Formula feeding questions

[mammytobe2021]

I wasn't sure where to put this so thought I'd put it here as I'm currently pregnant.

I plan to formula feed baby when they arrive (due January so I still have a long way to go but I'm finding myself feeling absolutely clueless and it's terrifying me even though we TTC for so long) and I'm wondering what people do about night feeds.

I know you're supposed to boil the kettle and allow it to cool for half an hour ish before you make up the bottle then cool it under the tap before feeding but how the bloody hell do you do this in the night? You can't hang around with a crying baby in the middle of the night waiting for the kettle to cool down and everywhere seems to advise you don't make up extra bottles in advance so what do you do?! I feel like an absolute moron for even asking this and I'm panicking myself that I'm going to be a crap mum for not knowing basic stuff but there's no answers for this online anywhere.

I know a lot of people use perfect prep machines but from what I've read they're not actually that safe because the water doesn't get hot enough to sufficiently kill all the bacteria in the formula and I don't really want to spend £70 on something if it isn't going to do the job properly/safely.

I'm getting so anxious, how can we have TTC for so long only to feel so unprepared now I'm actually pregnant!

I used a perfect prep and don’t agree they aren’t safe, but if you’re not comfortable with that fair enough - options are:

Make up in advance and refrigerate. Then you need only to warm the bottle (by putting in boiling water, or you can buy bottle warmers). Not strictly recommended but HV told me it was fine.

Use a ready made carton - expensive but deals with the issue of speed.

Congratulations on your baby and good luck

Following - I have all the same questions!

Consider breast feeding, no equipment needed, always at the right temperature. Harder for the first month (for some people, dd2 was a doddle) then far easier. You can pump or combi feed at a later date for flexibility

You can keep made up bottles for up to 24h. We did one formula feed a day and would make the feed about an hour before it was needed. We didn't do night feeds with formula once we'd switched to powder (used ready made to begin with because he was having such tiny quantities) but I'd have made up the bottle before bed and then just warmed it up using a bottle warmer or jug of hot water.

If you can afford it you can use ready made at night.

Perfect prep is amazing honestly.

I don’t condone or advocate for any method or product all I can tell you is my experience.
I have had 2 children and used tommee tippee prep machine with no ill effect on either. Through pure laziness and ease I used to buy the small prepared bottles of milk and take 1 up with me at night with fresh clean bottle and just fill bottle with small prepared milk bottles. I used to feed baby at around 11 before I went to bed so I only used to wake once around 3/4 am and then after that they slept through A bit so wasn’t a problem.
I’d suggest not to worry about it now, babies have a way of ruining your plans anyway so just go with the flow and get some ideas o guess so your ready to roll with what works for you.
Congratulations and good luck

The perfect prep isn't too bad. If you're going to use the bottle straight away the risk is minimal. The issue is when there's bacteria present in the bottle or powder, which is then made up and allowed to sit in warm milk for enough time for that bacteria to multiply. The idea of sterilising the bottles AND making up fresh AND using just boiled water (it doesn't need to be exactly 30 mins, just no longer than 30 mins) is too offer several layers of protection. You can safely skip two of them in theory, because the remaining one will still offer protection. Obviously because you'll be asleep deprived and easily confused it's best to stick to as many as possible but 2/3 is fine.

I combo fed so it was a bit easier, but with bottle feeds I boiled fresh water in the kettle and added one third of the feed amount to the bottle, added the powder and shook thoroughly so it's all mixed, then used cold water to top up to the desired amount. That way its good to go straight away. It's essentially what a perfect prep does except my kettle (£15 from aldi) has a temperature reading on it so I can set to that temp etc or do the mix, and doesn't have the mould issues the perfect prep is sometimes known for and didn't cost me £70 and keep me tied to shitty TT bottles.

The reason for sterilising the powder is due to dodgy Chinese manufacturering techniques a few years back (not being racist, it's well documented). It's a small risk but same with making up in advance being advised against, its there for a reason.

Perfect preps are safe if you add the powder before the hot shot.

Just to add you can use any bottle with the prep machine not just TT bottles

Why is that @stingybath ?

