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Preparing bottles?

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  • 27-10-2013 10:18pm
    #1
    lolademmers
    Registered Users Posts: 263 ✭✭


    Hey guys bit of a silly one here. I have been combining breast feeding with bottles for the last couple of days. I just had my baby 10 days ago. I was just wondering how you all prepare bottles ? I was told to obviously sterilise everything and boil the kettle with fresh water and add it to the bottles but but not to add the formula until it's needed? Baby seems to spit up a lot after feeding so I'm just hoping I'm preparing his bottles ok.


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    #2
    Rachineire
    Registered Users Posts: 1,064 ✭✭✭Rachineire


    Wash and sterilize bottles, boil kettle. Fill bottles, I close them up leave them up and srick them straight in the fridge to cool quickly. Take out and add formula as you need them. I wouldn't bother with the hse booklet to make them as you go, you'd be making damn bottles all day! At first I didn't leave the bottle of water in the fridge more than 24 hours but now Im not so rigid. They are always rotated and get used within 36 hours and he is perfectly fine.


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    #3
    Wonda-Boy
    Registered Users Posts: 10,013 ✭✭✭✭Wonda-Boy


    When you boil the kettle do not add the formula straight away.....best left for max 15-30 mins to cool but no more. This, if adding the formula straight away.....never add the formula to boiling water! It destroys alot of the important nutrients in the formula.


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    #4
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    We're at around the same stage, loldammers.

    I've been making them as per the HSE booklet and keeping a day's worth in the fridge. Then heating them in the (shock horror) microwave and giving them a really good shake.

    We found he was posseting and bringing up more with the bottles than he was with the breast. It's normal really. We've been burping him after every ounce and it's helped a lot.

    We did combination feed with our first, but it was much later and he didn't feel so fragile. We filled the sterilised bottles with boiling water and didn't refrigerate and just used added formula on the fly. There's no need to refrigerate the sterilised water in the sterilised bottles as there's nothing for bacteria to feed on.

    We'd still empty them if not used within 12 hours.


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    #5
    Moonbeam
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    Rachineire wrote: »
    Wash and sterilize bottles, boil kettle. Fill bottles, I close them up leave them up and srick them straight in the fridge to cool quickly. Take out and add formula as you need them. I wouldn't bother with the hse booklet to make them as you go, you'd be making damn bottles all day! At first I didn't leave the bottle of water in the fridge more than 24 hours but now Im not so rigid. They are always rotated and get used within 36 hours and he is perfectly fine.

    Please do not advise anyone against the HSE guidelines as they are there for a reason and you can pose a risk to your baby by not handling formula properly.


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    #6
    Mimikyu
    Registered Users Posts: 18,919 ✭✭✭✭Mimikyu


    This post has been deleted.


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    #7
    Rachineire
    Registered Users Posts: 1,064 ✭✭✭Rachineire


    Moonbeam wrote: »
    Please do not advise anyone against the HSE guidelines as they are there for a reason and you can pose a risk to your baby by not handling formula properly.

    Sorry :( I was just speaking my own experience!


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    #8
    Sligo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,948 ✭✭✭Sligo1


    Captain Morgan wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    +1. We make enough bottles for 24 hours. Sterilise bottles. Boil kettle. Leave water to cool for 30 min. Then add the formula (powder) to the bottles that have been filled with the water. Shake well and cool quickly. Then put straight in fridge. The bottles are ok to leave in fridge for 24 hours after which time they need to be disposed of.

    Leaving the boiling water to cool for 30 minutes allows the water to get to a temperature of around 70 degrees which is enough to kill any harmful bacteria yet not denature the formula powder. Milk powder IS NOT STERILE so any bacteria needs to be killed by the hot water. Adding formula to cold boiled water will not kill the bacteria in the powder. So this is not advised.


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    #9
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Rachineire wrote: »
    Wash and sterilize bottles, boil kettle. Fill bottles, I close them up leave them up and srick them straight in the fridge to cool quickly. Take out and add formula as you need them. I wouldn't bother with the hse booklet to make them as you go, you'd be making damn bottles all day.


    Don't do this. You are skipping the step of sterilising the formula here. Add the formula as it says on the box, to HOT water. Not cold. Formula is not sterile, and is not required to be sterile. Add it to the hot water and then cool the whole lot.

    Why bother sterlising everything else, and then chuck in unsterile powder on top of it.


