Bottle Feeding question

[emmie]

How many of you make up your feeds in advance, refridgerate them and then heat up at feeding time?

I am umming and arrrring about how to go my feeds as Blake is unpredictable with his feeding times and it takes so long to do bottles from fresh when hes screaming the house down so i am considering making up feeds in advance.

Cheers for your help

Emmie xx

 

[kalia]

In the morning we boil the kettle then fill 6 bottles (she has 6 bottles a day) with 4oz of water. When it is time for milk we boil the kettle and put another 2oz in the bottle and this makes it the right temperature. So we still have the time of boiling and measuring powder but we don't have heating up or cooling down times.

Would it help you if you offered him bottles say every 3 hours in the day and every 4 or 5 at night? Then maybe he wouldn't get so upset when he gets hungry. Don't feel that feeding on demand means you have to wait for baby to demand milk. It more means that you don't adhere to a strict feeding timetable and it's then or never. He may not necessarily want the milk at the times you offer but it could be worth a go and of course he is free to not drink it if he doesn't want to.

 

[LisaJ1986]

I don't bottle feed but my older sister has all her kids. Eldest is 4 and this was the thing at the time. All healthy.

I would do if i were bottlefeeding. So so much easier than this fresh malarky.

 

[debecca]

We fill up the next day's sterilised bottles with 4oz of cooled boiled water and leave them on the windowsill. When needed, we add required amount of boiled water (e.g. another 2oz for a 6oz bottle) and then mix in the measured out powder.

It's the MILK that cause the bacteria to multiply so this is a much safer way of effectively doing the same thing. PLUS the milk is INSTANTLY at the right temperature here but in your case you have to heat it up!!

Does this make sense?

 

[daftscotslass]

We fill up the next day's sterilised bottles with 4oz of cooled boiled water and leave them on the windowsill. When needed, we add required amount of boiled water (e.g. another 2oz for a 6oz bottle) and then mix in the measured out powder.

It's the MILK that cause the bacteria to multiply so this is a much safer way of effectively doing the same thing. PLUS the milk is INSTANTLY at the right temperature here but in your case you have to heat it up!!

Does this make sense?

Same for us. To be honest I wouldn't trust making up the feeds and putting them in the fridge for the reasons Bex mentioned here. Then you have to go to the hassle of reheating them which is as much a pain as it is to cool down a feed made fresh. Doing it this way totally stopped us tearing our hair out.

 

[CoreysMummy]

As stated its the milk that has the bacteria in it.

So I put freshly boiled water into the bottles, add the milk (thus killing bacteria, aparantly) and bang them in the fridge!! Warm them up as needed. Done this since he was a week old and never had a problem at all! Never keep them for more than 24hours though.

Whatever is best for you. OR whatever you feel is safest for your LO is what you should do!

 

[lea m]

In the morning we boil the kettle then fill 6 bottles (she has 6 bottles a day) with 4oz of water. When it is time for milk we boil the kettle and put another 2oz in the bottle and this makes it the right temperature. So we still have the time of boiling and measuring powder but we don't have heating up or cooling down times.

That's what I do! So much easier!
Putting something warm into a refrigerator causes bacteria to go in overdrive! If you do decide to store them in the fridge then I would advise you to cool them in cold water first!

 

[emmie]

In the morning we boil the kettle then fill 6 bottles (she has 6 bottles a day) with 4oz of water. When it is time for milk we boil the kettle and put another 2oz in the bottle and this makes it the right temperature. So we still have the time of boiling and measuring powder but we don't have heating up or cooling down times.

That's what I do! So much easier!
Putting something warm into a refrigerator causes bacteria to go in overdrive! If you do decide to store them in the fridge then I would advise you to cool them in cold water first!

is this hot enough to kill the germs in the milk? and do you keep the water in the fridge or on the side?

 

[poppy160]

In the morning we boil the kettle then fill 6 bottles (she has 6 bottles a day) with 4oz of water. When it is time for milk we boil the kettle and put another 2oz in the bottle and this makes it the right temperature. So we still have the time of boiling and measuring powder but we don't have heating up or cooling down times.

That's what I do! So much easier!
Putting something warm into a refrigerator causes bacteria to go in overdrive! If you do decide to store them in the fridge then I would advise you to cool them in cold water first!

Same here.

 

[nori]

As stated its the milk that has the bacteria in it.

So I put freshly boiled water into the bottles, add the milk (thus killing bacteria, aparantly) and bang them in the fridge!! Warm them up as needed. Done this since he was a week old and never had a problem at all! Never keep them for more than 24hours though.

Whatever is best for you. OR whatever you feel is safest for your LO is what you should do!

This is whay my HV said was the next best thing to making them up 1 at a time. I however, poor boiling water into all the bottles and leave at room temp. When its time for a feed i add formula and pop in a bowl of boiling water to warm a little.

 

[ninjawomble]

Ive been doing them fresh every time and its driving me mad (MW advice)

Gonna try it the way you have all suggested now

 

[daftscotslass]

In the morning we boil the kettle then fill 6 bottles (she has 6 bottles a day) with 4oz of water. When it is time for milk we boil the kettle and put another 2oz in the bottle and this makes it the right temperature. So we still have the time of boiling and measuring powder but we don't have heating up or cooling down times.

That's what I do! So much easier!
Putting something warm into a refrigerator causes bacteria to go in overdrive! If you do decide to store them in the fridge then I would advise you to cool them in cold water first!

is this hot enough to kill the germs in the milk? and do you keep the water in the fridge or on the side?

Officially? No, it's not hot enough to kill off the bacteria in the milk. The water needs to be around 70C to do this and I think it was lisa&alex who said you shouldn't mix the powder with boiling water (100C) because it kills off the enzymes in the milk. But unlike if the milk and water are mixed in advance, the bacteria don't have the chance to multiply before the milk is drunk by the baby. When it was suggested to us we did a bit of reading around and decided it was the next safest option after making each feed up fresh.

We don't keep the bottles of boiled water in the fridge - it's sterile water going into sterile bottles so no need to refrigerate.