Perfect Prep - Is it Safe?

[sammy891]

I've been looking to buy the Perfect Prep machine but it is a lot of money to spend and I'm worried about the safety issues because it did come up on BBC Watchdog. Is mold in the tubes and bacteria really a problem?

The filter is for the water, not the powder. I can see even very basic science is beyond you though
Pmsl. No where in my posts do i suggest or state that the filter is for the powder - it would clog up the filters quite a bitbasic reasinf

Part of it is down to cleaning tubes etc. Do you know how many soft ice cream machines fail environmental health inspections every year for the same reason? People do get very ill from things like listeria

Again Im not suggesting they don't. In the case of this machine, the reports have been down to not putting the machine through the cleaning cycle as often as instructed and using cheaper alternative filters.
Tomme Tippe is a multi million pound business, they could not sell these machines for years and continue to sell them if they were in fact causing listeria and any other illnesses.

Boiling water is boiling water regardless of the volume. It will still kill bacteria on any surface it touches, so as long as the volume of the hot shot is enough to soak the formula (or you swish it around to ensure it does) there is no issue.

Well as far as I know nobody died from having all the feeds made up the night before and stored in the fridge either. But nobody does it anymore. So to be honest if I wasn’t going to bother following the advice I’d just make all the feeds up the day before rather than wasting money on the machine.

We have it and really like it. During the day, I could maybe do without, but at night, I don't have time to wait for the water to cool with a 4 week old screaming his head off and lungs out. I need a quick fix and the machine does it well. When the lil one will make longer breaks between meals, and will not cry their head off a second after getting hungry, I will be making it differently, but otherwise the machine was a god send!

They would not be allowed to sell them if they weren't safe.
I’m sorry but this is just nonsense. If they were PROVEN to be unsafe then Tommee Tippee would be forced to act but the fact they are on sale does not automatically mean they are safe.

This is true of many many baby products. Products marketed for baby sleeping, feeding, play have not automatically been tested for these levels of safety. It is ASSUMED that parents use their discretion.

Here are the facts OP:
The machine does not make up formula the way you are advised to (the way it tells you to on the packet )
There are no reported cases of illness specifically related to the Perfect Prep
It is not proven to be safe or unsafe.
Other people’s babies being fine isn’t evidence of anything.

You need to look at the guidance for making formula - are you happy that the perfect prep/any chosen method will reduce the bacteria to a safe level? This is the only question.

Flipping heck nothing like being made to feel you’re poisoning your child if you use one of these godforesaken death traps!

Op all I will say is it saved my sanity in the night and I wouldn’t have been without it.

I don't have time to wait for the water to cool with a 4 week old screaming his head off and lungs out.

It’s amazing humans have survived millennia at all, isn’t it?

When the lil one will make longer breaks between meals, and will not cry their head off a second after getting hungry, I will be making it differently, but otherwise the machine was a god send!

So when their immune system is premature, you’ll risk it, but when it’s matured a bit you’ll take fewer risks? Where’s Darwin when you need him?

Oh how you make me laugh.

The way I've seen people make bottles- a hundred different ways and I've yet to meet a baby who got sick from bacteria in their feeds.

So OP make the bottles whatever way you want. The chances of your baby getting sick is minimal.

Hi Op! It is definitely a devisive topic! We used it for our little boy but I got convinced that his colic and reflux must be connected to the PP, rightly or wrongly. The shot of hot water cannot sterilise 6oz worth of formula and then the next step involves shaking - so lots of bubbles and froth, not even mentioning the actual mould issue. My husband loved the thing, with baby #2 on the way he already wants to go get a new one...go figure.

*divisive

Goodness me TittyGolightly, rein it in a bit. There's no need to be so superior and sarcastic even if you don't agree with what people are writing.

Are you having a bad day?

I used mine for 12 months and had no mould! Have put it away for (fingers crossed) baby number 2 and will deffo do a few cleaning cycles with Milton before using it again!

I only ever used the tommy tippee filters btw never the Brita ones!

Also a wee tip - we put the formula in the bottle first so the boiling water hit it - the only reason you can't put it in first when using kettle is because it goes frothy and you can't measure it out properly.

You can't do it with the reflux formula though cause it needs the water to be cooled for a longer period before adding the powder.

I also used cold water from the kettle 🙈

@TittyGolightly You must be such a charmer in real life! Go and drink some chamomile tea and chill out.

There is no evidence the machine is harmful, is there? Unless you can point me to a study or something more conclusive than just mumsnet posts where people repeat what they have heard from a midwife (mine f.ex. recommended the pp to us and said a lot of mums in the area use it).
It is meant to save time, which I need when the baby feeds every 2-3 hours.
In the past people prepared formula a day in advance and survived- and apparently it is now being frowned upon.
Have a nice evening.

I love it and have had no issues with anything.

dwangela you always need to measure the water into the bottle first then add the powder second, to ensure that the milk is made up with the correct amount of water. Adding the powder first then filling up with water means the milk will be too concentrated. You can avoid this by premeasuring the boiling water in a second bottle.

@NannyR I know that but the perfect prep machine measures the water for you so you can put the powder in first with it, that's my point 🙄

Basically formula powder isn't sterile and could theoretically contain harmful bacteria in small quantities. The risk is that if the powder isn't sterilised (via boiling water) then any harmful bacteria present could multiply and make a baby seriously unwell.

However, the risk of harmful bacteria being present in the formula powder is low, a perfect prep machine would have an impact (perhaps not 100%) in killing any bacteria if present. If the bottle is given to the baby immediately and leftover formula discarded then there is little chance for bacteria to multiply.

In my view the perfect prep machine isn't optimal, but the risk involved is small. The guidance for making up formula is not so much belt and braves but belt and two pairs of braces in my view.

We loved it, and haven’t had any problems. Having stupidly burnt myself I have the scar to prove the water is definitely hot enough to kill the bacteria in the formula!!