How to make up feeds

[Scattyash]

Hi I have 10 week old twins and have been making there feeds by boiling the kettle making the bottles then adding powder as needed to the coiled water, well one baby is now on the comfort milk and I read somewhere it needed to b hot to take effort so I started googling and went on live chat with apitimil and was told each bottle needs to be made with 70degrees hot water and discarded after 2 hours and shouldn't be kept in fridge, well now I'm confused as with my daughter 11 years ago I made all bottles up with power in advance and put in fridge, and this time around my HV said its ok to use cooled water,
But so much conflicting info when I was in hospital the midwifed used to make up the whole feed in advance and keep in fridge and use when needed, surly if it was that bad they wouldn't be aloud too,
So confused as dont wanna make my babies ill

 

[Little_angel]

Don't worry too much. Your babies have been fine with the way you're doing it and that's unlikely to change.

The gold standard is to make bottles up with water over 70 degrees, fresh as you need them. I did this by having a flask of boiled water (the tommee tippee flasks keep boiled water over 70 degrees for several hours). I would put in about half the amount of water from the flask, all the powder and mix, then put in the other half of the water from a bottle of cooled boiled water. Voila, a bottle of drinking temperature milk. It's worth doing it this way with the comfort milk if you can, as it goes a bit slimy in texture once it's been made up a while.

The WHO says in it's literature on formula feeding though, that if this is not practical, the next best way is to make it with 70 degree water and then keep refridgered for upto 24 hrs. So this is the next best method and is what your midwife was presumably doing.

 

[Scattyash]

It's so confusing, as everything's conflicting, says you shouldn't put in fridge either,
I'm now really paranoid, doesn't help that the new comfort milk my daughter is on will only work in one bottle as so thick and just bought loads of new bottles and non of them work, so unroll I get out to buy some new teats I'm having to keep sterilising this one bottle over and over,

 

[Chezza]

My LO is on comfort milk - I make up 3 bottles at a time (he feeds once every 3.5 - 4 hours, so all are used within 12 hours) - and keep them in the fridge, ready to be warmed. When I prep them, the powder is mixed with 3oz boiling water, then topped up off with cooled boiled water. I checked with my MW and GP and they both said that was fine!

There are too many conflicting rules and regulations around!! xx

 

[Scattyash]

Do you put in fridge when still hot or wait till its cooled? Xx

 

[Chezza]

I've always popped them straight in the fridge. The 4oz of cooled boiled water that I add to each takes the bottle temp right down anyway (my LO is on 7oz bottles) xx

 

[russellmuscle]

I'm the same as above.

We do 3 feeds at a time and fridge them.

Jacksons 6 m and been fine since birth. And its saved me loads of time and hassel lol.

His bed time bottle is always warm though, since its been hot in scotland he's enjoyed having the bottles straight from the fridge. We usually take the chill off and give him it xxxxx

 

[diane]

I make all feeds fresh as recommend. Never had any issues with my lo and I don't think it's any more hassle at all to do it this way.

 

[russellmuscle]

Depends on your LO, mine wants food at all different times and when he wants fed he wants fed now.

So rather than leave him scream and cry till I made a bottle then cooled it for him. Its just as easy to get one from the fridge and take the chill off it.

Each to their own.

xxxxx

 

[littlemonkey]

My son is on anti-reflux milk which has to be made with water which has been boiled, then chilled in the fridge and cannot be heated up. If anyone doesn't believe me it's on the back of SMA staydown. So I HAVE to do what you've been doing!

Frankly I think the instructions on the tubs is the best practise and there to stop companies getting sued. There are other ways of doing it, but there is a slight risk your baby can get sick doing it those ways, so if you do it those ways and your baby gets sick it's your own fault cos you can't say anyone told you to do it that way.

 

[Scattyash]

Do you think it's ok to mix with boiled water that's been left in kettle for 30 mins then either put straight in fridge or left once made unti cooled then put in fridge. I just wouldn't wanna leave onside for too long in this heat, but unsure the best and safest way x

 

[russellmuscle]

The heat curdled my milk so I put mine right in the fridge xxxxx

 

[Scattyash]

The heat curdled my milk so I put mine right in the fridge xxxxx

Yeah that's what I was gonna do but I remember someone saying you shouldn't put hot stuff in the fridge
X

 

[russellmuscle]

Yeah I have heard tht before too but I just make sure that the bottles r on a shelf of theyr own so that theyr not touching off other foods and making them warm..

You could make the bottles, leave them 30m to cool on the counter in the shade then pop them in, I tend to do that during the day but at night they go right in the fridge incase I go to bed and forget. I remember once he kept spitting the bottle out and I smelled it and it was rank and I had only made it like an hour or so before and left it on the counter and it curdled in the heat of either the kitchen or weather. I felt bad it must have been rotten!

I wouldn't worry too much how you should n shouldn't make them up, your babies have been fine. Do what suits you. My HV says dnt make up more than 3 at a time because obv they have to be drank in a time limit. The "rules" say fresh, yet my HV agreed what's easiest. Jackson has been fine for 6m and is due to be weaned so I'd say I did everything right except leaving the bottle on the counter too long, but I learned my lesson haha.

And scatty, you have two! So of course u need to save time when you can!

xxxxx

 

[littlemonkey]

Do you think it's ok to mix with boiled water that's been left in kettle for 30 mins then either put straight in fridge or left once made unti cooled then put in fridge. I just wouldn't wanna leave onside for too long in this heat, but unsure the best and safest way x

I would put them straight in the fridge. You could always put them in cold water for 5 mins to help them cool before putting them in the fridge.

 

[Emamay]

Should be -

Kettle boiled
30 mins later, water in bottle, powder added, shaken, run under cold tap and fed.


Once Cay's gone to bed, I boil, leave, make. (Approx 8pm).
One bottle goes upstairs with me ready for 6am, the other goes in the fridge until he wants it (2pmish) next day.
He's always been fine.

I used to put his bottles straight in the fridge once made, but they'd heat the fridge up too much and it'd start shouting at me. Now I leave his bottle on the side for about an hour, then put it in. Xx

 

[PyscoFalcon]

Since Katies reflux has stopped I just fill bottle with filtered cold water, add powder, shake and feed. As she's teething she prefers it cold atm otherwise I'd just warm it up by running under hot tap or standing it on the radiator for a bit then giving a very good shake.

Not had a problem.

When she had reflux we used the ready made stuff that is kept in the fridge then gently warmed at each feed.

 

[Chezza]

I was told by my GP that you have to mix the formula powder with boiling water, to kill the bacteria sometimes present in it...?

I never quite know who to listen to, lol! xx

 

[russellmuscle]

Doesn't it mean the bacteria in the water ? That's why the water is boiled at first..

xxxxx

 

[diane]

The powder may contain the bacteria, and water at 70deg or above will kill off any bacteria present in the formula.