Advice from Bottle Feeders Please

Hi there,

Just trying to get into a routine with bottle feeding, and was wondering if you lovely ladies could answer a question for me.....

I have been sterilising my bottles, filling with water then leaving on the side.  When my baby is hungry, I'm just adding the milk powder to the water already in the bottles.  I take it this is safe enough to do?

My question is - how long can I leave the water in the bottles for, without using?  After how long does it become unsafe to use?

Thanks!

Fee x

reading the government and general advice no it's not the safe thing to do.  However I did do it.

you sohuld freshly boil the kettle, leave for 30 minutes pour into bottle then add formula to kill the bacteria in the powder then cool it to the desired temperature.  If you're out and about you should take a flask of boiling water with you or use ready made cartons.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/formula/storeinfridgeexpert/

is a reasonable explanation.

Sparkling I thought adding formula was the old way of making up bottles and caused bacteria. Like you, we make up bottles in advance. 24hrs in the fridge is the maximum for cooled boiled water but we make up 6 bottles and leave on the side in the morning, this lasts me until bedtime then we make another batch for the evening / nightime feeds.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_084165.pdf

http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/pdfs/botenglish.pdf

is the latest dept of health advice and is dated end of 2007 early 2008 so is what i was told in hospital.  WHO/ unicef seem to say the same thing.

However as i said I didn't follow it as i was permanently boiling the kettle and waiting for it to cool.

I went for the filling several bottles at once to make sure i had enough to last the day.  I then used to commit the next cardinal sin of warming them in the microwave. 

Fee we do the same as you. In our case we use anti-reflux formula, so the water has to be at room temperature before adding the powder (manufacturers instructions), otherwise the formula thickens up too much and clumps. If it's ok for our formula I'd imagine it's ok for normal formula as I doubt ours has any special anti-bacterial properties! I make two bottles up last thing at night so that if he wakes in the night I have a bottle for him and one for when he wakes up in the morning. Then I make up the rest of the bottles for the day in the morning. I guess I don't use them if they've gone more than 12 hours, but since it's a sterile bottle and boiled water I don't suppose there is too much risk <disclaimer: not an expert by any means!>  

HTH

Sx

There is a lot of mixed information about this!

I know Knickers Twickers did a lot of research about the issue, I now do what she advised. 

I boil the kettle with frech water, give it a few minutes to cool down and then make up bottle. The water is hot to kill any bacteria in the milk. Then I cool it to right temp by putting it in a bowl of cold water. You have to use the water in the kettle within 20?mins as then it goes to cool to kill bacteria. 

If I am making in advance. I do the same, cool it rapidly made up  by a bowl of really cold water and then straight in the back of the fridge. I heat in microwave when needed. 

I only make them up 12 hours at a time. 

If leaving boiled water on side, its not hot enough when mixing with powder to kill bacteria. 

But I know many do it this way and have never had problems!  So it is down to personal choice!! 

Hi Fee

I did exactly the same when feeding my son. We would wash all the bottles in the evening, sterilise them all, fill with boiled water and leave them all for during the night and the next day. So we would leave them up to about 24 hours. This was the advice given to us at the time and never caused us any problems. As you can see, the advice changes all the time so I think you have to be sensible and decide for yourself what you feel happy with. I felt that a sterilised bottle with boiled water in it, sealed up, wasn't going to suddenly grow any germs - where would they come from? We never put them in the fridge, just left them on the side next to the steriliser.

We then used the little pots to put measured out milk powder in so we could take a bottle and a pot of powder up to bed and then when he needed feeding in the night, just pour in the powder, shake and put the bottle in his mouth! So quick and easy. We were lucky that he always drank room temperature milk. We also used the pots of powder when we went out - if you go out all day you don't need to worry about keeping the milk cool so bacteria don't grow in it - you only have a bottle of water so there's not going to be much bacteria in that. Really easy and convenient I found.

The advice is to make them up freshly for each bottle but tbh that's not really practical.  I did the same as you.  I know other people who make them up and put them in the fridge but to me it felt as though there was more risk of bacteria developing in readymade up formula than just pure water adding the powder.  I am also aware that people say about "killing the bacteria" in the formula as it is not sterile, however the formula we use actually says to make it up with water at room temperature.

As for how long to leave the bottles, I used to make them ready in the morning for the whole day, and then in the evening to see us through the night.  I worked on a 12 hour rule.

Also wanted to add we never heat Louie's bottles. He just has them at room temp.

