Can't deal with the constant formula making!

[anon1387]

My baby is nearly 2 weeks old and has been bf and ff due to jaundice (she's fine now). She favours the bottle so am making one every 2-3 hours as I need them like I was advised but it's killing me (am offering breast first but she usually has a meltdown)! I'm so tired and going up and down all night is even more exhausting, plus having to wait for the milk to cool down. I have tried her with refrigerated milk but she won't drink it. How can I make the constant feeds easier?

If you want to bf, yes, I would just bf. At 2 weeks, jaundice won't come back.

Sorry, I misread the OP - I agree with mindutopia on this.

@20Alison18031 she's 3 days shy of 2 weeks. Will that make much of a difference?

Depends on many factors I think: if she was born on term, what her weight was/is now, how close you were/are now to the treatment line, how much milk you think she’s getting.

I would just start from feeding constantly if the baby is up for it. My 16 weeks old still eats every couple of hours. Especially first babies should be offered breast at every chance in my opinion till 6weeks.

@NannyR

You can replicate the perfect prep machine and make bottles that are at ready to drink temp straightaway. I boil some water in the morning, allow to cool and store in a clean jug in the fridge, when you need to make up a feed, boil the kettle and measure out (for 6oz bottle as an example) 2 oz of just boiled water, add your 6 scoops of powder, put on the lid and shake well. Then measure out 4 oz of the cold water in a separate bottle and add to the feed, shake well and check the temp before feeding.

Or, to make life easier in these very early days, you could buy ready made cartons for feeds during the night.

This is what we did because we were told by the HV that the perfect prep can store grime and they aren't actually recommended. It has worked well but now we make three overnight ones in advance because we add colief and it needs a half hour minimum working time. This was approved by the NHS website but not the manufacturer

Another vote for perfect prep. I picked one up off Facebook and wish I got it sooner. I mix fed due to jaundice and did so until about eight months.

Jaundice peaks around 7 days then starts to drop, occasionally mild jaundice lasts a little longer sometimes if breastfeeding but it's nothing to worry about. So at 2 weeks old you don't need to worry.

The current guidelines suggest using hot water (over 70•) because of a risk of bacteria in the formula powder. There is some negativity around the Perfect Prep machine because of the water temp.

Have a google, make up your own mind and be comfortable with your decision as everyone will have an opinion. Good luck x

@NannyR

You can replicate the perfect prep machine and make bottles that are at ready to drink temp straightaway. I boil some water in the morning, allow to cool and store in a clean jug in the fridge, when you need to make up a feed, boil the kettle and measure out (for 6oz bottle as an example) 2 oz of just boiled water, add your 6 scoops of powder, put on the lid and shake well. Then measure out 4 oz of the cold water in a separate bottle and add to the feed, shake well and check the temp before feeding.

Or, to make life easier in these very early days, you could buy ready made cartons for feeds during the night.

If I do this, what kind of container should I use for the cold water? Surely would need to be sterile too? Could I used some sterile baby bottles?

If you do end up formula feeding, a perfect prep machine is exactly what you need! Literally life changing. Making bottles up with a kettle multiple time’s a day is enough to drive anyone loopy.

Do your own research but I research the perfect prep pretty heavily before getting one and I satisfied myself that they are fine.

The hot shot of water sterilises the powder, then cold water tops it up to a warm temperature. I had no concerns over water temp.

There were a few articles in papers from a few years back about mould in the pipes, but it was pretty much agreed that this was from people not bothering to cleaning them properly. You need to change the filter regularly and follow the instructions to complete the cleaning cycles regularly. We did this and had no problems with keeping it clean.

Honestly, it saved my sanity - and I was combi feeding. Can’t imagine having to use a kettle to mix up enough bottles every day for a newborn. No wonder you’re fed up!

We made up a batch of bottles for the day, flash cooled in ice cold water and stored in the fridge. We repeated in the evening for night bottles and took out and heated as needed (in microwave). I actually bought a cheap microwave and mini fridge from Gumtree to keep upstairs. No traipsing downstairs in the middle of the night! It was honestly very little hassle.

If you read the NHS guidelines, this recommended as a second best to making up fresh every time (not the microwave but!) which is not always possible.

Shouldn’t the water in the prep machine be boiled and cooled?

Get a perfect prep! Best thing I ever bought. We keep it upstairs in our room, life saver

@OverTheRainbow88 just looked at instructions and mine says tap water straight from tap.