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    #10
    Hello Lady!
    Registered Users Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Hello Lady!


    Midwife at our antenatal classes said there was no need to heat the bottles before feeding the baby. She said run them under a warm tap and then just rub them in your hands and it's enough to take the cold cold temp up enough for baby. She said this is helpful for night feeds are the sooner you get the bottle to the baby the less crying they get a chance to do and then are easier to settle back. Now I don't know how well this works in practice as ours haven't arrived yet, but just passing on what we were told.


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    #11
    January
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,862 ✭✭✭✭January


    Hello Lady! wrote: »
    Midwife at our antenatal classes said there was no need to heat the bottles before feeding the baby. She said run them under a warm tap and then just rub them in your hands and it's enough to take the cold cold temp up enough for baby. She said this is helpful for night feeds are the sooner you get the bottle to the baby the less crying they get a chance to do and then are easier to settle back. Now I don't know how well this works in practice as ours haven't arrived yet, but just passing on what we were told.

    Mine always swamped warm bottles but would turn down room temp ones!


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    #12
    Hello Lady!
    Registered Users Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Hello Lady!


    January wrote: »
    Mine always swamped warm bottles but would turn down room temp ones!

    She said it all depends on what baby gets used to. I suppose if you are mixing breast and bottles, the bottles will seem weird to the baby after being used to the body temp breast milk. But she said if you decide to start with bottles from day one, don't heat them and get baby used to cold or room temp as soon as possible to cut down on the work you have to do. Makes sense in theory...but how well things work in practice is another thing!!


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    #13
    Hello Lady!
    Registered Users Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Hello Lady!


    lolademmers wrote: »
    Hey guys bit of a silly one here. I have been combining breast feeding with bottles for the last couple of days. I just had my baby 10 days ago. I was just wondering how you all prepare bottles ? I was told to obviously sterilise everything and boil the kettle with fresh water and add it to the bottles but but not to add the formula until it's needed? Baby seems to spit up a lot after feeding so I'm just hoping I'm preparing his bottles ok.

    OP it could be nothing to do with how the bottles are prepared and more to do with how he is feeding from the bottle or maybe he is guzzling too much from the bottle?


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    #14
    lang
    Registered Users Posts: 253 ✭✭lang


    Maybe a little controversial but we do not 'sterilise' our bottles and were advised as such by our Midwife. We thoroughly wash out our bottles in very hot soapy water, rinse them, then put some boiling water in them. Close the lid and give them a good shake. We then cool them in a jug of water and then add the formula when cooled. We make the bottles as needed (only topping up with 1oz). We do not use Milton or other sterilisers. The powdered formula is not made in sterile conditions so may already contain bacteria, etc.

    Just my view but I think it is more important to make sure things are very clean as opposed to sterile. The Midwife said that she had heard of babies becoming ill from bottles that were not cleaned properly (but which were sterilised). We've not had any issues with our process to date.


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    #15
    Sligo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,948 ✭✭✭Sligo1


    lang wrote: »
    Maybe a little controversial but we do not 'sterilise' our bottles and were advised as such by our Midwife. We thoroughly wash out our bottles in very hot soapy water, rinse them, then put some boiling water in them. Close the lid and give them a good shake. We then cool them in a jug of water and then add the formula when cooled. We make the bottles as needed (only topping up with 1oz). We do not use Milton or other sterilisers. The powdered formula is not made in sterile conditions so may already contain bacteria, etc.

    Just my view but I think it is more important to make sure things are very clean as opposed to sterile. The Midwife said that she had heard of babies becoming ill from bottles that were not cleaned properly (but which were sterilised). We've not had any issues with our process to date.

    Surely pouring boiling water in the bottles like u said u do would make them sterile? I could be wrong here but I think this is just a different method of a type of sterilisation? Just perhaps not using the sterilisers or steaming pots etc... Correct me if I'm wrong....


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    #16
    liliq
    Registered Users Posts: 2,242 ✭✭✭liliq


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    Surely pouring boiling water in the bottles like u said u do would make them sterile? I could be wrong here but I think this is just a different method of a type of sterilisation? Just perhaps not using the sterilisers or steaming pots etc... Correct me if I'm wrong....

    They would need to be in boiling water/ steam for a prolonged time to sterilise them, rather than just a rinse.

