Has/does anyone use a bottle prep machine?

[Meeting]

I'm pregnant with my first and really stuck on this decision. I've got friends who swear by them and say they couldn't do without them but the advice online seems to be that they aren't recommended.

Has anyone had any experience with them?

I was thinking if I don't get one can I use ready made milk for night feeds? It just seems a long process to boil the kettle and wait for bottle to cool etc in the middle of the night!

It was literally one of the top 3 things we got with 1st baby!!! Absolute lifesaver when they feed on demand and just generally. Have been cleaning it as recommended etc and had zero issues so not sure why they're not recommended but we quickly got additional ones for grandparents houses too, so Im a big fan 😆 (all bought 2nd hand for about £20 each and in great condition so would recommend that, but even buying new we would have got our moneys worth by now!)

I combi fed and honestly the prep machine was the best thing I brought..makes everything so simple.
Midwives really don't like them as if they are not cleaned properly they can cause issues, but we kept on top of the cleaning

Waste of money imo.

Boil the kettle, wait 30 mins, make up the bottles, cool them in a beaker/pot of cold water until they’re cold. Place them in the fridge and it can last 24 hours.

Once baby is up in the night, boil the kettle, put a bottle back in a beaker/pot of boiling water and the milk warms up in a few minutes.

I always made up 4 bottles in advance. It’s easier than faffing around with the prep machine and saves you on using ready made bottles for the night. Two of my friends had a prep machine and it was so much hassle for the both of them that it only last a few weeks.

Maybe buy one on Marketplace so you don’t spend a lot of money in case you don’t end up using it much!

I was told by a health visitor, a hospital nutritionist and a couple of other health professionals they aren’t good as they don’t kill the bacteria in powdered formula. They all insisted that the powder should be hit with boiling water to kill any bacteria then you can take to temperature with cooled boiled water. Plenty will tell you their children are fine etc.

I used one with my first and just bought another one to use with my next baby due in January.

It's convenient and saves a lot of faff.

We made sure we regularly cleaned it and had no issues.

Best purchase ever. When he was tiny, we had one upstairs and one downstairs.

He's 10 months and it is still used daily. Never had any issues and I don't find it a faff at all.

It seems that people who have bought them love them, same with my friends! Can I ask which brand you have used if you like it?

@PinkMoscatoLover I didn't know that was an option, I thought you had to discard of them within 2 hours of making so that definitely would be a help in the night without a machine

@TakeMe2Insanity that seems to be the NHS guidance but the websites say that the first shot of hot water kills the bacteria, so hard to know what do to

We didn't want to get one due to them not being recommended. Three weeks in and we caved and bought one. At this point baby was having about ten bottles a day and went from happy to screaming hungry in a split second. We found making them up freshly each time simply wasn't working and we were making them in advance and pushing the guidelines anyway, so figured a prep machine couldn't be any worse. We never had any problems with it personally.

Thanks for all of the positive experiences this is really reassuring. Especially as some people have bought multiple! Would definitely make sure I'm on top of cleaning and changing filters etc

Had a Tommee Tippee one. Absolutely saved my sanity with my babies.
Keep on top of filter changes would be my advice and also you can take the back off and clean the pipes if you so wish (take a photo before you start so you know how to put it together again)

I no longer live over your side of the ocean but no one uses bottle prep machines here and it’s extremely rare for anyone to feed warm bottles.

A typical situation would be to either use nursery water (pre sterilized or whatever) or boil a kettle, fill the bottles to the appropriate amount, let them cool, then throw the formula powder in right before feeding ergo no waiting in the middle of the night or indeed any time you need a bottle. Seems to work well.

Also, no one here sterilizes bottles. Just a good wash and rinse in hot water.

@Lizzieregina that's really interesting. I feel stressed already about feeding trying to make it easier if possible. I wonder why the UK is so much stricter?