Thanks everyone for your replies.  Haven't been online all day as this newborn keeps me busy so sorry its tsaken me so long to reply!

Sounds like there's some conflicting opinions, although its reassuring to see some people do what I'm doing.  I have one of those pots to measure out the powder too when out and about and also for nightime feeds.....saves lots of time!  Does this need to be sterilised too or is it safe enough just to wash it?

Fee x

my son is 20m now but we ff from birth i had tomme tippee bottles with the pots that go inside for the powder, when i had him and the midwife visited she noticed the  bottles of water on the side and commented that it was fine to put the water in but not the powder i showed her the tubs that went in the bottles and she said that technically they should be sterised then using tongs put into the bottles (which were sterilised and had the cooled boiled water in) so no contaminating fingers etc touched the outside of the tub which would then touch the water. we discussed this at length as it is impossible to dry the pots to put the powder in then.

the midwife wasnt having a go at all she was genuinly asking and we were trying to get a solution i think i even emailed tommee tippee too to see what the guidelines were (i'll try to find it) but basically we put the powder in the pots then on side next to the bottles if we then had a measure ready to take upstairs if needed etc, if we were going out we would put one in the bottle but only to go out so it was 4 bottles a week perhaps

we actually changed the bottles at 8-12 ish weeks anyway and the pots didnt fit so ended up using them but put tinfoil over the lid to ensure it was closed and stuck it in bag that way. (ps never use the avent 3 sectioned powder dispenser was terrible)

found the email

i sent ...

hi, i am bottle feeding my newborn using the tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and steam steraliser. i have the powder dispensers althouh i am a bit confused as to how to steralise these i have spoken to my midwife and so far we cannot come up with an answer. obviously inside of the bottle is steralised with the boiled water in so the outside of the powder dispenser should be sterile too, however then the inside of the dispenser should be dry for the powder and the outside of the lid should be sterile as its in the teat can you tell me how to do this as it appears impossible using the steam steraliser. any help would be much appreciated
thank you

they replied...

Hi,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your milk dispensers.

We have checked with the health professionals and they have advised that you simply need to dry the inside with a clean dry piece of kitchen roll as the inside does not need to be sterile only the outer that will be in the water.

Many thanks

looneytune:

There is a lot of mixed information about this!

 

I know Knickers Twickers did a lot of research about the issue, I now do what she advised. 

 

I boil the kettle with frech water, give it a few minutes to cool down and then make up bottle. The water is hot to kill any bacteria in the milk. Then I cool it to right temp by putting it in a bowl of cold water. You have to use the water in the kettle within 20?mins as then it goes to cool to kill bacteria. 

 

If I am making in advance. I do the same, cool it rapidly made up  by a bowl of really cold water and then straight in the back of the fridge. I heat in microwave when needed. 

 

I only make them up 12 hours at a time. 

 

If leaving boiled water on side, its not hot enough when mixing with powder to kill bacteria. 

 

But I know many do it this way and have never had problems!  So it is down to personal choice!! 

 

WSS

The WHO guidelines are here: http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/pif2007/en/

I spent a Tuesday afternoon in work reading them, due to a new product we are stocking which we feel does not meet the WHO guidelines.

They advise that it is still safer to make up the feeds with hot water (approx 70 degrees) and rapidly chill then store in the fridge than make up with cooled boiled water.

The WHO guidelines take a bit of reading - but i actually enjoyed reading them (odd icon)

pea in a pod:

found the email

 i sent ...

 hi, i am bottle feeding my newborn using the tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and steam steraliser. i have the powder dispensers althouh i am a bit confused as to how to steralise these i have spoken to my midwife and so far we cannot come up with an answer. obviously inside of the bottle is steralised with the boiled water in so the outside of the powder dispenser should be sterile too, however then the inside of the dispenser should be dry for the powder and the outside of the lid should be sterile as its in the teat can you tell me how to do this as it appears impossible using the steam steraliser. any help would be much appreciated
thank you

 they replied...

 Hi,

 Thank you for your e-mail regarding your milk dispensers. 

We have checked with the health professionals and they have advised that you simply need to dry the inside with a clean dry piece of kitchen roll as the inside does not need to be sterile only the outer that will be in the water.

Many thanks

Pea in a Pod, it doesn't look like I need to sterilise the pot then?  I have the Avent 3-section one, and am managing with it so far.

Thanks for all the other replies too,

Fee x