    That 'non sterilisation' is probably ok for a baby over 6 months when they are starting to have complementary food etc but to be frank it's dangerous and irresponsible for a small baby. You've been lucky if that's what has been done from the beginning.


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    #17
    Sligo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,948 ✭✭✭Sligo1


    liliq wrote: »
    They would need to be in boiling water/ steam for a prolonged time to sterilise them, rather than just a rinse.

    That 'non sterilisation' is probably ok for a baby over 6 months when they are starting to have complementary food etc but to be frank it's dangerous and irresponsible for a small baby. You've been lucky if that's what has been done from the beginning.

    Sorry I misread the post and thought the poster had left boiling water in the bottles for a while... Which as I thought would sterilise them. Our fella is one year in 2 weeks time and we still use the steriliser every night. Probably time to stop now.... Lol.


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    #18
    liliq
    Registered Users Posts: 2,242 ✭✭✭liliq


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    Sorry I misread the post and thought the poster had left boiling water in the bottles for a while... Which as I thought would sterilise them. Our fella is one year in 2 weeks time and we still use the steriliser every night. Probably time to stop now.... Lol.

    I could be misreading too!


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    #19
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    lang wrote: »
    Maybe a little controversial but we do not 'sterilise' our bottles and were advised as such by our Midwife. We thoroughly wash out our bottles in very hot soapy water, rinse them, then put some boiling water in them. Close the lid and give them a good shake. We then cool them in a jug of water and then add the formula when cooled. We make the bottles as needed (only topping up with 1oz). We do not use Milton or other sterilisers. The powdered formula is not made in sterile conditions so may already contain bacteria, etc.

    Just my view but I think it is more important to make sure things are very clean as opposed to sterile. The Midwife said that she had heard of babies becoming ill from bottles that were not cleaned properly (but which were sterilised). We've not had any issues with our process to date.

    You don't need milton. Steam or boiling water does the sterilisation, but as mentioned above it needs to be in there for a few minutes to kill bacteria.

    Of course there is no point in sterilising physically dirty bottles. They do need to be clean first.

    Formula should be added to hot water to sterilise it.


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    #20
    lang
    Registered Users Posts: 253 ✭✭lang


    I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my first post. To clarify:

    All bottles we use are thoroughly cleaned and rinsed to remove suds. When making I bottle I boil fresh water, put some into the bottle and again rinse the bottle with it. I then measure out the amount of water and leave this in the bottle to cool. I then add the formula to the cooled water. Those of you using powdered SMA have a look at point two on the instructions... it says to use fresh tap water that has been boiled no less than 30 minutes previous... does this not mean that the water can be cool??

    No advise was given by our PHN and we merely followed the advise of our Midwife and the tin of SMA. What I am seeing in the comments is that everyone appears to have different ways that 'work' for them. Among my wife's friends who have had babies recently they have all been given differing advice by medical professionals regarding the making up of bottles.


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    #21
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    lang wrote: »
    Those of you using powdered SMA have a look at point two on the instructions... it says to use fresh tap water that has been boiled no less than 30 minutes previous... does this not mean that the water can be cool??

    No, it does not mean it can be cold. The thirty minutes is to get the water down from the point at which it cooks the milk powder, to where it still sterilises.


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    #22
    lang
    Registered Users Posts: 253 ✭✭lang


    pwurple wrote: »
    No, it does not mean it can be cold. The thirty minutes is to get the water down from the point at which it cooks the milk powder, to where it still sterilises.

    If you re-read what I never said "cold". I said "cool/ed" water. In neither of my previous posts did I mention cold water at all. After doing more research on the matter I have seen as many differing views on the 'right' way to make up a bottle of powdered formula as there are stars in the sky. The one constant point made by the sites I have looked at and people I have talked to is to NOT add the powder to boiling water as this kills the 'good' bacteria and some other essential nutrients.


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    #23
    Mimikyu
    Registered Users Posts: 18,919 ✭✭✭✭Mimikyu


    This post has been deleted.


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    #24
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    lang wrote: »
    If you re-read what I never said "cold". I said "cool/ed" water. In neither of my previous posts did I mention cold water at all. After doing more research on the matter I have seen as many differing views on the 'right' way to make up a bottle of powdered formula as there are stars in the sky. The one constant point made by the sites I have looked at and people I have talked to is to NOT add the powder to boiling water as this kills the 'good' bacteria and some other essential nutrients.

