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?

It really doesn't take long to make from fresh with a bit of organising - in particular measured out formula in pots and ready sterilised bottles.
My fridge is seriously dodgy and freezes everything so I don't really have an option!

hairytoe if your baby is 8 months old I doubt it matters so much, by 8 months old they are crawling all over putting all sorts of things in their mouths anyway?

OK, here's my tuppenceworth on this. DC is almost 7, and had a normal on-time delivery with no health probs or complications. When I started using formula I made up all the bottles I needed for the next day before I went to bed, so that I'd have a full day's supply in the fridge the next day. DC was absolutely fine and at the time that was the advice I got.

How has the risk changed in the last 6 years to suggest that all this faffing about with flasks and thermometers is necessary?

When I was pg with DC2 I used an American forum (Babyfit I think). NONE of the women on this site had bought or planned on buying a steriliser. I checked the US ToysRUs website at the time and they only sold 1 brand of steriliser, compared with 11 here in the UK. In the US, the only mums who were buying sterilisers were the ones who did not have a dishwasher. The advice they got from hospitals was that the dishwasher would sterilise the bottles sufficiently.

fernie - I'm not really that worried tbh just amazed by the complicated instructions on the side of the packer compared to when I did my first two children.

Out of curiosity (I can be v tenacious) I just called Aptamil helpline and they confirmed that instructions are very prescriptive ie

Boil water in kettle.

Do not mix powder with boiling hot water as it kills nutrients.

Leave water IN KETTLE for 30 mins (at least 15 mins, ideally 30 mins, NO MORE THAN 30 mins).

Pour hot water into bottle

Mix correct amount of formula powder with water.

Feed to baby within 2 hours. Do not store for later

Phew!

This drove me mad when I was giving DS bottles - the most annoying thing was the fact that no-one among the various health care professionals seemed able to tell me why (I eventually found out from mumsnet that, as mentioned above, there've been a few very rare cases of serious illness). But I even had one HV suggesting I could boil the water, store it cold in the fridge then make up the feeds with cold water ( - I mean, even useless new mum that I was, I did at least know that infant formula wasn't sterile). Eventually, because it's impossible to follow the instructions and demand feed, I just bought ready made stuff - more expensive but less stress. But it does make me wonder about the relative risks of keeping pre-prepared formula in the fridge and having people cut corners on preparation because the current advice is so draconian that no-one can follow it (especially since health professionals mostly, in my experience, don't know their arse from their elbow on this one).

Re Americans and lack of sterilisers, a friend loaned me a (UK edition) of an American book, which had a footnote to the effect that dishwashers in the US wash at a higher temperature than in Europe hence people tended not to bother with sterilisers, but this would be a bit risky in the UK (love the assumption that everyone has a dishwasher ).

Yourcall: I think a lot of US dishwashers have a boiling programme as standard whereas the UK/European models don't so that would be the same as sterilising by boiling in hot water.

Whether or not you actually need to sterilise is another matter.

IMO if you are making up feeds in advance, you need to sterilse. If you're using ready made feed, or making bottles up as needed, then there is little point.

The very fact that there is such confusion is a real shame. After ebf and now ff I do feel strongly that whatever feeding a mother chooses for her child, there should be correct,up to date information&support available to all parents/mums from the health care workers they encounter.

This has not been my experience. Or it seems other people on this&similar threads.

The sceptic in me believes it is because bf is pushed v hard&most resources&training focussed on it.

Surely it can' t be that hard to have DOH pamphlet available? Or, for that matter, the evidence/ references that informed it so people can look it up&make their own choices.

PS As for sterilising...that is a whole new debate/thread!

I should know better

Read this with interest as was sourede of stress with dd. What really puzzles me is that advice elsewhere is different- in France you need to mix it with mineral water - cooled
boiled water doesn't work. The thing that still puzzles me is why the different advice as bacteria in formula surely a general risk and not one specific to UK type formula. I would love someone to explain this as if I recall there were cases of sick kids in Europe so it's not a UK only issue.

Re conflicting advice the cynic in me would say it's part of general pisspoor feeding advice

And have to say ready mix when they are at the I need it now stage was easiest but hardly cost effective. As time went on dd easier on routine but not all kids are

And another thing... On the Hipp Organic boxes it says to boil the water, then leave for AT LEAST 30 minutes before pouring into bottles and adding powder. So the water could be a good deal cooler than 70deg. Most unhelpful. Why don't formula packets have to follow the DOH guidelines?

stayingdavidtennantsgirl if you read my earlier posts on this thread i am for making bottles in advance not against. i always have done and think along the same lines as you

All the advice i have recieved on ff from health care professionals has been either non existant or inconsistant. When i left hospital we were not given any information on ff'ing at all. When the HV showed up she gave me one leaflet which covered sterilisation (bit late when we had been home for 24 hours before she arrived) and her advice on making up feeds was to look at the back of packet. (it also took 2 weeks to get the Birth to 5 book which again doesnt have an awful lot of info.) No further advice offered.

I've learnt more about bottle feeding on MN than anywhere else which is great for me but surely this information should be readily available to all ff mums and not just the proactive ones who worry and search around for the correct information.

sorry ive just read my last post and it sounds a bit pompous!

I apologise, addictedtolatte.

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow - did the same thing. Made up 6 bottles like this the night before for the next day and put them in fridge and that was only 3-4 years ago.

Many thanks everyone - this is all really helpful.

I think the government guidelines are drawn up mainly as an arse covering exercise (probably by a childless man) and totally impractical!