Boiling water to be used in formula?

BadTichelDay

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 3:55 pm

I think here in Israel the recommendation is to boil water, let it cool down and then add the formula. That's what I did for our kids for the first few months. If you add boiling water directly to the formula, you destroy most of the vitamins in it. The boiling is to ensure that the water has no germs, not the formula.

amother

Oleander

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 4:52 pm

amother Papayawhip wrote:

Even the people I know that use boiled water usually boil a big batch and let it cool off before mixing with formula. So how would that help with potential bacteria in the powder?
I don't know anyone that actually makes a bottle with boiling hot water.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/.....mula/
The recommendation where I live is that you should use water over 70 degrees Celsius.
See the link for the NHS recommendations which I tried to stick to for my baby, I can't say I always followed to a tee but I always used hot water and then cooled the bottle down.

amother

Oleander

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 4:57 pm

BadTichelDay wrote:

The instructions on the formula container in the UK is that you should use water over 70 degrees Celsius. It says you shouldn't let it cool down more than half an hour. It is also the recommendation of the NHS.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/.....mula/

Busybee5

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 7:47 pm

amother Beige wrote:

I always used boiled water. What I’d do was fill up sterilized bottles with boiled water and then put them in the fridge. This way I’d only have to add a little bit of boiling water each time and it was the perfect temperature for the baby. No waiting around for a boiling bottle to cool down!

I did this too. Great for in the middle of the night, you can just take a flask upstairs, and not have to leave your bed.

Busybee5

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 7:54 pm

amother Papayawhip wrote:

You are meant to though. I'm in the UK and I had the health visitor come round when my baby was a few weeks old. Baby needed a feed when she was in my house, she said you're using boiled water right? (I never did bc it takes ages to cool down and my baby screams for milk during that time!) I said course. It was so annoying having her round, but she explained why I need to boil it. That was still the first and last time I made it up like that, and bH my baby's were and are fine!

amother

Daylily

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 8:14 pm

When I was a kid I remember we had to wait till the botttles cooled down.

Most ridiculos thing ever.

I always used cooled boiled water.

How is it possible to bottle feed if you constantly have to wait till the bottles the right temperature?

Until I got my baby used to room temperature , I would do half hot water from a flask and the rest cooled down.

Id have the cooled water already in the bottle, just add from a flask and then add the formula.

Who in their right mind goes downstairs to boil a kettle of water in the middle of the night??
Or use boiling water from a flask and eait for it to cool down??

My bottle making prep took precisely 6 seconds and all with my eyes half closed, over the nightstand next to my bed.

amother

Bluebell

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 9:19 pm

amother Oleander wrote:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/making-up-baby-formula/
The recommendation where I live is that you should use water over 70 degrees Celsius.
See the link for the NHS recommendations which I tried to stick to for my baby, I can't say I always followed to a tee but I always used hot water and then cooled the bottle down.

That's the guidelines in the UK. I live in the US but I do it this way because there have been many formula recalls here, and I don't want to risk exposing my baby to bacteria. What I do is mix the formula with some boiling water. I also boil water and keep it refrigerated, so I can add that water to cool down the bottle. I only did that until baby was 4 months old though because past the newborn stage I don't feel as worried.

amother

Bluebell

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 9:21 pm

amother Daylily wrote:

You can premix the powder with boiling water and keep it in a small refrigerator in your room. Then warm the bottle using a bottle warmer.

Ema of 5

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 10:32 pm

BadTichelDay wrote:

When we went to Israel, I boiled water for my baby. He threw up, so then I just used bottled water.

amother

Daylily

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 3:05 am

amother Bluebell wrote:

You can premix the powder with boiling water and keep it in a small refrigerator in your room. Then warm the bottle using a bottle warmer.

Why?

And how is it convenient while my child is waiting for a bottle?

amother

Lavender

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 6:46 am

I used a little hot water from the hot water urn to sterilize the formula and filled the rest of the bottle up with bottled water. Did this until my baby was three months. Then switched to just bottled water. If I wasn’t home and didn’t have easy access to hot water, I just used bottled water even when the baby was under three months because the risk is very low anyways.

Night feeds were so easy. Prep bottles filled with the right amount of room temperature water and then just pour the formula from a pre measured formula dispenser into the bottle when the baby wakes for a feed.

BadTichelDay

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 10:44 am

BadTichelDay wrote:

I just double checked on the Materna website. They still seem to recommend cooling down the boiled water to 37 C on their website:
קררו את המים לטמפרטורת הגוף, כ- 37 מעלות צלזיוס.
לאחר *שהרתחתם וקיררתם* את המים, מזגו את כמות המים הרצויה לבקבוק הנקי. חשוב: קודם כל מוזגים את המים ואחר כך מוסיפים את האבקה.
הוסיפו למים בבקבוק את מספר כפיות האבקה הרצוי.

This is different from the recommendations for the US and UK, which were given to prevent Cronobacter infections from the formula itself. I do not know if Materna is produced differently so that the risk is lower or if they just haven't updated their recommendations.
Probably best to follow each the recommendations of their country of residence.
If anyone uses Materna, it might be worth writing to them and asking them about Cronobacter infections and cooling down the boiled water to which temperature and why or why not.