Feeds 🤯😩

[Nikki512]

Hi guys I’m currently 32 weeks pregnant and suffering major anxiety so up to this point I haven’t prep’d anything or researched much.
This week I was looking at feeding and picking a formula and now I’m stressing out about night feeds and what is best to do!
I don’t know many mums so struggling to find someone to ask. I don’t have a midwife app for another 2 weeks but I do have an anti natal class coming up but tbh they haven’t been much help

How is best to prep it for night time?
Do I have to go downstairs everytime?
Should all feeds be warm?
Can I do it in bed?
Do I need a bottle warmer?

Confused

Sorry for all the questions

Worried first time mum
Thanks in advance

Are you going to breastfeed? If so it's just flop a boob out and let baby crack on

As above, sidecar cot, flop out a breast and feed. Neither of mine needed winding, although dd did prefer to be snuggled right up against me to sleep for some or all of the night for the first 8 months. (she sleeps a solid 11 hours in her own bed now though).
Good luck at your midwife appointment OP, talk to her about your worries.

You really don’t need to stress and it’s really not a big deal. You’ll figure out what routine works best for you.

With my one that was bottlefed, initially we made a feed fresh every time, using the kettle, and then cooled in ice cold water in a bowl. Dh made all the bottles while I did the changing. The amount is very small to begin with and they cool quickly.

After maybe 2 months or so, I would sterilise twice a day and make the bottles I needed either in the morning for the daytime feeds or before bedtime for the nighttime ones. I’d make 3-4 at a time, cool quickly and put in the fridge. During the night, dh would go down, boil the kettle, warm the bottle in a bowl of hot water, then I’d do the feed.

You must make all formula up with hot but not boiling water. This is to sterilise the powder. You can serve it room temperature (for instance like the readymade formula), but the if you are making it, it’s either going to be hot (you just made it) or cold (out of the fridge). Most babies won’t take it cold. Some people do use the perfect prep, but it’s debatable if that makes it safely. I never had one and managed fine. Some people also use the readymade formula at night but it comes in 200ml bottles. Initially that will be way too much, but eventually your baby will want more - so it’s expensive and potentially a lot of waste.

Yes, you can feed in bed. No, I never owned a bottle warmer. It’s basically just a small kettle. The actual kettle was just as easy to use.

When I realised I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed we bought a perfect prep machine. So I just go downstairs and make the bottle then and there. But alternatively you could do it the old fashioned way and put boiled water (cooled down) in the bottle to the right amount and have formula in tubs to just add when needed. You aren’t actually meant to do it that way anymore but I do that out and about. Well one midwife said I could and one said no!

Or just buy use some ready made til you feel more confident - yes you will waste some but if it makes it easier then do it. A friend makes them and pops them in the fridge. The nhs website says you can do it that way and use within 24 hours but a midwife told me not to do that either.

You’ll find your own way of doing things ! I was so confused about the best way when I had my DS and wanted to make sure I did it perfectly. But actually there is no set way because I got a different answer from each person I asked! The official way of boiling a kettle every time is not going to work in the night when a baby is screaming at 2am and you are trying to cool the bottle down.

Congrats by the way ! Xx

You could get a mini fridge for the bedroom if you're happy feeding cold milk (the only way my baby takes it). Never tried a bottle warmer, but you could keep a flask of boiled water by the bed and pout it into a cup to warm a bottle as and when?

I make up mine 12 scoops at a time, flash cool in cold water at back of fridge, and pour from that as needed (very irregular and unpredictable feeder even at 9 months old).

From experience with a still very much non sleeper, it's easier to have the number of bottles (plus 1) poured, all to the same amount, in the fridge ready to hand. No thinking required for 3am ;) If I was in a house instead of a flat, I'd get a mini fridge so I didnt have to get up!

You can also buy ready made in packs of 4 smaller bottles, keep it in the fridge once opened and use within 24 hours. Expensive, but lots of people do this in the beginning for the nights for convenience.

Breast feeding would be my choice for simplicity, convenience, price, health etc, if it works for you.

Get a perfect prep machine - flipping lifesaver if you are formula feeding!

We had the prep machine in our bedroom.. worked best for us. At night time, just needed your sterilised bottles and formula ready & in the daytime, I could lay my daughter safely on the bed while I made a bottle.. (we have a massive bed, she wasn’t going anywhere!). Just grabbed a sterilised bottle and off we went upstairs to make a bottle.

No, not all feeds have to be warm. But obviously, need to have been made with boiling (70 degrees & above) water. But you can pop them in the fridge or the nappy bag safely for an hour or so.

Yes you can feed in bed.. you can feed anywhere! But def do your night feeds in bed!

No, you don’t need a bottle warmer. We never used ours but the prep machine made the milk a nice warmth.

You’ll figure it out OP - we faffed for a while until we got the prep machine. After that, no bother at all!

Get a perfect prep machine!! It’s a life saver At night.
I keep mine upstairs in our bedroom so in the night roll out of bed and have a fresh bottle made really quickly

Either breastfeed or get a perfect prep machine and bring it up to bed with you.

If you really worried, buy one bottle of ready made. That will get you through a middle of the night panic if you feel you must use formula. In the light of day you can get help from a lactation consultant and pick up more formula if needed.

Another vote for the perfect prep machine. So simple and hassle free! For night feeds- you can get ready made bottles of formula from most brands, we use Hipp and I take one of these up to bed along with a sterilised bottle. These don't need to be warmed but you can do so if you want to.

Have you bought a steriliser yet? We got the Tommee Tippee set that came with a warmer and bottles too.

100% get a perfect prep machine!
It's a life saver when you're tired and don't have to boil the kettle etc!
Until dd was about 3 weeks old I used the ready made formula.
It's hard enough dealing with hardly any sleep without having to make bottles up every 2/3 hours in the early hours.

Good luck with everything.

Don't stress Mama

Get the Tommie Tippee Perfect prep for daytime and ready made bottles for night time.

Perfect prep machine was a life saver. I would get up and take dd downstairs for every feed, I preferred it that way as I then knew I wouldn't fall asleep whilst feeding (she was an extremely slow drinker).
For the first three nights I had the starter pack bottles with the teats supplied. I know it worked out more expensive but it made me feel more secure with the feeding in the first few days before I got the hang of masking bottles. Due to dd birth weight and subsequent weight loss I needed to feed her every hour so pre made was a life saver at the start

Don't panic you'll find what's best for you.
I had a warmer for cooled breast milk from fridge and after I stopped BF I bought a perfect prep which came up and downstairs morning and when we went to bed.
Best of luck

Perfect prep in the bedroom on your bedside table with formula powder and clean sterilised bottles. No need to get out of bed.

All the best for your pregnancy

Breast or perfect prep. We use both. Its working a treat. At the beginning we did the whole boiled kettle routine but its such a faff.

In the very first few days use they one time use mini bottles of formula, expensive, but necessary for hospitals as many don't have bottle making facilities, and we also continued using them until we got a bit more use to things.

Then I give another vote for perfect prep machine in bedroom - life saver. We also had one downstairs - too much faff to move about. To save money buy them second hand, easy to find locally for £15ish on Facebook market place etc