Bottle feeding newborn while out and about

[Bottlefeed]

Hi, I am due my first baby at the end of September and will be exclusively bottle feeding and I’m just interested to know what other bottle feeding only mums did when out and about with their newborns 👶.

I don’t want to buy the pre-made shop ones as this will be costly. I will be making up a few bottles and storing them at the back of the fridge and using them within 24 hours as and when baby wants a feed (I know this is not NHS best practice, but still is safe to do).

My question is, when I go out would it be ok to take one of the bottles I have made up from the fridge, warm it up then put it in a insulated bag to keep warm for the few hours I am out and about until baby wants it?

Hope that makes sense 🫣☺️

Honestly that’s a decision only you could make. We bought premade ones because I categorically wouldn’t store them. Even our middle of the night feeds were done with premades because it made life easier for us.

Everyone is going to have different opinions on this. You just need to be happy with the decision you make.

I took powdered formula with me in a little sterilised container along with a bottle of cooled boiled water. Then wherever I was I got a shot of boiled water to add to the powder in the bottle, and topped it up with the cooled boiled water. This was the closest I could get to sticking to the guidelines on the go.

I breastfed so not an expert but why bother warming it up? If anything you should keep it cool and then remove it from the cool bag prior to drinking. Many people make bottles on the go using a Nuby RapidCool etc.

I sometimes pumped and fed the baby a bottle and I remember the rule as it needed to be discarded after 4 hours out of the fridge and 1 hour after it had touched the baby’s mouth. Some people say 2 hours for the latter.

I chose to use the pre made bottles or take a sterilised bottle and a pot of formula powder to make up with boiling water from a cafe or restaurant

Sorry op, i coughed up the cost for the pre-made bottles.

Have you googled the nuby rapid cool? That might be a good option for you.

We either made a bottle up with boiling water at home and put it in a thermal thing to slowly cool down or we took a sterilised baby bottle with the right amount of powder in it and a flask of boiling water

Thank you all for your replies ☺️ there are some great alternatives I can think about now.

We did rapid cool method but as a hot shot instead.
Empty bottle
Formula pot
Flask of boiled water
Rapid cool

Pour water into milk bottle. Then pour some of that water into rapid cool, leaving a few oz in the milk bottle. Pour formula into the milk bottle and swirl/shake.
Put lid on rapid cool and shake. Then once ready add to milk bottle.

You can also put the whole milk bottle & formula in rapid cool but this means it needs sterilising between use which isn't handy when out and about but obviously a bit less faff. (This is the way it's meant to be used.)

I second what @tomato22 says. This is what we did for a week in Spain and anytime we're out all day. The premade ones are also handy to have for an emergency.

I combination fed. Milk powder in a pot. Sterile cool boiled water in a sterilised bottle, boiling water from a cafe. If out in the middle of nowhere, a second sterile flask with boiling water or pre-made ones for emergencies. I wouldn’t try keeping it warm - perfect environment for any stray bugs to start multiplying.

Please don’t make them up in advance, it is really not a good idea. Milk is the perfect breeding ground for pretty much everything.
A thermos with hot water, a bottle with cold water, and pre-meassured amounts of powder is all you need (you can buy storage containers that hold 4-5 separate portions of powder).

I took cold bottles and kept them cold but had a cuff type think that went round the bottle and warmed it up when switched on.

Pre-made is a bit more expensive but not massively so when you only use them out of the house, they’re certainly no more expensive than a Ella’s pouch for an older baby so I think it’s just one of those things to suck up for hygiene and convenience. Take the carton along with an empty sterilised bottle and just pour out when baby wants a feed. Mine would happily take at room temp so no warming required.

When you’re out and about the pre mades are life savers. We ended up solely using them for going out and about. As packing cooled boiled water and boiled water plus formula and bottles was a faff

I used pre-made with my first two but my third had a cows milk protein allergy so was on prescription formula and we used a little formula pot, flask of hot water and cooled the milk in a rapid cool. Having done both the pre-made formula bottle is far far easier and not that expensive for the amount of times you’ll need to use it to be fair.

I was gifted the rapid cool flask system but it made the baby bag so bulky carrying it all around and was a faff tbh so I ended up just using the tiny pre made bottles with teats then moved on to the pre made bottles to pour into my own baby bottles when DD needed more milk. Expensive but worth it.

This is what i did

you can also make it with boiling water and by the time you need it, it will have cooled to the right temperature

I think the rapid cool is pointless, In the morning I boil hot water and put it in a bottle to cool in the fridge and then before I leave I put hot water in a flask then do the hot shot method, 3oz hot water with 5 scoops then 2oz cold water.
also have the formula tubs with the right amount of scoops in. Takes me about 2mins to do it all

So I did sometimes take home pre made out but kept it cold and warmed up as needed (https://koo-di.com/baby-cooler-bag/?clickref=1110l4hiAiqp&reqid=72415281&affid=1265&app_clickref=1110l4hiAiqp)

Also always had a stash of ready made and took one out occasionally or if we were just going to need 1.

If I had a baby now would definitely get a nuby rapid cool

SMA First Infant Baby Milk From Birth Ready-To-Use Formula 200ml - Morrisons Online Groceries & Offers https://share.google/UAlJSRoC6McYW162L

Buy these and pour it into the clean bottle, and it's probably perfect to drink at room temperature. Discard the rest. I wouldn't buy the premade disposable bottles with teeth and everything on them.Its so environmentally horrendous.

I just used premade, i always took one and a spare with me just incase, I was then able to be out all day without worrying about 4/2 hour time limits.

Also by the time you factor in the cost of buying a rapid cool plus flasks and a bag etc it probably costs the same as using premade ones.

You can't take a warm bottle out it will have to be cold. Only can be kept cold for 4 hours in insulated bag with ice pack. Once opened has to be used within an hour.

I bottle fed and made them up the same way you intend to. I took them straight from the fridge and put them in the insulated bag to keep them cool. Our baby drank cold milk though but I think your best bet would be to do this and keep them cool for as long as possible and get hot water while out and about to heat it up if needed!

We used the nuby rapid cool when he was newborn and we were out and about (because we hadnt started making up 24hr worth of bottles at this stage). The nuby is very handy but bit of a pain carrying around 2 flasks.

We used to take 2x flasks. One with boiling hot water and one with cold boiled water. Put formula powder in bottle, add a shot of hot water, say 1oz, good shake, then top up 3oz to make a 4oz bottle for example. No waiting around for things to cool down

When mine were babies you could buy a bottle warming flask. You put boiling water in the flask and then when you needed to warm the bottle the outer sleeve came off and was big enough to put the hot water and bottle in to warm it. I used to add the formula powder to the water in the bottle before warming.
Not sure if they’re still available to buy these days.