Making all day Formula bottles in the morning

[chargedproton]

My friend visited me and the baby the other day. She’s got a 10 month year old.

She told me makes all her formula bottles in the morning at room temperature (so no boiling water even to kill the bacteria).
I am shocked that she doesn’t make them fresh and also that she doesn’t use hot water but just normal room temp water.

Her baby seems fine though and healthy.

Are we and the guidelines too over cautious? I just couldn’t do her practice though.

I wonder what they did in the olden days?

At ten months you don’t need to be as careful as ten weeks. They can drink tap water at that age no problem.

It is possible to make a bottle properly- with boiling water and store in the fridge to use later.

I make bottles with cooled boiled water but do enough for about 12 hours. Once made and cooled they'll be safe for 24 hours in the fridge. DD can have hungrier days than others and there's no way I could be making her wait 30mins for water to cool and then for me to make the bottles. She'd scream the house down.

With my ff one, I always made bottles in advance but I did it the proper way with hot boiled water. It’s just that she’s gotten lucky really. Formula in the UK is generally safe, but there are no guarantees. There certainly have been instances of babies dying because of improperly made formula. It’s in part why the health outcomes for things like serious GI infections are so different between bf and ff babies. So it does happen and I personally wouldn’t take my chances.

I make up 4 bottles in the morning with boiling water (cooled for 20 mins or so) and then make 2 in the evening for over night for my 3 month old dd and have done since she was born. Our mothers did it for us and it didnt do us any harm

Most people I know make bottles with hot water, store them in the fridge for 24 hours and warm them up before use.

It takes some time (around 2 hours) for bacteria to spread out in a bottle kept at room temperature so storing formula in the fridge, in my opinion, eliminates most risks. I know this is not what NHS/WHO recommend but I have found their guidelines to be overcautious. I read about actual formula poisoning cases and all the information I could find suggested that problematic bottles were kept at room temperature for an extended period of time.

I wouldn't take risks with food hygiene with a baby - the bacteria you can get in milk powder like salmonella isn't really comparable with drinking tap water

It would take her literally minutes longer in the morning to make the bottles correctly - even the tubs clearly state your baby could get sick. Such a weird thing to be lazy about.

I use a Tommee Tippee bottle maker.

When going out I take a flask of boiling water and stop at coffee shop/restaurant, ask for some cold water with ice and cool it down

I made them in advance, but using boiling water, from a week or so in age (before that, used ready made liquid). Its absolutely fine to do it that way, as long as you cool the bottles quickly and refrigerate.

For an older baby (like hers)if I needed an extra, I'd make it up with some boiling water, give a shake, and then the rest tap water, as they drink tap water at that age, but the formula must always be dissolved in very hot water first.

That being said, recommendations vary by country, across Europe, USA etc. Some use tap water throughout. Some don't sterilise. Some say use hot water, but more like 50 degrees, not 70-100, and it's still pretty rare for formula to cause problems in Western countries, cwith good hygiene standards. Certainly for older, post weaning children, they are pretty robust.

So whilst I take the compromise of making them 'properly' but in advance, most methods are pretty low risk as long as you haven't got a premature /sick baby.

I’ve been making my bottles as she needs them with water out the kettle and cooling them in ice water if too hot... that’s when I’m in the house. I’ve not made any long trips out where I’ve had to manage making a bottle up. (My baby is only 3weeks). All my friends make their bottles up for the day and refrigerate and I’m thinking of doing the same. Do you reheat them when baby is ready? And how? And also if I was out and about how would u recommend I reheat them? (Complete novice at all this - first time mum) x

I reheat in the microwave when at home (officially not reccomended anywhere but in reality it's fine as long as you shake well and test on wrist).

For going out, I used a tommee tippee flask, or asked a cafe (if I knew I was going to one) for hot water. Or occasionally a cold bottle. It was never really a problem.

