Questions about formula prep

[Sundayrain]

Can anyone help with a bit of advice about preparing formula feeds? My 6 week old is fully formula fed, we've been using ready made up to now but she's just been prescribed lactose free so we've got to start making up powdered formula. I'm terrified of doing it wrong and putting her at risk (I suffered badly with anxiety and OCD in the past though am doing much better now) hence spending a fortune on ready made! I've ordered a perfect prep machine so hopefully there's not too much room for error?!

What do you all do about feeding out and about? What kit do I need to get?

Do you sterilise the powder scoop? And presumably the knife to level it out just goes through the dishwasher?

Any advice very welcome!

We didn't sterilise the scoop because the formula goes into boiling water anyway, so we just washed the scoops if we needed to.

Out and about you can take boiling water in a flask and a little container with pre-measured formula.

All of this was right 7 years ago! Guidance does change frequently though.

Also, since your baby is so young, you should be able to get in touch with a HV to ask for advice. I know that service has been patchy since covid, but if it's possible, it might be worth a try.

Good luck with it all

A completely side question but who prescribed lactose free milk? Lactose intolerance in babies is incredible rare (unless parent or grandparents is lactose intolerant from childhood) and babies are much more likely to have CMPA than be lactose intolerant.

Mine has cmpa and is on similac. We use a prep machine.
We've bought a powder box that has 4 separate compartments where you measure out how many scoops you need into each section. We do this before we go upstairs fir the night. Prep machine is upstairs.

Box was from Sainsburys I think. You can probably get one on amazon if you look.

We pre make bottles using prep machine and then put in an ice/cool bag when going out and take a flask of hot water and a big plastic camping mug to place bottle and water in when reheating.

@SarahJessicaParker1 thank you and good point re HV.

@Fallagain it was the GP, interestingly he actually told me the opposite, that CMPA is rare and lactose intolerance is more common and tends to be transient and improve after 6 months ish. This is all new to me, but I'm willing to try the formula to see if it helps. Symptoms are infrequent and very explosive poos with lots of crying, very unsettled at night and episodes of crying with scrunched up legs seemingly in pain. Not very specific! GP said CMPA more likely to have rash etc?

@PerfectPrepPrincess thanks!

I had similar worries and we still use ready made now over 12 months later. Dread to think how much we've spent and all the packagingI tried a couple of times with powder but couldn't predict when she'd need it and it was either too hot or past the two hour or whatever limit before you have to chuck it away.

Transient lactose intolerance is caused by serve stomach upset/food poisoning which reduces the amount of enzyme needed to break down the lactose in milk. Lactose intolerance often develops in the elderly as the amount the enzyme produced reduces as we get older. Both my DDs had/have none IGE CMPA and one had a spotty face but neither had a rash.

Join the Facebook CMPA group, ask for advice and go back to the GP.

The boiling water sterilises the powder so spoons and knives are fine with basic hygiene.
We have the prep machine and this will make a bottle for you it adds boiling water first onto the powder in the bottle, you shake to dissolve the powder and then cold water is added to finish the bottle and it is served at the perfect temp for baby to drink straight away.

We make bottles from the kettle for going out and the thermal bottle bags to keep them warm, if we do this we will have 2 bottles ready to go at the right temp usually. We also use the powder pots and make up again from boiled water in a cafe.

The prep machine should be very reliable, you can test every few weeks or months how much powder it pushes out just to make sure it's accurate.

You don't need to sterilise the scoop or knife, as long as the water the formula goes into is boiling.

For out and about, make up the bottles at home and keep in an insulated bag, then if you go somewhere with a cafe (or bring a flask of boiling water), pop the bottle in a jug or large mug of water.

Some parents swirl the bottle rather than shaking but you'll get the hang of it and you can't go too far wrong!

I had two stainless steel bottles. One with cooled boiled water and one with boiling water. I pre measured 8 scoops into a maam formula tub to take out. When out I put 2 oz of boiling water in the bottle, added the formula to sterilise it and then added the cooled boiled water up to 8oz. My baby is 1 so that was up to date guidance.

You don't need to sterilise the scoops.

What formula is it? Some allergy milks like neocate cannot be made with hot water

Thanks everyone.
@dancingintherain92 it's just Aptamil lactose free