Making formula in advance?

[Beckabub]

Looking for advice! Nhs website says to make up each feed when you need them. I have been feeding ready made formula but that's too expensive so looking to change to powder formula. I don't want to use the perfect prep machine, I have been advised not to as my baby is premature and also has bad reflux and trapped wind which I've heard the perfect prep can exasperate. I have the machine but wary about using it due to this and the HV stating it is not known if the hot shot is enough volume of water to kill bacteria in the powder. Do you really ideally have to make the feeds up during the night?? Cooling the kettle for thirty minutes etc?? Or is it ok to premake the occasional bottle. What's the difference between me keeping an opened ready made formula bottle in the fridge for 24 hours (as per the bottle instructions) to pre making a powdered formula bottle and putting it in the fridge? I'm confused! But don't want to risk baby getting sick by doing things wrong!

You do need to use the hot water to kill any bugs in the formula. Making up in advance gives bacteria a chance to breed too.

You can use hot water to mix dissolve the powder then top up with cold in correct quantity to bring to drinking temp. This probably isn't advised either but it's the safest way I could work out to do it. My ds would never wait for a feed to be made fresh each time, it would've been very stressful for all of us!

Premade formula cartons have been heat treated to make them sterile.

You can make in advance with water >70⁰C and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours which could make night feeds easier as you'd just need to warm the milk.

This is within the FAQs on the nhs site:

prepare the feed at home, cool under a running tap or in a bowl of cold water, and cool it for at least 1 hour in the back of the fridge.

Take it out of the fridge just before you leave and carry it in a cool bag with an ice pack, and use it within 4 hours. If you do not have an ice pack, or access to a fridge, the made-up infant formula must be used within 2 hours.

If made-up formula is stored:

-in a fridge–use within 24 hours
-in a cool bag with an ice pack–use within4 hours
-at room temperature–use within2 hours

I found bottle feeding exhausting until another mum suggested I use a thermos of hot water and canister to administer formula powder. It's probably just as fast, the hot water cooled into the flask to be ready to drink temp
Never use tap water try to boild it first was my quirk.
Having said that my first born ( way before today's very rigid parenting ideas)
I made up bottles and carried 2 in a bottle bag baby was never sick occasionally we skipped a bottle due to naps so be prepared to tip out a few.
Hygiene and heating correctly and do what you need to as sleep is Vital!

I always used to have a thermos of boiled water and premeasured formula powder in the bottle. Was brilliant for overnight because the water was usually the right temperature by the time it was needed.

My DD was combi fed so only had 1 or 2 bottles a day but we used to boil the kettle in a morning and do a full bottle of plain boiled water which was then left on the side to cool, when she was ready for a bottle we'd boil the kettle again and measure out a 1/4 of the total bottle volume and add the powder and mix we'd then top up with 3/4 of the cool boiled. Perfect temp bottle in less than a minute.

Using the thermos to keep water hot/drinking temp? Is that hot enough to kill any bacteria in the milk? I thought it had to be pretty close to boiling to kill the bacteria and then cool it?

The difference is that formula companies can no longer use a certain preservative in the formula, which means it isn’t stable in a fridge. Bacteria WILL grow in it.

Please don’t think you know better than the companies that actually make the formula.

The CDC has declared a newly emerging pathogen that is related to incorrect making of formula.

Use a bit of trial and error, but for example, use 1/3 boiling water, and top up with cooled boiled water.

@MyGorramShip thanks for your reply. I don't think I know better than the companies at all! Thats why I was asking what the difference was before I prepared anything .... to try and prevent me making any errors that could lead to baby being unwell. Lots of people seem to prepare bottles in so many different ways. I want to make sure I am doing it right and safely but to also see if there were any options I wasn't aware of to make night feeding quicker so the baby doesn't get distressed.

@MyGorramShip

The difference is that formula companies can no longer use a certain preservative in the formula, which means it isn’t stable in a fridge. Bacteria WILL grow in it.

Please don’t think you know better than the companies that actually make the formula.

The CDC has declared a newly emerging pathogen that is related to incorrect making of formula.

Isn't the CDC American? British production may be under different regulations.

@MyGorramShip

The difference is that formula companies can no longer use a certain preservative in the formula, which means it isn’t stable in a fridge. Bacteria WILL grow in it.

Please don’t think you know better than the companies that actually make the formula.

The CDC has declared a newly emerging pathogen that is related to incorrect making of formula.

Formula powder is not sterile and can contain bacteria such as salmonella and Cronobactersakazakii. It is nothing to do with not containing a preservative and is not a newly emerging pathogen as the guidance about making up formula with >70⁰C has been about since my dc was a baby and they are age 14 and 17.

CDC has nothing to do with the UK.

Safest way is to make and use immediately but you can also make up with suitably hot water and store as shown in the NHS info given earlier.

@dementedpixie

Premade formula cartons have been heat treated to make them sterile.

You can make in advance with water >70⁰C and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours which could make night feeds easier as you'd just need to warm the milk.

This is exactly what we did. Never had an issue. We also used a perfect prep machine. I felt the likelihood of me messing up formula making it from scratch every time was much higher than using a PP and storing it in the fridge.

Can you just use ready made formula for night feeds to make it easier? Then powder for the day? You can buy kettles that boil to different temps, eg 70C, so you can boil it and not need to wait for it to cool a bit, use it for the hot shot and then top it off with cool boiled water.

@FizzingWhizzbee123 that's what I'm thinking now - is it ok to use different brand powder to ready made as the powder I am trying to use now doesn't do ready made? And he rejected the ready made powder from other brands, made him really sicky!

When we had our eldest it was acceptable to pre-make bottles and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours, that's what we did. By the time we had our 2nd advise had changed and it was no longer acceptable but we have done it for our other children too. You have to cool a correctly prepared feed quickly and store at the back of the fridge to keep it very cold until you are ready to heat it for feed time, avoid microwave heating.

Not much advice I can give as I use PP but when DD is being looked after by grandparents, I make up a bottle to take along to them. Use PP then rinse under cool water to cook it down and then store in back of their fridge. They then heat it up by putting bottle in a jug of hot water from kettle for about 10 mins checking the temp on their wrist. I'm the same as you OP worried incase I made a mistake making it so that's why I purchased the perfect prep. It's only going to be used until shes on meals and it's been a life saver at night time. (It takes 2 mins to make but DD think 2 mins it's too long for her🙈)

I have a preboiled bottle of cold water in the fridge. Use hot water to kill bacteria and dissolve formula then top up with cold to correct temp. Quick and easy, no need to faff with running taps etc