enquiry about formula feeding. please help.

[confuzed90]

Basically my baby is 4 days old and I'm changing from bf to ff, due to complications. He is my 2nd DS, my first also had to change onto formula food.

My main question is- who prepares bottles before hand and stores them in the fridge? I did this with my first and all was ok but there's a lot being said now that this can be done and each and every feed should be made up fresh? I'm using SMA if that counts but midwife has said that bottles should be made instantly before feed. Who else does this? Or what do you do? I am a worrier as it is, and would worry that I'm harming my baby if I store in fridge. I know that with DS we stored them and used withing a certain time limit.

The current advice is to make each one up as you go.

The reason is that formula powder is not sterile and it needs to be heated to over 70 degrees centigrade to kill the bugs, then the water needs to cool down enough for the baby to drink it. It shouldn't be left standing about as the bacteria will start to multiply.

Having said that, lots of people do make up feeds in advance.

Sorry to hear that you have had to stop breastfeeding so soon, but congratulations on the arrival of your new baby.

you need to make it up with 70 degree water, but you can then cool it quickly (in a bowl of cold water) and then refrigerate, they say its best to make them up for each feed as you go along but it is ok to make in advance as long as the water is 70 degree, they are cooled quickly and then refrigerated :)

hiya with my DD i made up the bottles in advance but wouldnt put the formula in until it was time to feed her if you know what i mean. I had the tommy tippee tubs that you place into the bottle with the right amount of formula in them and once the water was heated up i would the pour the formula into it. not sure if it is ok to do this now but i was planning on dping the same thing with my new baby.

Thankyou all. Yes I make up bottles with freshly boiled water. Literally when the kettle is done so still plenty hot enough.
I will make some up for through out the night, cool them doen quickly and then refridgerate them and then heat them up through out the night. That right? Really do worry about making my boy poorly xx

How long do bottles stay sterile for in the steraliser? Sorry I should know all this!

lauraloo its not recomended you do that as the water needs to be at 70 deg to sterilise the powder.

re your steriliser and how long it keeps them sterile, that will depend on your sterilser, i have/had an avent one (microwave one) and it kept the bottles sterile for 24hrs or until you opened the steriliser :)

it should say on the instructions for your steriliser, if you dont have them any more you can probably google them :)

Hey OP, SMA sell formula in ready-to-use cartons. The milk is sterile; no powder to mess about with. All you need is the sterile bottle. The remaining milk in the carton should then be refrigerated and milk left-over in the bottle used within one hour.

This would take the worry out of bottle feeding for you - maybe try these? X

BTW, our steriliser is a Tommee Tippee and keeps items sterile for 3 hours.

WHO advice is to make fresh with 70c water as stated by others, but they do also recognise it can be necessary to make and store bottles, and give advice on how to do so. I'm on my phone so linking is difficult, but you can google 'WHO formula storage' and the document should come up.

Basically make up the bottles at 70c and then put in the fridge immediately and leave there until required.

congratulaions.
you can stick to the guidelines, yet cheat...
put the boiled water in a thermos flask.
use the water from the flask during the night to make up feeds.
meets the guidelines of temp but quicker than cooling freshly boiled.

Hi confuzed90,

We used t make them up 5 at a time and just left them t cool and put them in fridge; then when we needed one stuck it in microwave (giving it a good shake up n wrist check for temp), but ds (who's now 10 mths) was absolutely fine.

Although we never told hv that we made them in advance or she'd have given me what for, lol, wen i asked her about weaning him at about 4.5-5mths as he was drinking formula like it was going out of fashion, you'd have thought i'd asked her if ds could have a steak!!! She wasn't happy n started saying that i wasn't allowed t wean him until at least 6mths, yeah whatever!!!

Anyway, he's now 10mths old and a very happy chappy on proper food and cows milk n he's growing wonderfully.

You can buy SMA in 1litre cartons, that really is the easiest way with a newborn who is still feeding little and often.