I was planning on getting the Milton cold water steriliser as I've heard nothing but positive about that

Perfect Prep saved my sanity. It stopped working once and I was immediately onto them to see if it could be fixed. If it hadn't then I would've been straight to the shop to buy another! Thankfully it started working again but I wouldn't have hesitated to replace it. Easily my top baby purchase.

They're brilliant. Used it for two kids, cleaned everything and changed the filters regularly, and it was all fine. We kept ours in the bedroom, which meant going upstairs during the day but it was so worth it in the night!

Yes where I live even the big brands like aptimal say on side on boxes to make at room temp basically.
I looked a lot as the uk says above 70 degrees but all the brand a like hipp/ aptimal say 37 degree is body temp if you want warm ready to drink. Even the who says if you can’t make fresh, it’s fine to make and store in fridge also for 24hrs.

I faffed around trying to make a bottle a few times with uk guidelines. Ended up breastfeeding fully in the end as Ds wouldn’t take bottle. If we have another I would just boil water, fill bottles. Then add powder fresh as needed at room temp. It’s what the paediatrician recommends here (Western Europe)

Tommee Tippee.

When I had my first baby I bought a sterilizer and all the American relatives were fascinated! I used it once and never again for subsequent children! My Irish family thought I was trying to kill my baby when I didn’t take them up on the offer of a Milton system when I visited! I hated the bleachy smell.

Anyway, I’m a childcare provider to newborns and they’ve all grown up lovely sans sterilizers or boiled bottles!

No idea why the recommendations are so different from country to country.

https://babybrezza.co.uk/product/formula-pro-advanced/

This is a popular formula making machine. It’s popular worldwide. Including uk. Just goes to a maximum 45 degrees temp. Sold in places like John Lewis also which are prime uk market. So no, the majority just make formula with something that’s convenient as they will loose their mind otherwise.

The UK is stricter because unsterilised formula can cause deaths, it is rare but it happens.

It actually happened in America not that long ago. More than 1 baby died due to bacteria in the formula which is why sterilisation is recommended here.

I breastfed but for various reasons we had to mainly bottle feed for a 4 week period fairly early on. The perfect prep was great (we bought second hand), would definitely recommend if you are planning to bottle or combi feed. Personally I found bottle feeding a total faff though - it's not just the prep of the bottle, it's the washing and sterilising after which I was always meticulous about. So resumed breastfeeding except for one bottle formula per day, which we still almost always used the perfect prep for.

The only issue I recall was the measured water amount didn't quite match what was recommended - I googled it at the time and seemed it was a common issue (more modern versions maybe don't have that issue).

We've got a tommee tippee perfect prep, wouldn't have survived without it 😂 soon as my baby's eyes pings open she expects a bottle in front of her, no way would she last whilst boiling the kettle etc lol. And there's nothing more stressful than prepping a bottle with a screaming baby. So definitely recommend, perfect temp bottle in under 2 mins. We did previously do the fridge method, but it still took longer waiting for the bottle to be warmed back up. Some people do feed it cold, but it made my little ones reflux even worse

If you don't want to fork out the money for one you can do it yourself. Have a jug of cooled boiled water in the fridge, boil the kettle and do a 'hot shot' to sterilise the formula, and then top up the rest of the amount with the cooled boiled water & it'll be ready to drink

Every FF mum I know has all used one. When you're making 8 bottles (or more when they kind of cluster feed!) a day you'll be thankful for spending on it! Genuine lifesaver!

We used ready made mini bottles for out and about as that was the easiest way.

We also use cold water Milton sterilisier. Easiest method for me, just wash them & chuck them in until I use them

We were lent a friend's for our first baby and got one ourselves for our second - lifesaver, so much quicker than the kettle faff. We've not had any trouble with cleaning it or illness in either child. I used to take it up to bed with me so I could do all the night stuff from bed!

Didn't have one for baby no1 but had one for my twins, what your friends say is right, it's an absolute life saver!

In terms of steriliser - we used a tommee tippee microwave one. It could fit 4 bottles and worked well for us. I'd just leave the bottles in it until I needed them.