making up formula milk

[Spandangle]

i have just read on another thread that you should always make up formula milk using boiled water at a temperature of at least 70C. otherwise there is a risk of salmonella (I think) from the milk powder
Ive never done this! I often use boiled water that is completely cold, or room temperature at least.

what does everyone else do?

no- i often leave it to stand for much longer - i often put it in my bag and carry it round for half the day before I make it into milk. Which is why I was so shocked to hear the potential risks, which is why I started this topic.

My point about the instructions of leaving to stand for half an hour - it doesnt explain why you should do this or how important it is. In fact from the C&G instructions, it is easy to conclude that the reason for letting the water stand for half an hour is to avoid scalding when you shake the bottle.

do you always follow instructions???? I don't

Spandangle
Hipp has the correct instructions on the packages of the German products. I think they were bought by Nestle a few years ago, will check.

ah, no. Hipp is still a family owned company. Strange that they have different advice for UK and Germany.

I certainly was not trying to be a smart arse!

Advice in Belgium is to use boiled water that is cooled to 40 degree or bottled water. That is the advice on all formula (Nestle and equivalent of Aptamil being the main ones).

I go by the 30 minute but none of my British or Belgian friends do and now DS has started creche they make the formula with cold bottled water. I just have to live with the worry as no-one over here has ever heard of using water at 70 degree even though babies died here a few years ago from enterobacteria in formula

Seems crazy that some EU countries ignore the WHO advice and that companies such as Aptamil can have different instructions in different countries!

no worries peppermint- i am not a stranger to sounding like an arse myself

i am becoming more and more outraged that the danger isnt made clear on the packets

where does the bacteria come from?? the milk must be pasteurised???

i need to go and read the WHO guidelines, thanks for that link....

It is outrageous! I think the main reason that people use cooled boiled water and not water above 70C is not willful neglience but because the instructions on the box say the water must be cooled but don't tell you why. For anyone not in the know it makes it seem like the cooling is the essential part of the process.

Even more frustrating is the fact that HVs are still telling parents that this OK.

Screamer can you take in your own pre-made bottles or cartons for them to use?

Even if the raw milk is pasteurised it's still dried, processed, packaged, transported and then opened and closed repeatedly once it reaches the kitchen. There's no way it could remain sterile throughout that process so there are plenty of opportunities for contamination. Even one tiny piece of contaminated machinery which measured the powder into tins can compromise a whole batch and quality control may miss it. You can't heat treat powder the same way you can liquid.

RIGHT! i now have 4oz bottles of boiled cooled water in the fridge waiting to be added to and cool my fresh 2oz bottles of steaming (but not boiling!)water with added milk powder, when required!
I have scrubbed and boiled my thermos flasks for storing very hot boiled water during the day so I dont need to boil the kettle all the time and for when I'm out and about.

I shall also be on the phone to HV tomorrow about lack of information regarding this

thanks for all the input

BTW does anyone know if the risk IS still present when making up baby rice/porridge?

I wondered that too Spandangle - I think the instructions say to use previously boiled water, but nothing about it needing to be hot.

on my C&G packet, it just says 'water'

You need to make baby rice with formula, so use formula you have already made to mix the rice. If your Lo is over 6 months you could probably use cows milk to mix with. As long as it's only a small amount per day and warmed.

I wouldn't bother with Baby rice anyway it's horrid!

I was thinking more of baby cereal that already contains powdered milk.

No idea about the baby rice and cereal, as I never used it. Presumably if it contains powdered milk then the same advice would apply.

I do think that more needs to be done about this.

I'm quite shocked by this. So everytime I boiled a kettle and let it cool for half hour before making up bottle (as per formula tin instructions) I was putting my sons health at risk? Wow. Can't believe they don't say anything on the tin about this. Am so glad he's old enough for cows milk now.

No boiling a kettle and leaving it for up to 30 minutes is fine - it is mixing the powder with cool water that can cause problems.

No that's the right way of doing it Rosedee

It depends on the kettle but under normal circumstances that should have been okay rosedee.

If the water still felt uncomfortably hot to touch on the outside of the bottle it was probably okay.

If you can its worth doing your own tests with a cooking thermometer. I was shocked to find that it takes just 5 mins for my kettle to cool from boiling to just above 70C. After 30 minutes the water was at 40C.

I think it probably did cool down too much. Don't remember the bottle still being too hot to touch. God what a minefield. So what am I misunderstanding about making up the formula. Have read thread and am now confused. Sorry If being thick but if I have another dc and need to ff I'd like to get it right!

The water must be at least 70c to kill any bacteria it could be contaminated with.

A litre of water boiled in a kettle will be around 70c after cooling for 30 minutes.

So, you need to use water that has been cooled for less than 30 minutes.

That's bacteria the powder could be contaminated with.