Is the Tommee tippee perfect prep machine safe?

[Annaa123]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I've been looking into the perfect prep machine for a while. Whilst I was comparing prices I came across a video stating it's not actually safe after a few uses, link below:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1pW6XFkDmSd1S19VVCY1TK/tommee-tippee

This has confused me though as majority of customer reviews are really good and no mention of the water not being safe.

I'm currently pregnant with my first so no experience. Really undecided whether to get one now as they aren't cheap and don't want to waste money.

Any advice/opinions on this please?

I work in healthcare around newborns and have seen lots with diarrhoea when parents have been using the Prep. As soon as I have recommended they go back to making up bottles the "traditional" way, the baby got better. Google perfect prep mould and you'll see why. They don't even use boiled water, so much won't kill bacteria. If you still decide to get one, I'd boil your water first.

Thank you for the reply, I had a feeling that would be the case, I think I would feel safer without it

If you keep it clean, there won't be a problem.

Bottles aren't meant to be made up with boiling water btw, it should be at least 70 degrees, but not boiling.

Goldfishing do you mean regularly changing the filter or giving it a full clean?

We have the perfect prep and it is amazing for us. We use cooled boiled water to fill it up and have done research on it after what people have said and we were happy.

The watchdog story was a non story in my eyes. When the Dr said as much.

Do your research and make your decision based on that.

No diarrhoea here either.

I use the prep and it shoots a hot shot into the bottle before you add the formula thus killing the bacteria. The water is 70 degrees which is the optimal temp as any hotter can kill some nutrients in the milk whereas any cooler and your not killing the bacteria in the formula so its all swings and roundabouts.
If my baby shown any signs of diarrhoea I would of course bin the prep so all good up to now.
Maybe fill the prep with water thats cooled from the kettle?
Convenience wise its a god send, spesh for the night feeds.
Just make sure you have a spare filter in hand!

I wouldn't be without our machine, it's brilliant! I got it for £60 in mothercare with 20% back through quidco but would have been happy to pay the full price just for its convenience alone! I use cool boiled water to fill it up and take it apart about once a week and what can go in the dishwasher, does and what can't gets a good scrub. My DS is 4 months and has never had a bad tummy.

The way I think is if it was that unsafe it wouldn't allowed to be on sale.

I did a lot of research into it (I'm a doctor and like evidence based stuff!) and concluded there was no issue. The filter that's used gets rid of all bacteria so there is no point in boiling the water. I always added the powder straight away (you get a minute I think to do it) to minimise risk of the water cooling down too much. DS was prem and I felt totally happy using it, and did, for almost a year!

To be on the safe side we used readymade formula for the first few weeks when our baby was most vulnerable and we wanted an easy life. After that we used the Perfect Prep and were happy with the level of risk that went with using it. As with many things you have to weigh up the pros and cons of the options available.

We never had the perfect prep with ds 1 & 2 but got one for dd and it's bloody amazing compared to what we did before.

It's honestly the best thing ever! Dd hasn't had any problems at all with it, I think the machine is safe and I'm a very paranoid person

Thanks everyone, I feel a lot better about it now :) it really does look convenient!

Thinking about buying one of these machines - anyone got any up to date views?

Cooling down the boiling formula seems so troublesome in the middle of the night, when you are also breast feeding

I'm a bit disturbed by the claims of mould but is it just down to peoples poor habits and using cheap filters?

I don’t have one as have only just started formula feeding after breastfeeding for the first 6 months and I can tell you now that making bottles is a right faff! I would’ve bought one if formula feeding from the start.

If you get chance to try breastfeeding I’d say definitely give it a whirl as in my experience it’s a million times more convenient than bottle feeding once you've got your supply established. Especially for night feeds!

Good luck with the new baby

I agree with MrsBrightSide, if it's convenience you're after definitely consider breastfeeding. No need to move or prepare anything! And it's free.
If you haven't looked into it definitely do.

Yes @chequeplease this thread has just made me think a bit more about it and looking back, washing and sterilising all those bottles, boiling the kettle and waiting 30 mins (with a screaming baby!) and even getting to the shop to buy formula (£££) while caring for a newborn sounds like bloody hard work. On reflection I was lucky that breastfeeding worked for me and I guess I feel like shouting from the rooftops to new mums to just give it a go because it really is brilliant and so convenient once you get the hang of it.

'The way I think is if it was that unsafe it wouldn't allowed to be on sale.'

Yeah but they still sell cigarettes!

Mine was a God send, I kept it in my bedroom so I didn't have time go downstairs for the night feeds kept it there for about 2 months after she stopped waking in the night before I clicked that I could bring it downstairs instead of huffing everytime I had to go up stairs to make a bottle.

My baby did have a lot of trouble with wind and constipation which I read can be caused by the perfect prep machine although I'm not convinced that was the reason as I was using it with no problems after she was better.

We had one that I started using after EBF for 5 months. I just didn’t want to couldn’t get my head around the bottle thing.

It was amazing. Didn’t have any issues.

I wouldn't be without mine.
An absolute godsend. A ready to drink bottle in 2 minutes with a screaming baby? Yes please!

Top up with fresh water, no need to use cooled boiled water as that's what the filters there for. But it's your personal preference ☺️

Make sure you change the filter when it tells you to and only use the official tommy tippee branded perfect prep filter.

All that bad press a few months ago about the pipes and the back of the machine going mouldy was down to using a cheaper incorrect filter.

It doesn't hurt to give it a quick wipe round the back under the cover every now and again if you feel safer doing it that way.

I have one I've never opened. I have to use colief lactose killing enzymes in my baby's milk so use premade milk as it's only a 30 minute wait instead of a 4 hour wait with powder formula.
I work in a neonatal unit and we do recommed using cooled boiled water in the prep machine and doing a full clean with Milton once a week.

I used cooled boiled water and we never had any issues with diarrhoea.

Having said that, I found it a bit of a faff to clean - there's a bit at the bottom that never seemed to drain properly on the normal wash cycle and was almost impossible to clean with a cloth due to tiny corners. Next time I think I'll pay extra for one of those variable temp kettles and top up with fridge water.