Bottle feeding

[AmyG87]

Hi ladies.

I'm currently 39+2 weeks pregnant & wanting some advice on bottle feeding.

I decided long ago that I will be bottle feeding so please no judgement or questioning why I'm not breast feeding!

I have been told by the midwife that you have to make each bottle fresh & that you can't pre-make the bottles & store in the fridge until needed... I think that this is a new 'recommendation.'

I just wondered what you ladies actually do about this?? I can't see this working in the middle of the night whilst baby is screaming for a feed! My plan was to make some bottles up before I go to bed, store in the fridge, then when baby is due a feed, warm the bottle up - I have a Tommee Tippee bottle warmer that came with the steriliser.

My view is that if you aren't allowed to warm bottles up, then surely they wouldn't be able to sell a bottle warmer??

Thanks in advance x

Not everything on sale means it's the recommended/safest thing for your baby! Remember that. Massive advice.

However, in an nhs book I got I read that "in exceptional circumstances" bottles can be made up, quickly cooled and then stored at the back of the fridge (where it's coldest- don't store at front or in fridge door). We made up all bottles fresh during the day then did night bottles in the fridge. Warmed up with boiled water in a jug and plonked bottle in- essentially the same as an expensive bottle warmer. Bottle can be out of the fridge at night for an hour then needs to be discarded.

We use the Tommee Tippee closer to nature machine, super quick to make a bottle. It's not cheap but if you're formula feeding from the outset it's worth it. And you can always buy bottles of aptamil if you're in a hurry?

Yes not all things on sale mean they are safe or recommended.

Advice is that the safest thing is to make each bottle fresh but this isn't always possible or practical, the next best thing is to make bottles up with hot water no more than 24 hours in advance, cool quickly and store In'm the back of the fridge.

You can buy mini ready made bottles of some formula brands in bulk in mother care, I believe?

I didn't bottle feed bit I think if I did I would make each bottle up as soon as my baby finished the last one so there's always one ready to go. The recommendations are about minimising the risk of bacteria growth so are fairly similar to other foods, make sure you use clean utensils and avoid contamination, use hot water to kill germs in the powder, then avoid it sitting in the danger zone for too long - that's anywhere between 5 and 60 C. So room temperature is no good and anything warmer is worse. Lastly discard any partially drunk formula after 2 hours.

I use a prep machine (about £80), this seems to be the 'safest' way to do a bottle. Takes about 2 mins to make a feed. It's a bloody godsend!
Your not meant to keep a bottle open for more than 2 hours due to the increased risk of Bacteria growing. Your meant to use a shot of hot water, add the powder (which kills of the bacteria in the powder), and then top up with cooled boiled water.
I think everyone does stuff differently, and you will find so many people saying well I did this and my dc survived.
Just go with what works best for you. If you don't want to make bottles up you can buy ready made ones. These are about £6 for 6 70ml bottles and can be drunk warm or cold. Or you can get what's classed as a 'pack' which includes teats. You probably won't be allowed powder formula in the hospital, same with bottles, so best to check and if not buy the starter packs.

We started bottle feeding at 6 weeks and by 8 weeks I bought a tommy tippee perfect prep machine. Remember in the early days you need to be super careful about hygiene.

I would get some anticolic bottles. I recommend the MAM ones.

Made up bottles can be kept for two hours from making or one hour from when the baby has started drinking.