    It depends what temp do you mean by "cool/ed" ? Is it 70 degrees, or is it 30 degrees? One sterilises, the other does not. 70 degrees is too hot to drink... so if you are mixing formula and giving it straight to the baby without further cooling, it's too cold when you mixed it.

    Bacteria is what you want to kill it in formula. That is what sterilisation actually is, killing bacteria. See page two of the EU safefood guidelines:

    http://www.safefood.eu/SafeFood/media/SafeFoodLibrary/Documents/Consumer/Healthy%20Living/Bottlefeeding_leaflet.pdf


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    #25
    lang
    Registered Users Posts: 253 ✭✭lang


    In the research I have done 70 degrees C seems to be the agreed temp to add the powder at. I think a lot of people are confused about the killing bacteria lark and feel that the powder should be added straight away to water just off the boil.


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    #26
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Yup, 70 degrees. Hot water.

    I don't think anyone said water just off the boil. I said hot water, as per the instructions on the SMA tin...
    "Boil kettle filled with fresh tap water. Allow boiled water to cool for no more than 30 minutes before measuring the required amount of water (see feeding guide on can) into the sterilised bottle, carefully - the water is hot. Do not use artificially softened water or repeatedly boiled water."

    I don't know where the claim about 'good bacteria' comes from, bacteria doesn't readily identify itself as good or bad... so you have to kill both.


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    #27
    lang
    Registered Users Posts: 253 ✭✭lang


    pwurple wrote: »
    Yup, 70 degrees. Hot water.

    I don't think anyone said water just off the boil. I said hot water, as per the instructions on the SMA tin...

    I don't know where the claim about 'good bacteria' comes from, bacteria doesn't readily identify itself as good or bad... so you have to kill both.

    Right


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    #28
    El Camino
    Registered Users Posts: 174 ✭✭El Camino


    I am using aptamil formula, on the instructions and video demonstration it advises not to reheat the bottles once made up, each bottle must be made and used within 2 hrs of preparation. From reading different forums it seems that formula can be refrigerated for 24hrs and reheated. Can anyone advise if this depends on the type of formula? Should I stick rigidly to the instructions for aptamil. Thanks


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    #29
    Big Bag of Chips
    Administrators Posts: 14,081 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Big Bag of Chips


    When my first was born 8 years ago - it was ok to make up 24hrs worth of feeds in advance, keep them in the fridge and heat as needed.

    A year and a half later when the next was born the guidelines were much the same.

    A year later it was "make as you go" and give them at room temperature.

    We always did it the first way. We made up 24 hours worth of bottles, cooled them, kept them in the fridge and heated them as needed. I'm expecting No4 now, and will do it like this.

    My friend and her cousin both have kids the same age. My friend has one, her cousin has twins. My friend was told "make as you go". Her cousin was told, "make a batch and keep them in the fridge, it'll be easier for you with twins"

    In conversation they were wondering why it's ok (safe?) for one to store 24 hours worth of bottles, but not the other!!


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    #30
    liliq
    Registered Users Posts: 2,242 ✭✭✭liliq


    Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

    My friend and her cousin both have kids the same age. My friend has one, her cousin has twins. My friend was told "make as you go". Her cousin was told, "make a batch and keep them in the fridge, it'll be easier for you with twins"

    In conversation they were wondering why it's ok (safe?) for one to store 24 hours worth of bottles, but not the other!!

    Old adage of 'doctors differ, patients die'.

    Plus a lot of hcp's, particularly older ones, believe that their education is complete when they graduate- which would have been more the case years ago when updated information wasn't easily available, which isn't the case any more.


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    #31
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Current guidelines are here:
    http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Publications/services/Children/How_to_prepare_your_baby's_bottle_feed.pdf

    Storage section is page 2 for empties, and page 6 for full. Bottles remain safe to use for 24 hours provided they are not opened, and are stored correctly.

    I think the confusion is just about storage and risk assessment.

    The ideal is to make fresh everytime just in case you have done something incorrectly. If you mess up the sterilisation, or the mix, or the temperature... It's lower risk to have done it for one single bottle, instead of multiple bottles.

    That's the only risk here that would make it less advisable. The likelihood of your own mistakes affecting one bottle, or loads of bottles.

    For that reason making up 24 hours worth is second best option, but there is nothing inherently bad about the contents.


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