Perfect prep- I buy them for friends having their babies. Best thing in your life for easy feeding. If you can have one upstairs in your bedroom and one downstairs.

We just made up bottles for the day. Stored in fridge.
Took bottles up overnight in a cool bag with ice pack.
DS was given cool/cold milk from outset for about 90% of feeds. Didn't need to make a bottle, or try and warm it up when he was crying at 3 in the morning!

We used 2 chillys bottles, 1 with boiling water 1 with cooled water, and a powder portion dispenser. Just popped it in a basket with a couple of clean bottles and took it upstairs with us. Works for when out and about too. Just pop the formula in, ad some boing water, swirl it about then top up with the cold and shake it up.

Echoing what hundreds of others have said, get a perfect prep. Now they're cheaper, I know people who've got two, one upstairs and one downstairs.

Keep a washing up bowl in the kitchen just for bottles, once you're done with a bottle rinse it, take it apart and chuck it in the bowl. At the end of the day, wash, sterilise and assemble your bottles ready for the following day. Get a couple of the formula storage pots and measure out all of your formula for the following day (doing this means that if you get distracted making up a bottle you don't need to worry you've miscounted scoops).

I would spend the whole day BF and contact the la leche if I needed.

If necessary I would top up with a carton of ready made from a CUP not bottle. This helped me and my baby succeed with BF.

Cups can be used from birth, its weird but effective!

There are some brilliant Facebook groups for support if you want to continue to breastfeed, include "breastfeeding younger babies and beyond". There are also some great breastfeeding phone lines - it might be worth talking it through with a peer supporter, or your midwife / health visitor if you have concerns about your baby and jaundice? All the best, the first few weeks are really tough xx

Buy a prep machine.

It is the single best purchase I think I have EVER made. Particularly in those first weeks where it’s bloody endless!

If it was twice the price, I would still buy it

A freshly made bottle in 2 mins. Bliss.

I also got powder bottles so I could measure out the powder beforehand, so in the night I just poured it straight in without faffing about with the scoop and counting etc

I would strongly advise you to clean it as the instructions say and buy the branded filters - they are expensive but they keep the machine working properly. The cleaning cycles are important to stop bacteria building up. It’s easy and only takes 5 mins

Tbh, I'd stay in bed tomorrow and just feed feed feed and contact the NCT infant feeding line.

Work on upping your supply (it's not too late) breastfeeding is hard work at first too but once established is way easier than making bottles up

I was advised by midwives and the HV in my area against perfect prep as milk was getting contaminated by the machines. I had to feed my preemie every hour. I got large stainless steel glass for night time and going out (not gkassones as the metal are more robust and stay hotter - from John lewis) took the sterilized sealed bottles up at night two flasks, one boiling hot, one boiledxand cooled and the powder. I added powder, measured 1 oz boiling water I a SEPARATE bottle and added ot then measured the required remaining ounces in the separate bottle and added those. (Otherwise you get the incorrect water to milk ratio if you make up to the line directly).
Icing miss the days of hourly feeds but I do miss the tiny ness of such a little one!

@anon1387

Thank you. Would it be a good idea to just spend the whole day bf and not topping up with bottles? I'd like to try but worried about the jaundice coming back.

Excellent idea

Perfect prep machine was possibly 1 of the best inventions well worth the money and a complete game changer

So I did try to ebf today but baby gets so frustrated after a while. Constantly latching and unlatching. When she does feed she's still hungry after and never seems satisfied. Ended up having to give her bottles and she's getting too upset at the breast and needed feeding.

Don't pressure yourself to BF OP. No point sitting all day with a screaming fussy hungry baby. I know others will say go to groups, find support groups, phone HV/Midwife and so on. But the reality is there's little support non pandemic let alone during a pandemic. This isn't right, there should be an abundance of it, but the reality is there isn't, and for both you and baby, honestly, fed is better.

For night formula feeds,

You could look at the perfect prep machine and make up your own decisions of it's safe or not. I used one with DS never had any problems.

You could do the old flask technique for fresh bottles, so one flask of cool/cold boiled water. One flask of boiled hot water. Add the powder to the bottle, then add the hot water 2oz, mix/shake with cap on to dissolve the powder and then 4oz of the cool water to bring to 6oz at appropriate temperature for baby. And shake bottle again before feeding.

The other option you have is to buy the little bottles of premade formula for night feeds. Then it's simply pour in to bottle and heat in boiled water/bottle warmer to feed.

OP you are doing fine, honestly, you've got this. I know it's hard, but you are doing well.