Sterilising bottles.....

[polkadotdelight]

My second thread of the day. DS is nearly 14 weeks and pfb. I am suffering with pnd and anxiety. I tried to bf but gave up and DS is on formula. We have the perfect prep and make bottles as we need them in accordance with current guidelines. If I go out I take a flask of hot water and sterile bottles of boiled, cooled water to add to his bottles so they are ready immediately - initating the perfect prep machine. Sometimes in the morning I find it hard to co-ordinate getting myself, DS and going out stuff ready. Would it be bad if I sterilised the water bottles and filled them with cooled, boiled water the night before? I add formula to a sterile bottle, add hot water to mix then top up with the cool.

Sterilising the bottles isn't all that important so long as they're properly cleaned, so I wouldn't fret too much about it. In many countries they don't sterilise equipment at all. So long as you are preparing the powder properly that's the vital thing.

The important thing is to add the powder to hot water in order to sterilise the powder.

That will be fine

DS is on lactose free milk at the moment which doesnt come ready made. I always use a 'hot shot' of hot water like the perfect prep does but topping up with cool is quicker than waiting for the bottle to cool.

I would sterilise and use one bottle for hot and one for cold.
We make up about 2 or 3 bottles and keep them in the (temperature measured) fridge. We take a made up bottle and use a Frio drinks holder (which is good enough for insulin) for out and about. For DS we didn't have this but used an Avent carrier with a cool pack.

Thats what I do lady and the health visitor is fine with it. I just wondered if I could sterilise and make up the boiled, cooled water bottle the night before. Im not brace enough to pre-prepare the bottles.

bumping to see if there are any more views.

I'd sterilse and make the bottle up (I mean the bottle itself, not the formula), without any worry. If you wash your hands with antibacterial soap first and use the little plastic tongs that come with most sterilisers to build the bottle, then chances of contamination are pretty much zero.

so you just want to do the cool boiled water in advance but will add the powder to hot water?

boiled water in the bottle would be ok for up to 24 hours if it is just for using to cool down the freshly made feed.

Thats exactly what I mean ilove

A made bottle of formula lasts 2 hours at room temp (WHO guidelines) so do you tend to go out for longer periods? Because when I only made short trips with DS I would make one on the perfect prep and take it out and he could drink it within 2 hours. I quite often get out and back within that time!

But he is happy to drink room temp rather than warm. Not all babies are.