Tips for formula feeding

[Poppet1710]

Due to issues breast feeding I’m switching over my little one to formula. I am starting with night feeds and DH has got us a perfect prep machine. We are cold water sterilising so getting a bottle out when we need one. Overnight my LO likes to be held so I struggle to measure out the formula without putting him down and him screaming while I make it. I was wondering I could have a sterilised bottle with teat etc built with the powder next to the machine ready to prepare when the time comes or will that not be sterile?

could you measure out the amount of formula in to a small pot ready, then tip it into the bottle when needed after the hot shot of water from the prep machine?

I always put the powder in first then did the hot water shot otherwise I found the steam made the powder get all claggy. You could put the powder in a newly sterilized bottle and put the lid on to keep it sterile. The hot water shot will kill any buggies in the formula but there's such a slim chance of there being any bugs that I really wouldn't worry about it 😊

Alternatively, you could use ready mixed formula bottles just for overnights for now

Thanks. Silly questions but so far we have been breast feeding with expressed top ups. I’ve been at home and always tried to time things so I haven’t been going out when he needs a feed so not had to navigate that one. Now he is only fed by bottle I have a few questions that probably have obvious answers but im finding it difficult to actually find some of this info. Do you know how long bottles are sterile after being removed from the cold water if they are put together but with no milk in them? Also anyone who does FF what sort of gap between feeds should I expect?. My little one has had a bottle of formula this evening at midnight- he is still asleep now where he would normally be up waiting for some breast milk. My breasts have been what has woken me up- he used to go 3 hours between feeds overnight. He is 5 and a half weeks.

I don’t think there is a set time as to how long they are sterlie for. If you keep them one clean environmnt I think you should be ok.
I use bottles when we are out that have been out of the water for about 2/3 hours.... DD has been fine with that.

You can by pots that you can measure out your formula into and then chuck them into the bottle when you need them.

I also do it one handed if DD is hangry, her in one arm and scoping in the other.

At 5.5 weeks my DD was waking every 3 hours on formula but she was little and hardly took much during feeds. They typically say 3-4 hours but some people do get 5 hour stretches with formula.

My dad is 12 weeks now and goes down at 7, wakes about 1 and then 4 for a bottle. She’s only just 9lb though so still small.

My DS at this age was sleeping through the night on formula and by 6 weeks would do 8’houe stretches 🙈🙈🙈

Thanks- yeah I am due to go to the hospital for an appointment and may be there for few hours so need to take a bottle. I’ve got ready made formula but needed to know how long the bottles would be sterile for. He has woken now but it was making me nervous. When he first came home we had to wake for feeds initially as he was lethargic due jaundice. The need to wake him for better despite the feeding not but now makes me twitchy are how long he had been asleep. I know formula can take longer to digest so did think he would go longer. I just wasn’t sure how much longer. Anxious mummy alert.

I'm sure sterilised bottles can last anything g up to 12 hours+. Like the poster above said keep in a clean area they'll be ok, it's the test and inside of the bottle you got to watch.
When out and about to save buying ready made formula I use some boiled but cooled water and add boiling water from a flask to top it up to the desired amount. It warms the water up and mixes well with the formula - both my children have been fine with it!

I’ve also done the method that squeaky does with the flasks as essentially it mimics the prep machine. I tend to always have a couple of bottles of ready made in my bag, just in case and always put a spare bottle in.
However if I was out probably all day I’d do the method squeaky has mentioned!

Sterilised bottles will be fine if you assemble them. I've taken sterilised bottles and bottles of ready made formula out with us when we had all day appointments when Dd was tiny.

The sleep between feeds will vary. It takes babies longer to digest formula so they usually go a bit longer at night. At that age Dd would go 3-4 hours. She's 12 weeks now and is on 6oz bottles. She has one around 7pm and goes to sleep downstairs with us by 8pm. She then has 2/3oz at 11pm when I go up to bed. She will wake anywhere between 5am-7pm now. Random nights she might wake up at 3 for a small feed, I usually make her 4oz and she doesn't finish it. But you will find your own routine.

And you can buy little formula pots too which are handy. Also helps because I lose count sometimes 😂 Asda and Tesco usually do like a 3 compartment pot in the baby aisle.

And a bottle of formula you have made at home I think can be used up to 2 hours later. So I sometimes make one as I'm leaving and put it in a cool bag. I've got one of the tommee tippee travel flask things that I also take to warm it up. The flask is brilliant.

We made up formula in advance, flash cooled and refrigerated for 24 hours. We had a fridge in our bedroom (best investment ever) and just grabbed the milk and fed it cold.

It’s safer than the hot shot method. Going out we took a cool bag.

You can also buy the ready made formula if your out and about it's easier just take a bottle and a bottle of pre made formula and you don't need to stress about any of the powder formula being spilt in bag or water leaking out of bottle.

Another one to say you can make up a bottle before leaving the house it last up to two hours before use

We’ve always formula fed and have a perfect prep and cold water steriliser. If he was due a feed an hour or so after we were leaving I’d make one up and take it with us - made up bottles are good for up to two hours.
We take a flask of boiling water and some cooled boiled water with us and just mimic the perfect prep - hot shot to the correct amount, then powder, shake, then cooled boiled water.
We use little pots to pre measure out the formula.
I take assembles bottles from the steriliser with the lid on etc.
He’s 8 months now and this has always been fine.
At 5 and a half weeks he was still tube fed in NICU but he was feeding every 3 hours up until about a month or so ago (with no night feeds). He had night feeds till about 4 months.

Can I ask how you have managed to switch to the bottle ? I've been trying for over a week with no joy !! I need to stop as I start cancer treatment so it's really worrying me x

It sounds like you may have a prep machine?

We kept ours in our bedroom rather than kitchen as in the day I didn’t mind popping upstairs but in the night, I HATED going downstairs! Bottles stay sterile assembled for 24 hours and so we’d just take a couple bottles up to bed. You can get little pots for powder - measure out your scoops into those in the evening & then just pour into the bottle at night! Quite straightforwards I found & handy as I always lost count of scoops at 3am & knackered 😂

@Newmum2b78
We had to use bottles for top ups since he was 2 weeks old due to weight loss so just gave it to him. He took to it straight away. We initially got some basic ones from the supermarket as the advice of the feeding consultant. Very similar to the ones they use in hospital which are disposable. We are now switching over to tommee tippee ones as it is going to be long term. He seems to get on well with them. My husband gave the first few bottles so he didn’t smell my milk on me. We also did it at the end of a breast feed (where he was still hungry as not latching and getting enough anyway) so he wasn’t starving and distressed but not full either. Maybe start off as a breast feed and then if you normally switch breasts rather than switching then try a bottle? Sorry can’t be much more help but good luck with the feeding but also the treatment.

Thanks everyone. I will look at getting some containers tomorrow. We have just moved the machine and one of the steriliser boxes into the bedroom. I just hate the idea of him screaming while I try to make the feed. I’m not the most coordinated person so one handed is out of the window at the moment.