Once you have cleaned and sterilised your baby’s bottle, teats and other feeding equipment, you will need to prepare the baby formula. On the surface, preparing a bottle of infant formula may seem like a simple task, but when it is your child’s sole source of nourishment and you have no previous experience, it is understandable that it might feel overwhelming. This is why we have prepared a useful guide on how to prepare a bottle of baby formula.
Before the global coronavirus pandemic you could be forgiven for not knowing how to “wash your hands like a doctor” but nowadays most us know that good hand hygiene requires us to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds (roughly the amount of time it would take to sing “Happy Birthday” twice). If you need reminding, simply follow the advice below:
Note: if you are out and about and do not have access to soap and water, use a suitable alcohol-based hand rub. However, soap and water kill more germs than hand sanitisers and are more effective at eliminating cryptosporidium, norovirus, and clostridium difficile among other things, while hand sanitiser is not nearly as effective when hands are noticeably dirty or greasy.
Furthermore, it is important to use enough hand sanitiser to completely cover your hands, to rub for at least 20 seconds and to wait until your hands are dry before touching any feeding equipment.
Tap water is fine. Bottled water is not recommended as it may contain too much salt or sodium. You can use filtered water but be sure that you still boil it and that you follow the manufacturer’s instructions as written on your tin or packets of formula. You should use your kettle to heat the water.
Be sure that your milk is not past its expiry date and that it has not been open for longer than the manufacturer recommends – most opened tins of formula powder should be disposed of after one month. In between making up feeds, keep it tightly sealed so as to avoid contamination.
According to the NHS you should follow the basic steps below in order to make up infant formula milk:
It is important to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and to not vary the ratio of powder to water – it should be the same strength every time. Using extra formula could cause your baby to become constipated or dehydrated, while not enough powder could mean your baby becomes undernourished. Never add sugar, cereals or any other additive to a formula feed – the manufacture of formula is highly regulated in the UK and the ingredients (or formula) is nutritionally balanced and carefully prepared.
It is recommended that you prepare one bottle at a time. However, sometimes it may be necessary to prepare bottles in advance. In such cases, bottle feeds should be stored below 5˚C within 1 hour of preparation and used within 24 hours. The fridge door is not recommended for baby bottle storage as this place is much warmer than the back of a fridge shelf, where the temperature is coolest.
Ideally, you should take both your powdered formula and your cooled boiled water with you when you travel and mix them as and when needed. However, this is not always convenient. As such, if you must travel with a bottle you’ve already mixed with water, be sure that it is kept ice cold during transit and carried in a suitable cool bag. In theory, it can be safely kept below 5˚C for up to 24 hours.