Managing formula feeding

[localbunny]

Hoping for some advice on managing formula feeding, especially out and about. Intended to BF my 2 week old LO (FTM) but it hasn't worked out yet, so I'm pumping and formula feeding. How do you set up for going out and about with formula? Or for overnight? There are so many rules on timings and temperatures, I'm feeling a bit stressed about getting it wrong so have been relying on ready made, which is obvs very expensive. So much advice available on breastfeeding but not much on formula!

We use the tommee tippee perfect prep machine at home (one downstairs for the day and one upstairs for the night, with bottles and formula powder taken up too).

Out and about I just use the ready made formula as really I only use a packet of 6 a week at most.

There are various flasks you can get though to make the bottles up using powder whilst out and about. Nuby rapid cool is one but there’s others I’m sure.

Theres a good NHS website about formula - have you found it yet? https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/feeding-your-baby/bottle-feeding/

We combi fed with formula top ups for 9months. I also pumped for 3months. Its really hard work so you are doing a brilliant job already! What i found helped was:

• perfect prep machine for daytime feeds with a food grade thermometer to do a weekly check that the hotshot was over 70c

• kept a stash of ready to drink bottles at home to use when out and about

• 8 bottles so that only had to do one load of washing and sterilising every day (which DH did before coming to bed and then left to air dry on a bottle rack overnight).

If you really want to bf though, are you getting support from an IBCLC? You can look for a local one to you here - https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/ In the long run, using formula isn't great for getting bf well established. I was happy to combi feed so for my sanity, I stopped pumping and just put baby to breast and then topped up afterwards. But I did it all with advice from a great IBCLC who worked with me on a proper plan. They can also check for things like tongue tie as well.

Congratulations on your new baby 💐

@ForDaringNavyOP thank you! I was just about to order a perfect prep so that's great to know. The pre made you use out and about, how long do you find you can leave it once opened/do you use a cool pack or anything?

@CrispAppleStrudels thank you for saying I'm doing a brilliant job, really appreciate that at the moment - it's so hard! Combi feeding would be great to get to, but currently we're dealing with him getting really stressed every time I try and BF (which is heartbreaking tbh), so doing a 'reboot' BF break with support and trying to maintain my supply at the same time. Wish they'd talked more about this stuff in antenatal and not how to change a nappy 😂

I did a flask of boiled water- this would stay hot for about 8 hours.

sometimes the perfect prep can get a bit yucky if the filter isn’t changed regularly.

I just use the whole little bottle and then waste any that they haven’t drunk I guess. I go by all bottles (filled by powder or readymade) last 1 hour if not refrigerated and 24 hours if they are.

Some of them do starter kits so have tiny bottles with their own teet if they’re drinking only a small amount, I used that for the first few weeks when out.

I was fortunate my daughter liked the milk cold/cool so I would make bottles up keep them in a cool bag and she would drink them straight from the cool bag.

We combi fed and got the ready made formula for a while then got a perfect prep machine (no idea why we waited so long) but bought the little bottles of pre made for our and about and the larger ones for home. Then we were only opening a little one if out about so bit wasting loads!!

I used to always have a ready made carton in my changing bag in case I was caught out when out. If I was going out for the day I’d used those rather than mess around with taking hot water out and making bottles up when out. Mine would mostly drink that at room temperature but they’re easy to warm up if you ask at cafes and restaurants too.
I used perfect prep at home and in the night.

We used the Nuby rapid cool and it was a life saver. Then we either take that out with us or get a bottle of the pre made formula from a shop. Buying the pre made isn’t as cost effective but they are really helpful if you’re stuck when out and about.

My DD is 4 months and mostly use readymade when out and about to save faffing about, lots of brands do small bottles with teats for when they're tiny. The remaining left in the carton can be kept in the fridge for 24 hours once open, but now she's bigger we generally use most of the carton and throw the remaining away.

We also have the nuby rapid cool which we use to make all of our other bottles generally day and night, works really well and recommend this. Also great for taking out and using out too.