making formula

[dizzy]

Can anyone give me any tips on how I can make making formula in the night easier and quicker. At the moment lo is waking me for feed at 3.00 am ish. I have tried setting alarm but that woke him so now wait for him as am hoping one day he will go longer before he wants it anyway. Anyway, by the time I come back with the milk he is wide awake and wants a chat. What could I do? How long before feed could I make it without adding in more wake ups for me?

[Lolly]

Will he drink it at room temp? If he will, the quickest way is to take a sterilised bottle with the cooled boiled water added up to bed with you and put the powder in a pot and then just add the powder and shake when he wakes for it.

If he likes it warm, the other way to do it quickly is to have some  room temp water ready in the bottle, take a flask of hot water with you and add the hot water, then the powder. You would need to experiment at bit with that, so for example it may be that if you want a 6oz bottle it will take 3oz of hot water added to 3oz of room temp water to get the right temp for him.

Hope that makes sense!

Laura

[MadisonC]

I don't know what kind of formula you are using or if they are all the same but I used Nestle GoodStart.  I would make a few bottles for the day with boiling water and powder in them and then leave them on the counter to cool before putting them in the fridge (only for 12hrs) and then at night when he would just start to wake up I would put the bottle in a bowl of boiling water from the kettle and it would only take about 3 minutes of sitting in the hot water to be warm.  I also had everything ready to go.. all I had to do was push the button down on the kettle.  I had to try many different things until I found out what was the best and the fastest way for me.  Also, I don't know if it is the same everywhere but in Canada you are supposed to use boiled water instead of tap water.

[Lolly]

Definitly bolied water! It needs to be freshly boiled too, if you boil the kettle more than once minerals in the water get concentrated which can effect the composition of the formula. Adding powder to hot water is the safest way to make formula as the hot water will kill any bacteria in the powder.

Also, if you are making feeds in advance you really need to cool them very quickly in cold water (either running or standing in a bowl) so any bacteria don't get a chance to develop in the nice warm formula as it cools! Also make sure bottles are stored right in the back of the fridge not in the door.

The things you never knew you needed to know about preparing a bottle for your baby

Laura

[*Becky*]

the way I have been doing it is making up the bottle with water, putting it in the fridge and then adding the powder when it is time to feed, shake it up and then heat in the microwave - is that ok?

At night I have a bottle warmer in our room so I put the bottle of water in it and then when lo needs a feed I empty the correct amount of formula, shake and we are ready to go.

[Lolly]

If the bottles only have water they are fine out of the fridge left at room temp, or left to cool and then put in the fridge. It's only if you add the powder to hot water (which *ideally* you should do) and keep them for later that you need to cool quickly and store at the back of the fridge.

A sterilised bottle filled with freshly boiled water and sealed with the bottle teat and lid straight away is good for 24 hours as there isn't any thing for bacteria to breed in and it should be bacteria free from sterilisation!

We used a reflux formula which needed to be added to cold water so we kept bottles of water in the fridge and added the powder when we needed a feed. They do say not to heat in the microwave because of hot spots, We did though and just made sure to give the bottles a very good shake and always tested the temp before feeding (which I'm sure everyone does anyway ).

Laura

[*Kara*]

I used a bottle warmer in the beginning, but now I am lazy and use the microwave - just be sure to invert the bottle at least 10 times to get rid of hot spots... also, older micros are much worse for hot spots than newer ones

In Canada, you should use freshly boiled water if you are making formula from powder.  The water needs to be at least 70 C to kill the bacteria in the powder.  Nestle does not recommend premaking any formula with powder - it should be done as needed.

To make your life much easier - get some concentrate!  It's actually cheaper than powder in the long run and SO MUCH EASIER!  It can be premade up to 48 hours ahead of use.  And you don't have to use boiled water since it is sterile.  I have always made it in a small juice jug that seals (I have one made by Starfrit with the silicone seals).  I keep the whole jug in the fridge and pour a bottle when I need it.

If you really want to cheat - keep just the concentrate in the bottle in the fridge and use hot tap water to get a warm bottle   Super fast for the middle of the night

[Nauvoo]

Just following along, and I don't mean to butt in, but why is it so important to boil the water?  I have to say I never did with DD (bottle fed exclusively) and I guess I never thought to do it.  Does it have to do with geographical location? well water?  fluoride levels?  Just wondering?

[*Kara*]

Totally has to do with the water supply you have Nauvoo - if your tap water is fine for you to drink, baby can drink it too.  It is still recommended that you do boil until baby is 6 months old though, just in case something got into the city water supply - it may not bother you, but baby doesn't have the ability to fight as well as an adult.

[clairebear79]

Nauvoo - in the UK we were advised the reason to use boiled water of at least 70 degrees C is to kill any bacteria that may be present in the formula powder from the manufacturing process - the powder is not sterile.  Also agree with PP's point about tap water may be contaminated. 

dizzy - we also made our bottles up 24hrs in advance boiled water, add the formula, cool down in a bowl of cold water & straight into the fridge.  Then we'd warm in a jug of warm water as needed.  Although this is against current UK advice (make each feed up as you need it) its never caused us any problems.  I'm sure current advice is for litigation purposes i.e. if a baby gets sick they can't blame the formula manufacturers. 

One other thing you could do (depending on availability where you are) is buy the ready made cartons of formula, which you can give at room temperature or warmed.  Nice & quick for night-time.  HTH.x