Making up formula abroad

[Loulovesummer]

evening
off on holiday with 7 month old. I have ready made formula bottles for the airport / plane there and back. I planned to use powdered formula while on holiday.

my plan was to fill flask with hot water every morning and just make the bottles up as I would usually home as and when DD needs them.

however, MIL has put me off. She has said I can’t use the tap water from the bathroom to boil as it’s from a hotel tank so unsafe, and then has said I can’t use bottled water either (to boil) cos of the sodium.

am I meant to just take all ready made bottles for the entire duration? It will be a huge slog carrying them on top of all the other luggage even if I did order to boots to collect.

advice on this would be great thank you.

You can buy gallons of water in shops over on holiday then make up that way.

Sorry you mentioned sodium. You can also get water bottled that has a pic of a baby in most countries that has less sodium. Worst case your no worse off than the local babies so wouldn't worry

What does your mother in law think locals do 😂

Of course you can boil water, that’s literally done everywhere to make water safe. Depending on which country you are in using mineral water is considered safe (according to their rules) to make formula.

Where are you going OP? Someone on mumsnet will be able to tell you what brands of bottled water are safe for making up formula

I went to Portugal with my 4 month old DD last year and did what you were planning to do except I took 2 flasks, one with boiled water and one with cool boiled water which I stored in the fridge. Do you have a fridge? If not, google what the lowest sodium bottled water in the area you're going to and use that. X

I'd use bottled water and then go by the following rules:

When buying bottled water, check its mineral content. Steer clear of bottled water with a high mineral content, and try to use still water that’s low in sodium. Look for Na on the label, which means sodium, and choose one that contains 200mg or less of Na per litre. Check the levels of sulphate (SO or SO4), too. The sulphate levels should be no higher than 250mg per litre.

Some bottled waters are labelled as suitable for baby feeding, so go for these if you can. Make sure the seal around the cap is intact. This way you can be sure that the water has not been tampered with.

Bottled water is not sterile, so you need to boil bottled water when you’re making formula, whatever age your baby is. When giving bottled water as a drink, boil it if your baby is under six months old. Don’t reboil bottled water as it can increase the sodium and sulphate levels in the water.

Your MIL is right. However . . .
You can use bottled water BUT there is only one or two that are ok for a baby of this age. I cannot remember the Brand but your Health Visitor or Midwife could advise you. I went to Portugal with my 9month old granddaughter and we took powdered formula and bought the bottled water Health Visitor recommended. Of course you still need to boil the water.
Have a good holiday

Thanks ladies - for reference I’m off to turkey and staying in a complex with no shops nearby. I can buy water from the shops in the complex but Doubt they’ll do baby water.

does anyone know?

I posted the levels of sodium and sulphate that would be acceptable. It won't need to have the baby symbol

Just got back from an all inclusive in Turkey with our 5 month old and had the same concerns! The brand of bottled water available at our all inclusive was Ceysu, this seems very popular over there and has low sodium levels so this was fine. We still boiled it though.

They do have babies in Turkey. How does MIL assume they survive infancy?

I went to turkey with our 7 month old last October. We did a mixture of readymade and powder. We took readymade for going out, for the airports and plane, restaurant, emergencies. Then used powder when we were in the room and could use a kettle. We used bottled water from the hotel and boiled that. For sterilising we took a foldable bucket, sterilising tablets and used tap water for it. It all worked really well.

Use bottled water and boil it. I remember people coming up with this nonsense when mine were little. What DOES help is, calpol, antiseptic wipes, and plasters in case of illness or injury. Sun cream and after sun.

Most bottled water is likely fine. I haven’t checked in Turkey but in Greece every brand of water I checked was low sodium. Maybe some countries have saltier water? Sparkling water would be saltier but you would never give that to babies anyway. Consider bringing a few extra bottles of readymade if you have space as it can be more convenient than carrying flasks of water everywhere, especially outside your hotel.

Yes I wouldn’t use tap water at all for any of you in Turkey. But you can easily buy bottles water and boil as needed and take flask with you.
They will sell bottled water even in hotel shop, and often in 5L large bottles so you can buy a large one to top up kettle with.

Nestle and Evian are usually good. Otherwise have to look at local brands, often they will have baby symbol on back. If it’s an international hotel they will probably have baby stuff in shop also

Fyi - if you are flying from a uk airport with boots after security, you can pre order baby stuff like extra ready made milk. That way you don’t have to take it through security and it’s in extra bag from duty free

https://www.boots.com/shopping/airport-click-and-collect

Thank you all SO much. You have been most helpful and appreciate all the advice!

I will get a few extra ready made bottles to be safe but will do the bottled water business as you have all mentioned.

phew! One less thing to worry about lol.