made up formula life span

[TracyK]

It says on the packet to use up the milk within an hour of making it up.
I sometimes make it up at bed time for during the night and if not used then I give it to ds as a top up to bf in the morning.
Is this ok?

It's fine to make it up, not warm it and keep it in the fridge for, I think 24 hours. It's once it's warm that its lifespan is an hour as bacteria breed more effectively in warm milk. I keep cold bottles of water in bottles in the fridge and only make them up when I need them.

You can make up formula and keep it in the fridge for 24 hrs.

Once you've taken it out of the fridge and warmed it up a little, then you are supposed to use it within an hour or else discard it (you know if they drink half the bottle, only use the rest if it's within the hour).

What formula is it? I've never heard of using within an hour of making it up.

But if you're warming it and then not using it during the night and it's hanging about in your room, then no, I'd make a fresh one.

if you make up formula to use later you should keep it in the fridge

I think the best thing to do is to get one of those little formula containers from mothercare (you can measure out 3 bottles worth of dry powder)

then just pour the right amount of boiled water into the bottle and take the bottle and powder to bed .. then if DS wakes up you can mix the 2 and serve at room temp and if he doesn't you can use the bottles during the day

(I used to do 6 bottles of boiled water in the morning and measure 2 of the holders out .. I always left the bottles on the side and just mixed and served when it was feed time . that way if I went out I'd just grab the number of bottles and formula containers I'd need)

Oops, crossed with WWW!

Twiglett - I always just made them up, powder mixed in and then kept them in the fridge.

Now I'm a lazy cow and use cartons

Oooh, 3 posts saying the same thing but I was just that little bit quicker than you two!

Agree with Twiglett - make up the boiled water and just add the powder 'to order' when required. It's so easy I can't think why everyone doesn't do this.

Hi Tracy,

Basically if you refrigerate it you can keep it for 24 hours. However, once your ds has started to drink from it then it needs to be used or discarded after an hour as any germs from his mouth can get into the bottle. After an hour the risk is that any germs will have grown in quantity and there may be the risk of infection.

Mandy

Those things from Mothercare are fab, especially when you're out.

does the powder dissolve in cold water? I've always heated the water in the microwave first as I thought the powder wouldn't mix in cold??

yep .. just give it a good shake

the water will be room temp not fridge cold ..

I never heated a bottle for DS in my life

It does but dissolves better in room temp or warm water but you don't need to keep a cold bottle by the bed, you can have a room temp one and then add powder as needed.

Oh right - I just hate the waste - if he leaves a few ounces at 7 he gets it for his dream feed at 10.30. Then if any left again he gets it at 6am. May go back to cartons - they're easier - although he's still alive and no dodgy tummies and I've been doing it on an off for 3 months or so.

Yup, totally fine at room temperature. Mixes fine. I never ever heated a bottle for ds. However, now he is three, he likes his milk warmed in the microwave. How did that happen???

How old is your baby. The European Food Safety people are now recommending that only ready made formula is used for newborns and prem babies and that for older babies each feed is made up as you need it, not stored in advance.

This is because formula milk powder is not a sterile product, wit is just prodiced under normal factory conditions,whereas readymade milk is. A couple of babies have died in France recently becasue of bacteria found in milk powder.

This advice doesn't seem to have filtered down to the UK properly as yet and there is some concern that the welfare food scheme will not take account of the fact that ready made milk is a lot more expensive than standard formula.

I used to make up feeds 24 hours in advance, but I never left them out of the fridge for more than an hour. If I had known then what I do now I would have made each feed fresh. My mum always made each feed fresh and couldn't beleive the advice I was given about keeping them.

ds is 10 mo - does that mean cartons are ok?

Carton milk is sterile so therefore classed as safer. Once you open the carton it can be refigerated and kept for up to 24 hours, or used within an hour.