I use to make up days worth of bottles using boiling water and then cooling quickly in iced water and storing at the back of the fridge where it is coldest. The important part is making sure the water used is hot enough to kill any bacteria in the formula. If you do that then cool quickly and refrigerate it's safe. It's in the WHO guidelines.
Using cooled boiled water to make the bottles is wrong and dangerous though.

Does the baby have a special formula OP? Mine has nutramigen which requires cool boiled water or else the probiotic is killed.

I follow the instructions to the letter and have a 9 month old. I honestly don’t know why you wouldn’t. They aren’t suggesting doing it that way to make life difficult.
I do put a container of cooled boiled water in the fridge though and if making a 7oz bottle use 4 oz of boiled water to add the powder to and then top up with the additional 3oz of cold water so it’s at drinking temperature.
Why anyone would risk their baby’s health is beyond me.

I have a Tommee Tippee machine which is a lifesaver!! Makes bottles in 2 minutes.

I just wondered if my friends practise is okay because it made me feel OTT that I have to do it fresh. I really wanted to breastfeed but unfortunately I couldn’t so wanted to make my life easier as possible as the bottle making process is a faf!

We batch make with boiling water, flash cool then fridge for up to 24 hours and have been doing so since he was eating enough to not use ready made. Run under a hot tap to take the chill off then shake and feed. HV approves

KMoKMo, it's a perfectly safe method. It's not THE SAFEST method, but it's far from risky.

Do you take baby out in the car? Do you walk alongside roads? Do you ensure you only drive if you've had 8 unbroken hours of sleep that night?

The batch method is endorsed as safe (just not safest) by the WHO, and it's quick and practical. Doing it the long way covers the backs of the formula companies though, so in the unlikely event that a child becomes ill, it's harder to sue if you have disregarded instructions. Even though it's a perfectly safe way of doing it.

KMoKMo, also, at 9 months why are you topping it up with cold sterilised water rather than tap water?
I assume your LO has water out of the tap just fine for meals/drinks and you don't give boiled water for that? If so, why is it different in a bottle?

Logically it's completely unnecessary especially if making it up fresh.

Make with boiling water and put all in fridge for day

I used to make bottles up with 3/4 of the required boiling water and then chill them. When I was ready to use them I would just add the other 1/4 boiling water back in and give it a good shake. It was the perfect temperature for feeding.

Dd is 20 now and looks healthy enough.

Even if you ignore all the guidelines your baby will still be fine most of the time. The guidelines are there to reduce risk, it doesn't mean the risk is high to begin with. It's still worth sticking to as many as possible because although the chance of anything happening is small, it's quite a bad thing to chance if that makes sense.

Sloth, I think boiling the water also does something to the concentration of minerals so it is worth using cooled boiled rather than tap. Because they say not to use twice-boiled water.

Boiling water increases the concentration of the minerals in the water which is why you can't use twice boiled water. In terms of mineral concentration tap water is safer than boiled water.

Does everyone stick to the “discard after one hour” guideline after the baby has started having his bottle?

Before I got my perfect prep machine (best invention ever) I made all DD's bottles in a morning and used them as and when needed. She's 3 months now.

I did make them with boiling water but then left them to turn to room temperature and either served them at that temperature if I didn't have access to a kettle (which she's fine with) or warmed them up as needed. She's been absolutely fine.

I still make her night feed and 1st morning feed up in advance and serve at room temp.

A 10 month old's milk doesn't need to be sterilised with boiling water as far as I'm aware?

The powder can contain aims real nasties so ensuring that is sterilised is a must. No one should be making bottles with tap water because it can’t sterilise the powder. However it is okay ( less safe but still considered pretty safe!) to make with bottles with boiling water, flash cool under a cold tap and then place in the back of the fridge for use later. We did this for nighttime bottles as mine would drink from a cold bottle and saved a sad baby at night or very expensive premix.

Topping up with tap water for babies over 6m is fine so long as the powder was sterilised with boiling water.