would ever be boiling temp exactly.

Interstingly: I have asked different HVs 'how do you safely make up a bottle' and got different advice. One said leave kettle for 30min;other said boiling water.As for up to whihc age to sterilise bottles: they said till 1 year THEN whispered to eachother re fact that NNU doesn' t do it. The irony and part of a different thread.

From the packaging it seems the discourage use of boiling water in case of scalding (eg Aptimel). No mention of proteins. Though part of me thinks it could be an issue. Not sure what difference the 30degrees C would make though.

HTH

denatured protein is still protein, so that's no an issue AFAIK.

I used to do as PirateJelly did i.e. mix 7 scoops formula with 3oz boiling water, then add 4 oz of previously boiled water that I kept in the fridge (pre-measured so I knew that it was exactly the right amount of water). This made it just the right temperature for DS to drink and I thought it was killing all the bugs.

However, I have since found out that this is not entirely safe as you are supposed to have the correct ratio of hot water to formula, so if you have 7 scoops of powder, you need 7oz hot water to make sure all the bugs are killed.

The only entirely safe way of making up feeds is doing it each time, as instructed on the packet, or using cartons. Anything else introduces a risk. It's up to you to decide what level of risk you are comfortable with.

BTF- Really??No way! Where did you find that out? Part of my non science self can' t quite understand it. Surely if all the fomrula is dissolved then even if ratio's were different the particles have come into contact with boiling/70 C water which should kill bugs.

Oh dear.

I' m afraid I am going to stick with what I do.

I found it out on here. I'm fairly sure that Tiktok told me (as I believed it! ) I'll try and do some Googling and find a source...

I only found out after I'd finished ff and was quite surprised. It seemed like quite a foolproof method!

Agree that what Tikotok says is close to gospel.

Makes mev angry that people have to keep struggling to find correct advice re safely preparing ff! It is a very real alternative for non bf moms!

Would be interested to see if you can find a link.

Yeah, if anyone else had said it I would have discounted it (or at least done more research) but Tiktok...

Can't find anything else out though but it's hard to know what to look for.

I had to stop breastfeeding at 2 months due to constant abcesses. I was also suffering from PND. My HV told me current thinking was make from fresh due to fears over bacteria being spread - think was a case somewhere in Europe where a child got really ill and now milk companies have to cover themselves.

As you can imagine I couldn't think how I was going to get so organised under the circumstances. When I visited my GP she (a mother of three)told me that i could go ahead and make up in advance. I could have kissed her!

Like others have advised, I make up for no more than 24 hrs in advance:

1. Boil kettle and leave to cool for approx half hour. Water should be at least 70 degrees in order to kill bacteria. 2)Whilst waiting I wash bottles and put in steriliser 3)When water required temperature, I fill the bottles with water first - this is v important due to accuracy of volume. 4)Then I add scoops of milk, put on lids and teats and shake. 5)I leave to cool on side for a short while before putting in fridge - this is only part not sure of as HV told me to cool before refrigerating and 2 doctors said not to as fridges now don't raise rapidly in temp. I tend to hedge bets and do something between the two!

DS has never been ill but I will note that he was a sturdy 9 and a half pounds when born and was two weeks late - if he had been really small or premature I would have exercised more caution.

When out and about, have noticed friends take milk powder in a dispenser then mix with flask of 70 degrees water. They then have to cool, involving asking for cold water and waiting. My DS is impatient so i just use cartons when out. Costly, but only using a few times a week at most.

Hope this helps - remember is just my opinion ('Though after lots of research).

PS Absolutely no offence to anyone here, but really would not advise mixing powder with water that is cooler than 70/left in fridge even if previously boiled. The water itslf may be sterile, but this is not the main issue - the water needs to be hot enough to kill any bacteria.

Doctors and HV also said water should not be boiling when mixed with powder as at 100 degrees some of the vitamins and minerals may be destroyed. :-)

I have no idea if I am making some kind of horrible mistake but I but the water in the bottles in the fridge and then just add the powder when I need it. I have done it this way for all of my three and never had any probs. I have a minifridge upstairs and a spare box of formula for the night bottles (we live in three floor house and sleep in the top couldnt be bothered going up and down.

lol, most of this thread is bollocks!

mosschops has ff all her babies, the 1st 2 the advice was to make up all feeds and store in fridge.
Adsvice for 3rd baby is to make up feeds as you need them.

So - make up all bottle with cooled boiled water, put in fridge, add formula when you use each bottle.

Its ridiculous to suggest you boil a fresh kettle every time, then make feed up and cool it down immediately to give to baby. What do you do with screaming baby whilst this is going on? How would you manage this in the middle of the night? Plus my steriliser says that items only remain sterile for 3 hours, so therefore youd have to sterilise each bottle at a time too.

Like I said ..... bollocks

now I have actually read the whole thread I am shocked at how many different ways there are to do this!. I have to say that everyone I know either adds formula to cold water or makes feeds up ahead. I cant see its that practical to boil water wait for it to cool for 30 minutes and add the milk when it gets to the exact right temp? the baby would have screamed itself into a fit by then!. My babies have never had regular eating patterns so I would have been constantly waiting for bottles to cool.

lol mosschops posted at same time

Might sound bollovks but that is the official doh advice. Just started ff after 8 months of bf and was stunned myself.

Didn't realise the water could be too hot!!! Thought it was just a risk of scalding.

By the way, don't understand the half hour cooling to 70 degrees. Depends how much water in kettle surely? If you only put enough water in kettle for bottle it would be lot less than 70 degrees after half an hour. Are you supposed to fill kettle each time?

which is why its bollocks hairy because none of it really makes sense.
Just make em up with water and stick em in fridge.
In a years time theyll be getting kisses from the dog and eating dirt out the garden