Night time feeds - bottle

[carolcc]

Hi,

I'm 1st time mum so everything is new and scary.

I'm bottle feeding and just wondering what other people do for night time feeds. Baby had me up last night at 1am, 4am and 7am. So tired!!

I want to make it as easy as possible for myself and any tips / advice on what you do would be appreciated.

Hi,

I was looking for tips on night time feeding and how people get around making a fresh feed up every time. My baby always wakes up crying and in middle of night this always sounds 10 times worse!!

Was just wondering what other mum's do - do you make bottles up and store in fridge so you just need to heat it up? Or do you have a flask with hot water so you can make a fresh feed up every time? Or is there something else to make life easier?

I used to make sure I gave my baby a feed at 11:30/midnight and then went to bed so it felt like I was only getting up twice in the night rather than being woken for the 1am feed as well making it 3 times.

The advice just says the powder should be added to water that is 70 degrees or hotter and can be left to cool for up to 30 minutes. I actually prefer to use boiling water because the MAP bacteria is not even killed at 90-95 degrees.

What I did was put one oz of boiling water in the bottle (used a flask when out and about). Then add how many scoops of powder that you need (DS had 8). Mix it all up and then add 7 oz of cold water (don't add the cold water by eye, measure it out seperately and add it so you know you have exactly the right amount). I don't know if it is allowed but in my head the logic was that the powder is hitting water hotter than 70 degrees so is being sterilised but you also don't have to wait for it to cool down because adding the cold water afterwards means it is the perfect drinking temperature. One oz of water always seemed enough to dissolve the powder properly but if you didn't mind carrying around a bigger flask of boiling water for trips out you could do half boiling and half cold to make sure there was definitely enough.

Thanks nappyaddict.

I made a bottle up last night and left it to cool naturally and baby woke up within 1 hour 45 of me letting it cool naturally. It was great having the bottle there and not having to get up and heat a bottle.

I thought you had to boil kettle and then wait 25 - 30 minutes for it to cool down?

I want to make life easier for myself as i'm so tired but i'm scared i'll do something wrong which will make my baby sick.

Thanks

No the advice is that you should leave the boiling water to cool for no more than 30 minutes which I take to mean that you can use it any time under the 30 minutes time limit but not after.

Ready made cartons at night, heated up using hot water kept in a flask.

Otherwise, we got around the hot water problem by keeping bottles containing a small amount of boiled water in the fridge and adding boiling water when making up the feed. It was still plenty hot enough (well over 70 degrees) but didn't take nearly so long to cool. Still a pain making up the feed though so I'd personally recommend ready mades for night time

I bfeed at night but if I didn't I would use cartons, have you tried your DC on a carton at room temp? Then you don't even have to warm it up!

Surely the easiest would be to make up bottles with half the water, cool quickly and put in fridge. Then in the night boil the kettle and add the other half of the water to the bottle so its at perfect temperature. I suppose that means going downstairs, otherwise I guess its ready made formula and a bottle warmer.

Before I go to bed I boil the kettle leave it for 30 mins so its not scalding - make the bottles, stand them in the sink to cool them then put them in the fridge - use within 24hrs. I also have one of those mini fridges (cost about £20 from argos or somwhere) in the spare room so I dont have to go downstairs. And I have a bottle warmer in bedroom, so I can grab a bottle shove it in warmer for few mins then feed baby! That mini fridge was the best buy ever!

After a lot of research I actually found the NHS guideline of how to make formula and alternatives.

So obviously the best way is to make up formula with water at 70 degree, it said in the leaflet that using a flask to keep pre boiled water hot was ok, flask I used kept water above 70 for four hours. Then I could cool it down within a few minutes with iced water.

Next best thing to do is used small carton of formula.

Next best thing to do is make formula recomended way, cool down fast under cold running water and then store in back of fridge. This can then be heated in bottle warmer or hot water.

I find the first way quickest though, especially when making five oz's or smaller.

We make up bottles with boiled water straight from the kettle, cool and put in the fridge. We also measure out powder and put in dispenser. Then when she's ready, we tip the powder in and warm in microwave for 30sec (depending on your mwave). Then we give it a gentle shake to disperse the heat.
We've done this for 6 months, and had no problems with it - boiling water straight into hot sterilized bottles is no problem, and you only add the formula powder when they are ready to drink it.
We get the bottles ready for the day when we get up, and the night (and breakfast) bottles ready after we eat in the evening.
Hope you find a way that makes your life easier!