Bottle warmer or perfect prep machine?

[StyleOfTheTimes]

I’m hopefully going to breastfeed but if that doesn’t happen for whatever reason I’d like a back up plan. I’ve heard about the perfect prep machine but just wondering if it’s worth it or if a bottle warmer is just as good? All my friends have said it’s a ballache waiting for the kettle to heat and cool down enough when you’ve got a baby screaming their lungs out for food in the early hours! Just wondered if anyone had any experience with either?

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MNHQ

I started off BFing and ended up FFing, I think bottle warmers are rubbish they seemed to be too hot or too cold, I tried all sorts of ways of preparing the bottles but in the end I read a parenting book that basically said most experienced parents made up batches of bottles with boiled water, cooled them in cold water, put them in the fridge then warmed in the microwave so that's what I still do and it's the easiest way, just obviously shake the bottle up quite a bit and test before giving it to your baby.

I loved my perfect prep machine but I wouldn’t buy one yet. If you struggle (as I did) the first port of call is likely to be to mix the ready made stuff as a top-up with expressed milk. That’s the regime my doctors put us on in the first instance. If you really are desperate for a plan b you can get some ready made milk with teats on. Not mega expensive but might be enough to give you some peace of mind. If you do find you switch to formula, you could get a prefect prep quickly from amazon so don’t buy expensive things before you’ve given breast feeding a good chance.

Just also to say there is a lot of advice on this thread that goes against current NHS guidance (even including my own post re using the perfect prep which isn’t recommended). Ultimately people need to take a judgement on what they do or don’t follow but here are links in case helpful.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/making-up-infant-formula/

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/infant-formula-questions/#what-do-i-need-if-im-formula-feeding-away-from-home

User
Interesting that their advice is contradictory. One one page, they say make up fresh, on another they say used fridge stored milk within 24 hours

older
The 2nd link states that formula can be made up and stored in the event that it can't be made fresh. Not contradictory at all just an alternative in the event that best practice isn't available.