Then keep cool boiled water in the fridge in a sterile bottle. Make up milk with freshly boiled water at double concentrate, then dilute. It even comes out the right temperature to feed immediately if you get the proportions right :-)

Thankyou all!! Have decided to make up bottles as required for now. And get some cartons in, I have seen them and we are off to asda this morning. Cartons will be for when we go out, but how does the bottle stay sterile??

Any of you know the best thing for your breasts when stopping? As if having to stop as my milk makes him throw up isn't heartbreaking enough I am in agony with my boobs. Don't want to express a little as itl then just be a longer process for it to dry up, so going 'cold turkey' but god it hurts!

Bottles don't need to be sterile as long as they're cleaned thoroughly - IIRC the contents of the steriliser stop being sterile once it's been opened anyway.

Confuzed, for your boobs, wear a firm support bra that really holds your breasts. When showering, don't allow the water onto your boobs (shower with your back to the water), and don't touch your boobs; you need to give them as little stimulation as possible. Take paracetamol for a couple of days and the engorement should pass after a couple of days. Still wear breast pass ^in your bra.

I'm sorry to read about your disappointment for the reasons why you've stopped breastfeeding. I think that bottle feeding can provide mother and baby with just as much loving closeness and nutritionally speaking, there isn't much difference between breast and bottle. Don't beat yourself up x

Should be 'breast pads'!

Hi op
You're stopping bf as milk makes him throw up?
Has he been checked for silent reflux or a condition where 'lid' of stomach isn't closing- this happend to ds
The formula is heavier so sort of helps but the bf can continue if you use infant gavisgon (prescribed)
Fwiw I ebf for 4 months then mixed feed as everyone said it would help (& help him sleep) it didn't... So I guess what I'm saying us if you want to bf perceiver as the switch might not be the issue
Hth and you enjoy your newbie xxx

here is what I did.
Have two thermoses with boiled water ready at all times...one with hot water..and one with room temprature water.
I would poor in a little hot water...then mix it with all the formula...oce mixed properly and sterile add the rest of the water in room temperatere...and bottle is ready ..
that way its sterile and you dont have to wait for it to cool down

Billy -sorry to tell you this, but your method is actually potentially dangerous. The volume of water needs to be measured and then powder added to it. If you measure it with the powder in the water then the volume of water will end up too small and the formula more concentrated than it should be, which could cause constipation or even something more serious like damage to the baby's kidneys . If you measure the water then add the formula powder and mix you will see that the final volume is greater than the amount of water you originally measured, so this 'topping up' method you describe will not achieve the right final concentration.

Your suggestion would only work if you have 2 separate sterile bottles and into each measure a volume of boiled water. One would be hot and the other cooled boiled water. The total volume would have to be right for the amount of powder you plan to use. Then add the powder to the boiling water and mix thoroughly before adding the measured volume of cooled boiled water. However, there's a lot of potential for error, especially when it's sleep deprived new parents doing it, and also the powder may not mix well in a smaller volume of boiling water.

I do measure the water, sorry forgot to add that detail
I have a 24 hour avent steralizer so at all times 6 bottles are ready for use.

There is error in all the methods to some extent I suppose...
I found being so sleep deprived I could not make a hot bottle and wait for it to cool down with a crying hungry baby especially when it is feeding on demand..it takes ages for a bottle to cool down from boiling..
But that's how I did it and my daughter is absolutely fine at 2.5

Sorry to drib drab lines
I used the method above taught by a midwife in a baby well clinic
But she did highly advise me against the readymade packets as she said they contain high levels of preservatives that are not good for a small baby's kidneys...
Seems like the rules change every year though as well

We had one of these

these

They say it's for warming up feeds but nicu told us you can use the water to make up the feeds, as long as you check its still hot enough. it's good for night time and when out if your going to make bottles individually

Better to make properly and store than 'cheat' with the water. I wouldn't necessarily make five up in advance though.

Cartons awesome for out and about

This is exactly why I'm buying cartons this time DD1 is 5 and I used to make up a days bottles and shove them in the fridge, she was fine
I can't be arsed with all this cooling down the 70degree rubbish or you will hurt her. Easier to get cartons then I couldn't possibly harm her !!