Cooled boiled water for formula

onlyroz

The WHO guidElines are interesting (thanks to GarnetLady for posting them). I think all formula feeding mums should be given them and I am slightly surprised at the complacency of some of the mums on here - surely you want to follow the latest advice if you possibly can?

The key piece of information seems to be that formula CAN be stored for 24 hours but if you do this then the water used to make it must be heated to 70 degrees. If you have no access to boiling water (e.g. Because you are out and about) then any feeds made up with the cooled boiled water should be drunk immediately.

Personally I would recommend using the premade cartons when out and about.

esio_trot

Gillyx wrote: »

Apparently the new advice is make the feeds up every time you need one, which is a bit ridiculous.

What I think most people do is add the cooled boiled water to the bottles, and add the milk fresh when the feed is due. I think it's more the milk mixed with the water that causes the problems, not the water itself, if that makes sense?

Not quite. Lots of people do bottles like this but it's wrong. This method WILL NOT kill bacteria in the non sterile powdered milk which is the real problem. I can't link as I'm on my phone but Google "WHO formula feeding guidelines" and it should be in the first page of results.

We FF and made bottles up in advance (just don't tell the HV!). We did 24h worth at a time following the guidelines which are approximately, in short:

•boil fresh water - reboiling water will cause the mineral content of the water to increase.
•make up feeds in sterilised bottles with water cooled for no longer than 30 mins (70'c min temperature)
•Cool rapidly in a basin of water, iced is best
•Store in the fridge below 5'c, towards the back is best, not the door
•Reheat to suitable temperature by standing in warm water (or carefully blasting in the micro, shaking well to disperse hot spots)

Gillyx

esio_trot wrote: »

Not quite. Lots of people do bottles like this but it's wrong. This method WILL NOT kill bacteria in the non sterile powdered milk which is the real problem. I can't link as I'm on my phone but Google "WHO formula feeding guidelines" and it should be in the first page of results.

We FF and made bottles up in advance (just don't tell the HV!). We did 24h worth at a time following the guidelines which are approximately, in short:

•boil fresh water - reboiling water will cause the mineral content of the water to increase.
•make up feeds in sterilised bottles with water cooled for no longer than 30 mins (70'c min temperature)
•Cool rapidly in a basin of water, iced is best
•Store in the fridge below 5'c, towards the back is best, not the door
•Reheat to suitable temperature by standing in warm water (or carefully blasting in the micro, shaking well to disperse hot spots)

my friend was told by her HV to do it that way and when I queried it with my midwife she agreed, so shows even health professionals get it wrong. :eek: so looks like im wrong too

esio_trot

Gillyx wrote: »

my friend was told by her HV to do it that way and when I queried it with my midwife she agreed, so shows even health professionals get it wrong. :eek: so looks like im wrong too

I'm not surprised and totally not your fault either. As PPs have said, the "breast is best" message has prevented health professionals from keeping up to date with recent ff advice and even if they do know, they're prevented from passing it on to mums.

My LO is 18 months, 15w pg with #2, the advice regarding some pregnancy things have changed even in that short time - it's impossible for everyone to keep up! Hardly surprising everyone gets in a guddle.

adamantine

when i had DS1 5 and a half years ago i was given no advice at all. i remembered how SIL made up bottles with nephew and i asked my mum. i made them up in the morning (6 bottles for the day) stored them in the fridge and he is hardly ever ill.

DS2 who is about to turn 3 i BF for st over 6 months till he started using a cup (chose the cup over me which was fine with us both) and formula and he has very bad eczema and allergies. 2 of the major things that Bfing is meant to prevent. at the time BF was recomended for 6 months min.

personally i believe that BFing caused DS2 allergies as i have all the same allergies that he has and i believe he picked up those antibodies from me and stored them. luckily now he seems to have overcome that and his food allergies have calmed down but the eczema is still quite bad at times. dont regret BFing him but i would think twice about BFing another baby as i dont want them to suffer as he has.

if i FF again then ill be making the bottles up in the am and storing them in the fridge for the day then heating up as needed. trying to make a bottle, get it cooled to the right temp one handed while trying to keep a screaming baby placated and not wake the entire house up is an impossible task imo!

pixelation

esio_trot wrote: »

I'm not surprised and totally not your fault either. As PPs have said, the "breast is best" message has prevented health professionals from keeping up to date with recent ff advice and even if they do know, they're prevented from passing it on to mums.

