I don’t understand the Tommee Tippee perfect prep?

[Sconehenge]

My friend has the Brezza machine which seems like it saves a lot of steps because it dispenses the formula for you and the milk is made by the machine. You literally just press a button and the milk comes out done (but downside is no boiling water to sterilise formula).

I’m reading the perfect prep instructions and you have to measure out and put the formula in the bottle each time, and shake the bottle yourself between the “hot shot” and the cool water from the PP. So, essentially all the PP does is dispense a bit of hot water and then some more cold water and you have to do all the rest…

Can someone please explain how is this more convenient/quicker at all than boiling a jug, putting in your own hot shot, mixing, and then topping up with sterile cold water? Am I missing something?

I BF and didn't use either so I've no real skin in this game. When DS had tongue tie and was struggling to latch I looked at a PP but didn't understand the point. If I'd gone to formula other than the odd top up until the tongue tie was snipped (used ready made -small amounts short term), I would've boiled and then cooled some water and kept it in the fridge.
When a bottle was needed I would've added boiling water to the formula (my understanding is it's predominantly the formula that might harbour bacteria not the water in the UK), then topped it up with the refrigerated previously boiled water to get the right temperature. Which mimics the PP without the faff and expense. I'm sure I've also seen things that say they get mouldy inside.

The perfect prep is great to have upstairs for night feeds. Saves carrying a crying baby downstairs in the middle of the night, in the cold, it's quick and it's also neat, so can be kept in the nursery. I think it's a great idea.

Gosh it sounds a lot more complicated than formula making was when our teenage DC was small. Also sounds like babies drink quite cold milk now.

The problem with that @UndercoverCop is that boiling or near-boiling water degrades the formula and can result in nutrient/mineral loss. That’s why you’re supposed to wait 30 mins for the water to cool to the magical 70 degrees. It’s probably fine if you’re only giving the very occasional feed but I wouldn’t chance it if solely FF.

@TheCraicDealer surely you'd just put a splash of cold in the hot before putting it on the formula? It was this kind of thing that put me off
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39278690.amp

Gosh, I am out of touch on how to prepare bottles, I used to put measured amount of formula in sterilised bottle, pour boiling water to correct amount, shake and put in fridge. I’d make a few at a time, enough for roughly 24 hours. I heated the bottle to room temp ( although my children were also happy with cold formula) in the microwave or in a wide neck flask of boiling water for night feeds.

Now my daughter is pregnant so I need to teach myself the approved method nowadays. Please could someone explain how to safely prepare bottles using a kettle so I can help my daughter without harming the baby. Certainly the idea of needing to sterilise the actual formula is new to me, I though we used boiling water to sterilise the tap water!

I used the TT prep machine and it was so convenient especially at night as a bottle could be made in minutes instead of having to go downstairs to boil kettle etc. I would take up the bottles for the night and was able to just use the tin of formula kept upstairs to quickly make up feeds. It was also super useful when travelling abroad or in the UK to be self contained

Also forgot to mention the machine needs minimal maintenance and only tap water day to day so I just keep a jug next to the prep machine and topped up the machine once a day

If the formula powder was essential to be sterilised due to ‘bacteria’ with hot water, why is it not essential for anti reflux or other special formulas in uk?

And why is it not essential for the same formula powder in mainland Europe, America, Australia, etc? All westernised areas with high health care standards.
I have never heard of say all German babies getting ill from making formula at 37 degrees rather than 70+.

German Aptimal formula instructions:

‘’Wash hands thoroughly. Allow fresh, boiled drinking water to cool to approx. 40°C and fill 2/3 of the required amount of water into the bottle according to the dosage table.

Only use the measuring spoon included in this package. Wipe off the full measuring spoon using the built-in device.

Fill the required amount of powder (= number of measuring spoons according to the dosage table) into the bottle.

Close the bottle and shake vigorously up and down for 10 seconds. Pour in the remaining water and shake the bottle contents vigorously again.‘’

So they boil water then cool right down to warm drinkable temp. Add 2/3 water, add formula, shake, then add last 1/3 water, shake. Nothing at all about 70+ degrees

Have to say it was a life saver when I had twins - didn't have one for my singleton - but being able to make up 2 bottles within minutes in the middle of the night was brilliant.

