New advice dept of health-storing formula milk(baby bottles)

Sam_Spends_Too_Much

I used to measure out bottles of water and store those in the fridge until ready for a feed. I would then add the milk from an Avent storage pot (has 3 little sections in it) when the bottle was needed. This also saved wasting the milk if a bottle wasn't taken in the 24 hours.

jellyhead

when spud was born i used to make 24 hours worth all in one go, but now hoob needs colief in his they can't be made more than 12 hours in advance so i make them 3 times a day. they can be made freshly with twice the amount of colief, then left for half an hour, but it upsets his tummy.

babylon85

I too made up bottles for my daughter (when she was on formula) 24 hours in advance, and put them in the fridge. Did her no harm!

MarkyMarkD

Sam_Spends_Too_Much wrote:

I used to measure out bottles of water and store those in the fridge until ready for a feed. I would then add the milk from an Avent storage pot (has 3 little sections in it) when the bottle was needed. This also saved wasting the milk if a bottle wasn't taken in the 24 hours.

Water's water and doesn't need keeping in the fridge IMHO. Boiling water in a sterilised bottle is not going to go off.

So, we do nearly the same as you, now.

We used to make up the milk for a day and fridge it; we now make up the water for a day and keep it (not in the fridge at all) and add the milk from the box or from the storage pot thingy if we are going out.

We always carry a flask of boiling water and a jug when we are out and about so we never have to faff about asking for bottles to be warmed.

Seems to work AOK.

*Louise*

viccig wrote:

With my son I sterilised the bottles and added freshly boiled water to the amount he was drinking at the time. I made up six at a time with only boiled water in and added the scoops of powder when he needed a bottle, this was also handy when we went on trips out, rather than stressing about keeping bottles of milk cool I simply added the correct amount from a sterilised tub that i had measured out earlier.

That is exactly the way I made them

My little one has just turned 1, but the 'rules' have changed again since I had him.

I found that storing the water at room temp and just adding powder was a heck of a lot easier than heating up bottles. (until he was 6 months then OH decided to start warming them up while I was at work, then the baby refused room temp ones after that):rolleyes:

parsnips

so lets get this right in my head,

1.you boil the kettle with fresh water

2.you pour the measured amount of water into say 6 bottles (for the day)

3.you allow the water to go cold

4.you mix the measured amount of powder to the cold water (when the bottle is needed)

5.you then heat up the bottle in a jug to a warm temp

my question is, wont the powder be differcult to dissolve in cold water?

jellyhead

many babies don't need or want a warmer temp bottle - if they have formula in hospital it's at room temp. breast milk is at body temp so i suppose a breastfed baby would expect formula to be warm too, but if all they have is formula and they have it at room temp in hospital they don't expect to get it warm.

most formula powder mixes well at room temp but some thicker types such as omneo comfort won't mix, they need warm water. so you could make half a bottle of water, let it cool and then add some boiled water when you need to make the bottle. either from a freshly boiled kettle, or a flask.

parsnips

so if mums make up the bottles for the day with just water and they get down to the last few bottles, those bottles will be stone cold, so they will need heating up to some degree,

i think its a hassle for new mums to be faffing about with making up bottles when in my day (not that old mind you) you made up the bottles for the whole day and stuck it in the fridge and heated it up on demand

essexhoney

it sounds to me like it is going to put pressure on new mums who are going to be told this is the way to do it, it also sounds like another reason for them to push breast feeding. Washing, sterilising and making up bottles is a fairly long process in itself without having to do this as well.
As with many others i have always made the bottles up in advance and stored them in the fridge and just added the milk when the bottle was needed. I did it with my son who is 6 and my daughter who is 15 months and i will no doubt do exactly the same with the next one. It didnt do my 2 any harm.

If you think about it, it didnt do any of us any harm neither when we were all kids do you think our parents and these guidelines were so particular? its highly unlikely isnt it?

Jellyhead - I have seen you mention a couple of times that your LO is lactose intolerant - what is this colief you are giving him?
Both of mine have been lactose intolerant and the doctor has just prescribed them SMA Wysoy and that has been it.
Im quite annoyed about all this pushing breastfeeding stuff at the moment, i found out last week that they wont provide any formula milk in the hospital anymore in an attempt to envcourage breastfeeding, even though i have been advised by my midwife to put the next one straight on to wysoy, and it has to be diagnosed by a doctor they dont stock it in the hospital at all anymore. Told me to take in ready made cartons of it which they dont do in wysoy so i now have to take a huge tin of milk into the hospital as well as bottles etc as they dont supply the milk for one night - as if i dont have enough to take with me as it is :rolleyes:

amarillo_2

The best advice I was ever given was shortly after my first son was born - make up the bottles in advance - but only the boiling water part.
Buy a milk powder section pot, available in Boots and most baby sites. Put milk powder in when each bottle is required, shake well and serve at room temperature. This means no heating, then cooling of milk and makes the night feeds much quicker and easier. I kept the required night feeds in the nursery, along with the powder. After a quick shake, you are ready to roll. No need to venture downstairs to boil kettle etc, and really easy when out and about. Both my sons took formula at room temperature with no problem. What makes things easier for Mum makes things calmer and easier for the babies too!