Why do you make formula ahead of time?

Temp6313048411121614 · March 2010

I know of several people that do this but don't understand the benefit. Sure it's all mixed and "ready" when you need it, but then you have to spend time warming the bottle. Seems like everything would go faster just by mixing it when needed with warm water. Am I missing something.

robinsokj · March 2010

Many people dont warm their bottles

AlishaMay · March 2010

I've been wondering the same thing! So far the only benefit I can surmise is that premixing lets the bubbles settle. But I'm also hoping for a little more enlightenment.

jlh123 · March 2010

It didn't work for us to be quicker at all. The quickest way that worked for us is to premeasure all my bottles with water for the day and all I have to do is add the formula. Waiting to take the chill off the bottle took much much longer. I never knew people didn't warm the ones from the fridge. I just give my babies room temp the way I do it.

groovygrl · March 2010

Welllll....if you are a 'bad mom' like me who heats bottles in the microwave, it is actually quicker to have bottles ready to go in the fridge ready since you only have to put it in the micro for like 30-40 sec to take the chill off (and yes, I shake & swirl & all that obsessively to get rid of any potential hot spots even though I barely heat it enough to have a hot spot). But I use ready to feed. If I used powder, I might just make it each bottle, I don't know. Takes a lot more hands to mix a bottle than heat one though, when you're trying to watch/juggle 2 babies.

Also my kids go to daycare so making a batch to just pour into the bottles all at once to bring there would be a necessity.

pea-kay · March 2010

It was a LOT easier for us to make up 24 bottles at a time (a day's worth) and grab them and heat them up as needed.

BitterOldHag · March 2010

jlh123:
It didn't work for us to be quicker at all. The quickest way that worked for us is to premeasure all my bottles with water for the day and all I have to do is add the formula. Waiting to take the chill off the bottle took much much longer. I never knew people didn't warm the ones from the fridge. I just give my babies room temp the way I do it.

Us too. And daycare makes bottles on demand. We just give them cans of formula.

jenn_darrin1515 · March 2010

we just use luke warm tap water and add formula as the day goes...one of my gf's sister has twins and she did the premade formula thing and swore by it...whatever works...

Shannon&Alan · March 2010

some just don't warm the bottles. My girls will actually take chilled bottles right out of the fridge :-)

blairsgirl · March 2010

jlh123:
It didn't work for us to be quicker at all. The quickest way that worked for us is to premeasure all my bottles with water for the day and all I have to do is add the formula.

For the first 3 months, we were using ready to feed. Once we switched to powder, this is what we started doing and it has made life so much easier.

omalley · March 2010

It does not take long to make the formula and bottle them up ahead of time. I look at it as a once a day thing and anything I only have to do once a day is a good thing in my mind.

In the early days we used a preheated crockpot to warm the bottles and it can't get easier than that. But now I always have a small saucepan on the stove with water. I turn the pot on, drop the bottles in for 2-3 minutes and then they are ready. I just take the chill off of them, we don't make them warm.

It must just be a difference of opinion b/c I can't see how making them on demand would be easier.

finallyreilly · March 2010

We don't use powder that often because DD and DS are still not doing great on all powder. We only use it at night and we make it as we go.

When we do use powder because we are out of liquid, we mix ours ahead because we add thickener to it for reflux and it is just easier to mix it all at once versus bottle by bottle.

wndrwmn1998 · March 2010

I just found it easier to stir the formula into a big pitcher - it was easier to get the clumps out. I would make up a batch, pour them into bottles, and then just grab them when I needed it. Sometimes I would warm them, sometimes not.

kimarino13 · March 2010

We use a pitcher to get the clumps out without shaking and causing tons of gas bubbles. Plus when the girls go to daycare, the daycare won't mix their bottles so I will have to pre-make them all the night before.

healthynut · March 2010

I am also a "bad mom" who heats the bottles. I've got it down to science on how long two 8 oz. bottles take to warm. Even so, I always shake and test before giving the bottle. We use powder and as pp said, it takes less hands to measure out powder and add water and then shake than it does to warm the bottles. I also use cold water b/c we have a filter on the cold water side, so I warm the bottles no matter what.

lgurian · March 2010

my boys take the bottle cold, i have never warmed them so it saves me a lot of time to have everything pre-made.

seattlestef · March 2010

I used to pre-mix it because they were taking diffierent mixtures of formula and they were getting part breast milk, part formula. So I had a pitcher with each girl's mixture that we could just add to the top of whatver I pumped that day. It was way easier at the time, but now that they are both just on 20cal formula it is easier to make it as we go.

mmbench · March 2010

My girls were on the special, expensive formula, and we didn't want to waste a drop. So we would only pour in what we knew what they would eat - whether it be 3 oz, 6oz, or 9 oz. To get the mixture at the right percentages, I would have had to make up an 8 oz bottle every time and waste 2-4 oz every time.

We kept track of how much they took every feeding until they were 9 months.

Plus I liked giving the bubbles a chance to settle.

stillhoping · March 2010

pea-kay:
It was a LOT easier for us to make up 24 bottles at a time (a day's worth) and grab them and heat them up as needed.

this.

mine were on the thick formula, the really thick crap and it required a mixer to get it mixed properly. We had bottle warmers so it was not that long to warm the bottles. in the long run it did save me time. I had a time every day that I would wash all bottles, make the formula (I did two days worth at a time) and then make the bottles for the next day (poor formula into bottles. The reminder of the formula I kept in a container and would pour up the bottles the next night.

This is what worked best for me and we all know that just because it works for me does not mean it will work for the next person.

k&b51907 · March 2010

My husband works in a hospital and spoke to a representative from Similac about this. They say it's best to let the formula "sit" a little in the fridge rather than feed it right away. They claim that even though it looks like it is mixed completely it is still "gritty" and is tough on the babies bellies.

benkari · March 2010

Ditto the PP. THe NICU nurses told us to let it sit before using and be sure to shake it and test it after warming. For us I grab 2 bottles, throw them in the micro and change 2 diapers while they heat and we are ready to feed. I throw the other 2 bottles in while we feed the first set and they are ready when we are ready for them.

RobynK · March 2010

When they were little and getting a diaper change before each feed we just stuck the cold bottle in hot tap water and by the time we changed diapers they were ready.

I could never get all of the chunks from the formula if I mixed in the bottle, and all of the bubbles made them gassy so I mixed a big Pampered Chef pitcher worth each morning and pre-poured everything.

darci04 · March 2010

Like a pp said, I could never get all the little "chunks" to dissolve when I made them on demand. I got into the habit of premixing for my dd, and it carried over to the boys. We just put the bottles in hot water before the diaper change, and it takes the chill off.

shellshavintwins · March 2010

My girls use the "gentle" formula which is a pain to mix, very clumpy and needs tons of shaking, which in turn causes lots of bubbles that make them even gassier. So I blend ( in a reg blender) 64-96 oz at a time which allows the bubbles and my impatient daughters don't have to wait for the forever fork mixing.

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