The new WHO and NICE guidelines were a reaction to the deaths in Belgium and France of babies caused by the Enterobacter Sakazakii and Salmonella bacteria in powdered artificial milk.

All UK health professionals are legally required as part of their registration to keep up to date with relevant peer-reviewed evidence based practice (section 6.5 of the NMC code) and to give appropriate information (not advice).

So sad to hear that some do not

dizziblonde

The way I've understood it (it's only my list of things to look into properly over the next couple of months - just in case) is that the real danger isn't the water - it's the milk powder itself - it's that part of the equation that needs the heated water added to the milk powder to eliminate any potential nasties. But yep, naff all info out there given to pregnant women - I've already said before my maternity notes have an entire page on the benefits of breastfeeding - followed by another page on how dangerous formula is. It's all gone too far the other way with discussion of how to make bottles up and do so safely almost becoming taboo information.

DanE2010

When I had my first booking appointment with the midwife (in 2010) I was given my bounty pack plus loads of leaflets and booklets as well as the NHS Pregnancy and Birth book which has a rundown of everything you need to know including a whole section on feeding, alot on breastfeeding and also a section on formula feeding, including a step by step guide including pictures of making up a formula and it the current guidelines (use within 2 hours)

Does every pregnant women get this book or was I just lucky enough to get one? I found it sooo useful and read it cover to cover several tmes while pregnant and not being able to sleep at night. If you have that book there is no reason not to know about formula feeding because it tells you all you need to know.

I personally have breastfed DD up until 6 months and she is now on formula and I started off making up as and when but its just not practical when your baby is screaming and your waiting for it to cool down etc, so ive taken to making up a batch for nightime early evening (as she is on solids during the day) boil the kettle, let it cool for 30 mins, make up the bottles and put straight in the fridge at the back, use when needed by zapping it for 30 secs in the microwave, give it a good shake, all of the batch is used up by 11am the next day. Works for me and think the WHO say if you cant make up bottles as and when this is the best alternative.

onlyroz

DanE2010 wrote: »

When I had my first booking appointment with the midwife (in 2010) I was given my bounty pack plus loads of leaflets and booklets as well as the NHS Pregnancy and Birth book which has a rundown of everything you need to know including a whole section on feeding, alot on breastfeeding and also a section on formula feeding, including a step by step guide including pictures of making up a formula and it the current guidelines (use within 2 hours)

Does every pregnant women get this book or was I just lucky enough to get one? I found it sooo useful and read it cover to cover several tmes while pregnant and not being able to sleep at night. If you have that book there is no reason not to know about formula feeding because it tells you all you need to know.

I personally have breastfed DD up until 6 months and she is now on formula and I started off making up as and when but its just not practical when your baby is screaming and your waiting for it to cool down etc, so ive taken to making up a batch for nightime early evening (as she is on solids during the day) boil the kettle, let it cool for 30 mins, make up the bottles and put straight in the fridge at the back, use when needed by zapping it for 30 secs in the microwave, give it a good shake, all of the batch is used up by 11am the next day. Works for me and think the WHO say if you cant make up bottles as and when this is the best alternative.

I was definitely given an "official" NHS book when I was pregnant with my second child (3 years ago) and it did include a page on bottle feeding - although I can't remember whether it gave the "water must be 70 degrees" advice.

My health visitor was also happy to discuss all feeding methods with me when I had trouble breast feeding, and she said that if I wanted to supplement bf with formula then there was absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. She didn't, however, give me any information about how to actually make the formula and at the time I thought it was OK to make it up with cold water.

GobbledyGook

If people want information on how to make up bottles of formula then they should simply read the instructions on the tin or box. Blaming heath professionals for not telling them is a bit of a rubbish excuse imo - sorry. The instructions are there in black and white.

No health professional is going to tell you how to cut corners in making up formula. Yes the chances of a baby getting ill from the milk powder if bottles are made up with the hot water and then stored in the fridge are slim, but in this culture can you honestly blame health professionals for saying anything other than 'follow the official instructions'? Can you imagine the hoo-ha if they said it was ok to do it a way other than on the tin and that baby was the unlucky one who got sick? They'd be finished professionally and the papers would go to town on them.

If people want to take short cuts then it's their responsibility to check things out - not a health visitor or anyone else.