If you are one who doesn't follow instructions on formulae - ie you make up a whole days worth of formulae in the morning etc then it's probably not much use to you

Because different countries make different recommendations around health all of the time. There is a balance of risk between advising to use 70 degree water vs the chance of the bottle then not being cooled appropriately. Objectively the risk from getting poorly from not doing this to powdered formula is very low, so some countries decide the risk of scalding is higher and make their recommendations and guidelines accordingly. It doesn't mean the UK is wrong, it means they have decided that although the risk from getting poorly is thankfully very low, it can be lowered more and they trust people will follow the rest of the guidance and ensure they're cool enough before they feed their babies.

@Unithorn - I would say the risk of making new parents stir crazy feeling that they have to follow the uk rules to the letter is much higher.

I breastfed. But being from the uk had checked the nhs rules etc and the odd bottle I made to try was ridiculous awkward and time consuming. When my paediatrician said jut to fill bottles with boiled water and add powder when needed, it really calmed me down. Had Ds accepted bottle, I would 100% have just done that now and would for a future child.

I know friends in uk who are scared to take baby out bottle fed as afraid they can’t feed baby safely. Instead of being told by midwife’s there’s a middle ground and it’s safe enough

Dp said they made a days worth of bottles each morning for theirs and stored in the fridge, all this individual bottle making seems such a faff. I used natures on demand system, goodness knows how much money I saved not to mention it's no effort once established (took 5 weeks for dd1, about 5 minutes for dd2)

Well yes, which is part of the reason why a perfect prep is so useful; it isn't time consuming and if you make the bottles using the machine at home you can safely take them out and use them within a set amount of hours. Ultimately its up to parents, I've seen many wild ways of making bottles from higher risk than guidance but still very low risk to dangerous. Sure a balance for people struggling is reasonable (and is usually the case if they seek support from my quite extensive experience of working in paeds and as illustrated by your own experience), but I don't think we should lower standards just because. Gastro illnesses whilst rare from formula can be really dangerous for babies, when there's something we know can lower the risk even further seems sensible. It's also worth acknowledging that generally guidance has some slack in it as people will often compromise on bits- starting from gold standard means if people do that it'll still be silver standard, if you start at silver it'll be bronze etc. Personally I find it easier to accept the PP is useful to some than be for changing guidance.

Absolutely this. The official NHS guidance on how to make up formula is ridiculous and completely unreasonable. Boil a kettle, wait 30 mins, try to make every feed fresh, don’t reheat in the microwave. It’s so much more restrictive than it used to be and as others have pointed other, other countries don’t have the same guidelines.

People like the PP over following the guidelines because you can make a fresh feed, immediately and know it’s the right temperature for the baby.

maybe it would be better if there were guidelines that were actually realistic for parents needing to bottle feed a newborn every 2-3 hours, including in the middle of the night.

When I had babies, I used to make up every bottle with say 6 scoops of milk, only then add 5ozs of water and put them in the fridge. When I needed the bottle, I'd take it out of the fridge, boil the kettle and top the bottle up with the missing 1oz of water - perfect temperature and quick. I know you can't do that now though.

I loved my perfect prep. I didn’t have one with ds as it wasn’t invented then so I just used to pre make the bottles and keep them in the fridge and heat up when needed. I know this wasn’t recommended as the best way but it did the job. The perfect prep was invented in time for my dd and I thought it was fab. I can see though that if you had a boiling water tap and you had some cooled boiled water at the ready you could achieve the same thing.

You can't add boiling water to the formula, so you'd have to boil the kettle and then let it cool to the right temperature (while holding a screaming baby). The Prep machine does dispense the right temperature water, I checked it (had post-natal anxiety - super fun but at least I know everything worked correctly). When I was out I did the same as the Prep machine did but myself, with a flask of boiling water (lasted five hours) and bottles with cooled boiled water in my bag.

Realistically though, guidelines have changed over time. They will continue to change. I'm sure if my child has children in 20+ years the method for making bottles will be completely different again!

Does anyone use the Dr Browns narrow neck bottles (250ml size) that could confirm if they fitted into a Tommy Tippee UV steriliser? Thank you

Apologies, wrong post 🤦🏼‍♀️