How To Prepare Formula Bottles In Advance

Are you wondering how to prepare formula bottles in advance? Are you thinking of a fast and effective way to prepare formula bottles in advance? Then this article is for you.

Whether you’ve decided to formula feed your baby from the start, or you decide to supplement your breast milk with formula, there are a lot of questions that come to mind during this period.

In this article, we answer some common queries about formula feeding your baby, and bottle feeding safety practices to keep in mind.

Preparing Water for Baby Formula

The first thing you need to do when preparing baby formula is to wash your hands with mild soap.
Ensure you clean and sanitize the area where you’ll be preparing the
Then boil clean water in an electric kettle or on the stovetop.
Allow the water to cool down for about 30 minutes to a safe temperature – lukewarm or around room temperature.
Ensure baby feeding bottles need to be clean and sanitized. To learn more on how to properly clean and sanitize baby feeding bottles and other baby feeding items, visit this link.
Finally put cooled, boiled water in the sterilized bottles, and then store them sealed with a ring and cap in the refrigerator for advanced purposes. These bottles should be used within 24 hours. Never use a microwave to heat milk because it could result in “hot spots” which can burn your baby’s mouth and throat.

How To Prepare Powdered Baby Formula

What You’ll Need:

Clean Feeding Bottle
Mild Soap
Baby Formula
Sterilized Knife
Bottle Warmers

Before preparing your baby formula, always check the expiry date on the formula tin. Discard any opened tins of powder after each month.

Here are easy steps for adding the powder to water to make baby formula:

Firstly, go through the instructions on the formula tin. These instructions will guide you on how much water and powder to use when preparing the formula.
Ensure you clean and sanitize the baby feeding bottles.
Then pour the right amount of cooled, boiled water into the sterilized feeding bottle.
Use the scoop from the formula tin to measure the right number of scoops into the feeding bottle. Level off each scoop with a sterilized knife or something similar.
Use a ring/cap to seal the bottle. Tap the feeding bottle lightly on the bench so the powder falls into the water. Then gently swirl the bottle afterward shake the bottle vigorously. This helps mix the powder and water evenly.
After that take off the cap and replace it with a teat.
Always check the temperature of the formula by placing a few drops on the inside of your wrist before feeding your baby. Avoid feeding your baby a hot formula – it should feel just warm.

If you have a leftover formula, probably because the baby didn’t finish all the formula, you can throw it away within one hour or use it for other beneficial purposes.

If you decide to store half-empty bottles of formula for future use, keep in mind that this is risky because they can get contaminated with germs once the baby sucks on them.

Do not pour any additional formula powder into a bottle. Baby formula should always be the same strength.

How To Prepare Formula Bottles In Advance

What You’ll Need:

Clean Feeding Bottle
Mild Soap
Refrigerator
Thermal Baby Bottle Pack
Bottle Warmers

Firstly, when preparing baby formula in advance, ensure you wash your hands with mild soap. It’s best to prepare only one bottle of formula at a time and each bottle right before feeding your baby.

If you decide to prepare baby formula in advance, refrigerate the formula below 5˚C within 1 hour of preparing it, and ensure you use it within 24 hours. Store the formula in the back of your refrigerator where it’s coldest, not in the door where it’s warmer.

If you can’t maintain the temperature of the formula, discard them after one hour at room temperature. Alternatively, you can use ‘ready to drink’ baby formulas if preparing formula in advance isn’t suitable for you or if you’re traveling.

Using Formula While Traveling

The safest method to travel with formula is to take cooled, boiled water along with your powdered formula in separate containers.

However, if you need to travel with bottles of ready-made formula mixed with water, ensure the formula is icy cold when you leave the house. You can carry it in a thermal baby bottle pack like Tommy Tippee Insulated Bottle Bag or a cool bag with ice packs.

You can decide to put the formula back in the refrigerator if it has been in the bottle pack or cool bag for less than two hours.

But make sure to use it within 24 hours of when it was first prepared. Discard any leftover formula you haven’t used or put it back in the fridge within two hours.

How To Warm And Cool Baby Formula

You don’t need to warm the formula that has been chilled or ‘ready to drink’ formula. While some babies like their formula lukewarm or warmed a little, if your baby doesn’t mind drinking cold formula, you can go ahead and introduce it to the baby.

One of the safest ways to warm formula is to stand the bottle in a jug of warm water. Also, Bottle warmers like (Bololo Bottle Warmers) are effective and safe as long as they have a thermostat control.

While using a bottle warmer, do not leave the bottle in the warmer for more than 10 minutes to avoid allowing bacteria to breed in the formula or breast milk. These bacteria are the common cause of diarrhea.

Then gently swirl the feeding bottle to mix the formula after you’re done warming. Check the temperature of the formula by pouring a few drops onto your wrist.

Safety Tips:

Its best advised not to use a microwave to heat baby formula, this is because it can heat the formula unevenly and the formula can burn your baby’s mouth.
If you mistakenly make the baby formula too hot, cool down the temperature by holding it under cold running water or placing it in a jug of cold water.
Always swirl the feeding bottle and recheck the temperature on your wrist before feeding it to your baby. You should not put the bottle back in the refrigerator for later use.

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Conclusion

That sums up my experience on the fastest and most effective ways on how to prepare formula bottles in advance.

Therefore, whether you decide to formula feed or breast milk your baby you need to learn how to prepare formula in advance or store it for night purposes.

If you found this article helpful, kindly share it with any of your friends who you know might benefit from it.