Night time formula feeding - how?

[MrsBriteSide]

DD is 6 months and I'm coming to the end of breastfeeding her. She now drinks bottles of formula during the day. My question is: without having a perfect prep machine, how do you make up a warm bottle of formula in the night? Instructions are to boil 1 litre of water and wait 30 mins to mix which I do when at home during the day. I can't face doing that in the small hours when DD is crying for a feed. She's only waking once in the night now and she's chomping on my nipple (ouch) which is why I think breastfeeding is coming to an end for us.

How does everyone else make a warm bottle in the middle of the night?

@cozzietoes yeah I can't decide which is going to be the lesser of two evils: measuring out water from a flask or putting the ready made stuff in the bottle warmer.

@napqueen I've been trying to give her cooler feeds in the day to get her used to room temp bottles but we aren't quite there yet.

You can microwave briefly instead of 5 mins in a bottle warmer. The guidance about not microwaving is because of hotspots, but a quick shake will even out any hot spots.

A bottle warmer isn't any faster than standing in a bowl of boiled water.

You're right the cost of cartons does add up. Look out for promos as the rules are different for follow on milk.

@quackduckquack I don't own a microwave!

DS is 3, and for him we made up to 24 hours worth of bottles in advance.
So make according to instructions (boiled water that's been allowed to cool for no more than 30mins) then rapid cool in sink of cold water, about 10mins or so from memory. Then place at back of fridge, not the door.
Then to heat up we stood in a jug of hot water for a few mins. Shake, test it's not too hot, done.
Discard anything not used within 24 hours.
Due dc2 in January and will be doing the same.

"If you want to prepare bottles in advance for the day or night, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says: 'It is safest to prepare a fresh feed each time one is needed, and to consume immediately. This is because prepared feeds provide ideal conditions for bacteria to grow - especially when kept at room temperature. If you need to prepare feeds in advance for use later, they should be prepared in individual bottles, cooled quickly and placed in the refrigerator (no higher than 5°C). Throw away any refrigerated feed that has not been used within 24 hours."

That is from nct website.

I personally (since DS was born - formula fed from birth) have pre-made bottles, cooled them quickly and kept in fridge to reheat when needed. Have Been careful with it and just made sure they were cooled quickly and put straight into fridge! He’s 10 months now and works fine especially for when he wakes up in the night wanting milk I never had a chance to make him a fresh one he would also scream the place down if I made him wait 😉😁 hope you find something that works for you! 😊

We would boil the water and fill the sterilized bottle leaving it to cool and then just add the powder at feeding time. Our dd was breastfed the rest of the time and never seemed bothered that the milk was at room temp.

Probably get flamed for this but we made ours up (still do) with boiling water and refrigerate before bed and then take from fridge when needed.

Our DD is still alive today (11 months) and thriving....

Obviously we sterilize bottles thoroughly but IMO don’t see anything wrong with prepping them beforehand.

Alternatively you could put the boiling water in the bottle and measure the formula out into a little tub and add and shake when needed.

@glitteryfluff thank you that's really helpful.

When my kids were little my midwife advised us to do sleep feeds. I am not sure what the advice is now a days though.

We made a bottle up before bed and either put it in the bottle bag to keep it warm when needed - it usually needed cooling down first though. Or made one up and cooled it in cold water before we went to bed.

It worked for us but this is nearly 10 years ago so I think the midwife is the best person to ask. I breastfed but this was a top up bottle my husband could give.

We went down the ready made route.

@ausparent I want to mix the formula with hot water to make sure it's safe to drink. I do know people who mix with room temp or cold water but I'm just not comfortable doing it that way.

If you do what glitteryfluff said, I would then just add a touch of boiling water to the bottle before feeding, to take the edge off the cold. Or to get it to however warm baby likes it.
A tiny bit of water added won’t matter much in terms of diluting.
If you were worried about that you could always make the bottle up in the first instance with slightly less water than it requires.
Make sense?

Just to say you don't need to be quite so careful with a 6 mo as a newborn - the solids you feed her won't be sterile (sterilising toast anyone?), so the chances of there being bugs in the powder which are harmful to her are rather lower than they would be for a younger baby. Making up the powder with cooler water should be OK; we managed to train DD to drink milk cold, which did make things much easier!

OP is right to insist on using the very hot water for formula. It's not about things being sterile (as PP have said after 6 months lots of things aren't) it's about the types of bacteria that lives in formula. 1 in 10 tubs tested i think it was has nasties like E-Coli in it. The water must be above 70 degrees to kill the bacteria. Sterilising isn't essential for babies over six months except for items that have formula in them. Bottles and associated paraphernalia should still be sterilised. Yes, I do know people have been making a days worth of bottles in advance for years or making them with cold water etc etc but it's not a risk I'd have taken with my child either.

OP when I was out and about I'd mimic a perfect prep (as i had one - if you can find a cheap second hand one they are a godsend, use the proper filters though). Thermos of very hot water, and another of cool boiled (although tap would be fine now). Used approx 2oz hot water, added powder and topped up 4oz with the cold. Those ratios always worked for me.

Honestly BF is so so much less faff than bottles in the night. I've done both and would always go for breastfeeding if doable as waaaay quicker. Also easier for holidays etc. And if your baby isn't particularly fussed you can always give formula if you have to go away for a few nights or similar.

If bottles are your choice (and obvs that is fine if that is your preference) I'don't make them up as per the box, cool rapidly and try them with cold milk. You may find your baby learns quite quickly that it ain't worth waking up for cold milk .....

When I had DS1 (9) the advice was to boil the water and store the bottles in the fridge for the day and then add milk powder and heat to required temp. He was breastfed with odd bottle and no issue.

Then the advice changed to make it hot to kill bacteria. Fair enough except the steam from the boiling water condenses on the scoop which is then dipped back into the milk powder so grows crap on it.

Buy a carton for night feeds. It’s not for long

For a 7 Oz Bottle. Measure 4oz cold water and put in fridge. When the bottle is needed, boil kettle and measure 3oz into a bottle add formula and shake. Add cold water. Test....may need cooling a bit in a jug of cold water.

@dumbledorespensieve oh yes I understand about sterilising the bottles because of the milk bugs. I don't sterilise anything else and as I'm weaning now she drinks tap water with solids. I'm definitely not a germaphobe but want to do things right with the milk to be safe.

Your thermos method sounds like the way to go

@sheepyfun I'm just not OK with "should be ok". I obvs don't sterilise everything that goes in her mouth - that's everything she can get hold of! It's just the milk bottles I'm sterilising and want to be safe with the milk bugs.

@MrsBriteSide Tommee Tippee do really useful small travel ones they're only a few quid. They are meant to be used to store hot water to then pour into the cover that goes on top (which is like a large cup) to heat a cold bottle in but i always used them to keep the hot water for making the actual milk.

I'm no germaphobe either! DS is 19 months now, and enjoys licking swing handles at the park Definitely sensible to be cautious where bacteria that can make babies ill is concerned though.

We used the ready made stuff too. I couldn't be faffing with it all when he was up twice a night. However, when he was a bit older we used to take up a measured powder pot of formula and then a bottle of pre boiled water and if he woke up we used that. Luckily he always had formula at room temperature so we didn't have to warm it.

I took a bottle of cooled boiled water and the TT thermos with boiling water. Measured out the hot water and added powder, then add required amount of cold water to cool and bring to right proportions. Took 30 seconds and the milk was always very hot before cool was added. I did that more or less from birth.