Bottle feeding help

[Honeyandlemon19]

Hi everyone

FTM here so please be kind lol

Have a 10 day old baby girl and just want some advice on best way to manage bottle feeding.

Just to give an idea of what equipment we have to start with; we have the Tommee Tippee perfect prep, steriliser, bottle warmer and bottle bags.

During the day isn’t too bad, she wakes up from her naps and we can have a fresh bottle ready in 2 minutes so it’s fine.

Night time is the same more or less, we can run downstairs and make up a bottle in 2 minutes but sometimes by the time we’ve woken up etc she’s already quite grizzly.

And we haven’t ventured out yet with her.

So..my question is, what are your tips on being as prepped as we can be? I’m so confused about how long bottles are good for once they’re made up; can we make night time easier by making them in advance and keeping them in a bottle bag for example? what’s the best way to do up bottles for going out?

I’ve read that bottles made using perfect prep are good for 2 hours, does that mean just sitting at room temperature or only if stored in the fridge or a bottle bag?

Im finding it all so confusing and terrified I’ll do something wrong!

Thanks in advance for any help x

At room temperature bottles must be used within two hours, regardless of a bottle bag.

If we go out we take readymade formula for ease. Small bottles and again must be used in two hours (once opened obviously).

If I remember correctly you can make bottles but they must be chilled in the fridge for at least an hour.

During the night I think your prep machine is the best option. Two minutes wait is nothing.

They told us we can’t make any up in advance, regardless of storage.

I put the prep upstairs, sounded mad but I could be more arsed walking up stairs fully awake, made bottle while putting past washing/brushing teeth/something than running down into a cold kitchen over night. You could also look for a second hand one cheap for during the night if she wakes a lot.

You can also use the premade bottles, they’re good for two hours at room temp or 24 in the fridge once opened. They’ve got 7-8oz in them so usually do a feed or two, DS drinks them cooled fine, not straight from the fridge but not warmed.

The night feeds don’t always last long either, we only had 6 weeks and by 3 he was down till 2 and then 6 n up at 9.. I don’t have any secrets he must just have got bored of me staring at him

It’s fine to prep bottles and store in fridge for up to 24 hours. Best investment we ever made was a tiny mini fridge in the bedroom. Night milk goes in there and we stumble out of bed and milk in baby within 30 seconds

Just use the premade bottles. We couldn’t due to specialist formula so we took out a flask of hot water, premeasured formula (Tt containers)
and boiled cool water. Pour 2oz of hot water into the bottle, add 4 premeasured scoops into bottle the bottle and swirl, then add the pre-measured 2oz of cooled boiled water.

Ready made if you can, it’s so much easier. Just throw a sterilised bottle and carton in your bag, when it’s time for a feed all you need to do is pour. You could use them overnight too but personally I used to carry DD downstairs and make the bottle using the Prep. Didn’t find it a hassle as she never had more than the 1 night feed and she dropped it altogether by 7 weeks.

It seems PPs have answered your questions but just wanted to let you know not to rely on the bottle bags to keep anything at the right temperature because they don't

Health Visitors should have training on this and be able to advise when you see them as well, and if you’re lucky you might have an infant feeding support service (as opposed to breastfeeding support) where you live.

I think you’ve had some good advice here, I didn’t get any advice whatsoever about bottle feeding from the HV or midwife, was just told “we can’t advise you on that” because they had to promote breastfeeding. Which was really unhelpful! I relied on the little cartons of readymade formula for night feeds as well as going out. I’d take some sealed ones upstairs along with a couple of sterilised bottles and just pour it in so there was no waiting. There was a bit of waste and it was expensive, but it was only a few months doing more than one night feed and for some babies it’ll be even less than that.

Was just told “we can’t advise you on that” because they had to promote breastfeeding. That’s appalling and not what they’re meant to be saying! Not least because there are ways of bottle feeding that are meant to mimic some of the benefits of breastfeeding so any ‘pro breastfeeding’ stance would be talking about that. They also have a duty of care to ensure children are fed safely whatever the method. I suspect that training probably varies depending on where you live.

Hi OP,

I made bottles up in advance and put them in the fridge; if they're in the fridge they'll be good for 24hrs. That should give you a bit more flexibility in terms of if you want to start getting out with your LO etc. Hope that helps x

I used to take a bottle of perfect Prep made milk with me if I knew he needed it in the next hour otherwise we used ready made bottles out and about - very easy to keep a few and a couple of sterilised bottles in your change bag.

Congratulations on your baby.

When you go out, if you will be longer than the 2 hours a made up bottle lasts, take some cooled water in the bottle (day half the amount you will need- ie if it was a 120 bottle, 60ish cooled water,) and then take the powder separately in those little pots already measured out, and a flask of hot boiled water. Just make up the bottle when required. I can’t remember how much cold : hot we used, but we used to go out like that. Cooled water already in bottle, powder measured out, boiled water in a flask.

Hope that helps.

I combine fed both of mine from day 1. I was told the main thing was that the formula goes into hot (boiled) water as it is the powder that's not sterile.
I did this with a flask of hot water when out out and about or if we knew a feed was imminent just made the bottle before we left so it could cool enough to use, and cartons of premade for later if needed (or switched back to breast if needed)

Was also advised to use within 2 hours from being made or 1 once feed had started.

I did used to make up a couple and put them straight in the fridge at bed time so we had them ready to go in the night. Never had any issue. My understanding was to not put them in the door as it wasn't cold enough but they would cool quickly at the back of the fridge.
Very difficult to get any practical bottle feeding tips because of breastfeeding promotion but I had a lovely practical midwife and lots of experienced bottle feeders in the family 😂

Premade formula is the easiest but it tastes different and neither of my babies have accepted it.

If I am going to be out 2 hours or less I take a bottle with me that I made with the perfect prep and store in a bottle bag.

If I’m out longer I take 2 flasks, one with boiling water, one with cooled boiled water, plus bottles and pots of formula and basically make it like a perfect prep would - hot shot of boiling water, add formula, top up with cooled boiled water.

It seems a bit daunting at first but you’ll quickly get the hang of it.