bottle feeding

[PurpleRose864]

My eldest is 8 nearly 9 and they told you you could prepare made up bottles and leave in the fridge then literally weeks after he was born it changed to you could make the bottles with water and add the milk powder when needed and warm up which is what I was told with my second baby. Now its something like making it fresh and boiling water each time 30 mins before adding milk then cooling it. I'm so confused, how do you ever leave the house? How do you wait 30+ minutes with a hungry baby? I really can't get my head round how to do it, all we will be doing it making bottles especially in the early weeks when baby feeds more frequently. Can anyone advise or tell me what way you do it? Thanks

I am not completely up to date myself here, but...

The thing about milk powder is that it's an ideal growth medium for all kinds of bacteria, mould etc. As soon as the tin is opened, the powder is no longer sterile.

However, in the UK, tap water is pretty harmless.

The current guidelines (I believe) are to add just boiled/>70'C water to the milk powder to effectively sterilise it. Then allow it to cool or top up with cooled water.

To streamline, I think you could make up bottles with half the amount of hot water and immediately store (a day's worth?) in the fridge. Then top up win warm/hot water when you're ready to feed. That way the powder is sterilised with the initial hot water but then the concentrated milk is chilled immediately and so will last 24 hours (or so).

Happy to be corrected on the finer points, but it's definitely the issue with the milk powder needing to be made with HOT water than an issue with the water itself (in the UK).

You could spend £90 on a perfect prep machine or you can mix the formula with a small amount of boiling water then top up with cooled boiled water.

Or you could just do it the old fashioned way! I suspect that part of this is to encourage breast feeding (as it makes bottle feeding really faffy) but that's my cynical side bursting forth!

I vote for the perfect prep machine, its frigging awesome!!

It makes bottles up in two minutes - brilliant!!

£60 at asda

I am going to be bf but when my hv came round a week ago (33 weeks) she advised me about this - should I go on to ff. I cant get my head round it either and neither can my friends who have children around the same age as yours (they all ff and premade bottles) I have seen those perfect prep machines they look like the old teasmades(sp??) cant work out how its any different from premaking feeds though. I think they expect you to have to ask for the hot water when out and about which any jobsworth worth his salt is not likely to give due to 'elf n safety x will watch this thread with interest

Also I second juno witht the "its to encorage breastfeeding" - people should feed how they want to feed and there should be no bias x

I've been wondering about this too (I'm 32wks and dd is 5). With dd we made up several bottles at a time and just let them cool, she always drunk at room temp not warm anyway. I won't be waiting half hour in the middle of the night with a hungry baby that's for sure and I'm not paying out for a prep machine.

I bottle fed and usually put a few oz (boiling water) into bottle, add formula (shake) then add a premeasured amount of cool boiled water.
Basically the same way the perfect prep machine works but without spending the crazy amount of money.

Thanks all. I thought about the perfect prep machine but wasn't sure it was worth it, this was before I found out about the new way of bottle feeding. It still doesn't help with when you have to go out though.

I also agree that it's to encourage breastfeeding. But unfortunately it's not always possible. It just seems abit odd when people have fed their babies like that for so long and now all of a sudden it's a big no, no. I do understand the reason with the bacteria in the milk but hasn't that always been a risk? The pre made cartons (which my ds would never take) can be left with the corners of the carton folded down in a fridge for 24 hours? It just doesn't make any sense

Purple oh yeah I forgot about those premade cartons... I suppose that cow and gate are going to go out of business with this new rule - I personally think go with what you know x

Perfect prep machine and ready made cartons when out and about here. Yes people have used the other method for years and years, but like lots of things (babies sleeping on their backs rather than fronts, weaning at 6 months etc) more research has been done and we now know more about risks. It's very a small risk, but the fact is that formula milk can harbour bacteria which can, in a small number of cases, cause serious illness/death.

I ff DD from 4 weeks 2 years ago. I did the following:

1. Made up the days bottles in the morning with boiling water cooled before using for 10 mins.
2. Speed cooled the bottles in the back of the fridge.
3. Used these within 12 hours.
4. Did the same in the evening for nighttime bottles.

I understand that you can actually make up bottles like this for use within 24 hours, despite what the 'guidance' says. I chose to do it twice a day to reduce the standing time to 12 hours but it was no skin off my nose to do that.

I think it is utterly despicable that parents who choose to ff are so shamelessly neglected in the name of breastfeeding. I had my reasons for switching and I have no need to justify myself to anyone for doing it.

Sign up to Amazon family, use the discount code BABYFMLY15 and you can get a Perfect Prep machine for £45 today.

Sorry just read that back. THIS is what I did:

1. Made up days bottles with boiling water which was cooled for 10 mins before being mixed with formula.
2. Speed cooled the bottles in ice cold water.
3. Stored them in the back of the fridge for max 12 hours til using.
4. Did the same for night time bottles.

I did the same as confused, but sometimes made enough for 48hrs. I warmed them up before use in the microwave which you are advised not to, due to hot spots, but these are easliy eradicated by the simple means of shaking the bottle

With regard to the ready made cartons, I found these too rich for my DD - she would always sick these back up. I found this was solved by diluting with boiled water.

I would say read the guidelines, then see what works best for you. With a screaming hungry baby, you really don't want to be over-complicating things.

Ready made cartons are completely sterile as part of the manufacturing process. Hence why you can keep them out of the fridge before opening. With hygienic handling the risk of bacteria breeding in a fridge during 24hrs is going to be very very minimal.

The recommendations for making up formula are to make fresh if you can, but it is acceptable to make up bottles in advance, flash cool and store in the fridge and use within 24 hrs. The prefect prep machine mixes a portion of hot water with the powder then adds the remaining filtered cold water. You could achieve the same process manually rather than spend the exorbitant amount the perfect prep costs.

I've just read my post back and want to say that by 'do it the old fashioned way' I did NOT mean you should breast feed, I meant make the bottles up the old fashioned way.

Sorry for any confusion/ offense. I am very much in favor of feed your baby as you want!

Thanks everyone. I'm sure we will manage and get into a routine and it probably won't seem as difficult.

Junosmum....no offence was taken, don't worry :)