Because perfect preps are amazing, they make life a lot easier, but there is a leaflet that gets circulated stating the hot shot may not be above 70 degrees when mixed with the powder. It is dispensed above 70, so if the powder is already in the bottle it's definitely warm enough and hasn't had the chance to cool below.

We are combi feeding so I bf at night. We use a perfect prep in the day and it is very efficient and easy. I wasn't really aware of the safety concerns. We do use the bottles straight away and sterilise each time. Haven't had any issues (touch wood).

I would think you could achieve the same effect as the perfect prep machine by boiling water and keeping it hot in a thermos flask. The powder can be mixed with a couple of ounces of this very hot water when a bottle is needed.

Separately, you could have a flask of cooked boiled water. You'd need a sterilised bottle to measure the correct number of ounces of cool water to add to make the bottle up correctly.

Some people will say that you can make up a whole day's worth of bottles and keep them in the fridge. This was considered safe a number of years ago, but the advice has changed since then.

I used to make formula from powder for the midnight and 6am feeds but use the ready made stuff for the 3am feed. It is a little more expensive that way but it worked well enough for us.

Ready to feed formula (the single feed bottles not the big cartons) for me they were a life saver I took those and clean bottles to bed with me. I also had a bottle warmer in my bedroom, it came with the feeding set thing I bought but to be honest after a couple of months I realised that my daughter was quite happy with room temp Milk.

I loved our perfect prep, as long as you clean it regularly following the instructions then it is fine. Even my midwife was happy that we had one and only brought up the cleaning of it to make sure we understood.

I used a similar method to a pp when going out and about and had a thermos of boiled hot water and a bottle of cold sterilised water to make up the bottle to the correct temperature.

I breastfed at night but friends have mostly used pre made for night feeds, at least at first.

One friend swears by the pre made up bottles for the first few months. It's not cheap but zero faff in the middle of the night.

After a while a lot of babies become quite predictable in when they will wake in the night for feeds. You could prob make up a bottle at 10pm that would keep until an early morning feed.

Perfect prep machine is safe. The research they did is frankly bizarre. It's based on you putting the water in first and then waiting for a period before putting the powder in

In reality the instructions tell u to put the powder in first and then the hot water goes in on top. I have put a probe in to see how hot the water is and it was WAY over the recommended 70 degrees once in with the powder

Then there are reports of dirty pipes. I clean as per instructions, use the branded filters and check the pipes regularly. 9 months on they are squeaky clean

Honestly the perfect prep machine is safe and a great piece of kit.

Another recommendation for the Perfect Prep from me. An absolute godsend. I got one second hand from a friend and it suddenly stopped working one morning and I woke my husband up in floods of tears that it had broken. I ordered another one immediately. As others have said, put the formula in first and then the water and clean it regularly.

I've had both perfect preps with my 2 LO's. Best thing we ever bought both times.

Another vote for the perfect prep - it's excellent. We used ready made out and about and on holiday - went to Spain with our hand luggage full of mini bottles!

I used perfect prep with DS I never had any issues. Put the powder in first, hot shot, mix, then top up water.

Cleaned and maintained machine as per instructions.

However if you really don't want one.

When DS was first born he was taking tiny, constant feeds. So I used the premade formula milk, and just warmed it up. Rather thank make larger quantities with the prep machine, eventually at about 4 weeks he was drinking full bottles so it was just prep machine after that.

@PrayingandHoping

Perfect prep machine is safe. The research they did is frankly bizarre. It's based on you putting the water in first and then waiting for a period before putting the powder in

In reality the instructions tell u to put the powder in first and then the hot water goes in on top. I have put a probe in to see how hot the water is and it was WAY over the recommended 70 degrees once in with the powder

Then there are reports of dirty pipes. I clean as per instructions, use the branded filters and check the pipes regularly. 9 months on they are squeaky clean

Honestly the perfect prep machine is safe and a great piece of kit.

Out of interest, how do you check the pipes?

Vacuum flask of hot water then add formula milk, or use ready made formula which is sold in cartons or bottles (but only use those on a night or when out and about, not all of the time)

www.firststepsnutrition.org/making-infant-milk-safely