EPers + supplementing

Mommy2CB · September 2013

How do you handle giving bottles out of the house? LO likes warm bottles (til now he was EBF but wasn't gaining weight). Do I put hot water in a bottle to add formula to later? Or add it right away? Thaw BM and put it in the bottle or separate? Just wondering what people do!

Stupid question I know

Mommy2CB · September 2013

Oops I meant to post this on Breastfeeding! Any answers here would help though!

MOMama987 · September 2013

We are only using formula now, but we used to mix bottles - BM is okay longer at room temp than formula, so we'd usually add BM to a bottle, add the warm water for the formula and mix in the formula powder when we needed it. Some people prefer to keep BM and formula bottles separate, though, because if LO doesnt finish a formula bottle, it has to be thrown out, and people dont like to waste the BM. If it was a just-formula bottle, we'd just keep room-temp water in the bottle and mix in the formula when we needed it. LO was fine with it at room temp; if you need it warm-warm, though, I'd just use warm tap water... or warm the bottle in hot running water.

CNJ4EVA · September 2013

When out and about, we always FF. It's just easier than trying to keep BM cold and then finding a way to warm it at feeding time. I keep formula in a Ziploc and room temp water in a bottle, then mix when it's time for her to eat.

AllieAGame · September 2013

So, for you all that use formula, do you boil the water first? We EP, but she is starting to eat more than I pump, so formula is in our future (thank GOD- I'm so ready to stop pumping, just need an excuse).

Oohgurl · September 2013

AllieAGame said:

So, for you all that use formula, do you boil the water first? We EP, but she is starting to eat more than I pump, so formula is in our future (thank GOD- I'm so ready to stop pumping, just need an excuse).

No, we use bottled water.

nortiz03 · September 2013

I feed LO (thawed out frozen. BM from my stash) and pump right before we leave. So the milk pumped is her next bottle since it is good for a few hours. For the next bottle, I make a bottle w/ cold BM that has been refrigerated for days or a few hours and by the time LO is ready for that bottle it is close to room temp. LO eats every 2 hours so that takes care of 4 hours. If we are not home before the next feeding then I take BM in the medela insulated bag and we have just learned to take it out well before we need it so that it will get warm. Sometimes that means putting it between my legs to get warm or we have even stopped at a gas station to get some hot water out of the coffee machine to warm the milk. If we are gone all day I end up taking my pump w/ me and feed LO what I pump. I EP, but anyway that is not a stupid question. I asked a friend of mine who was also EP, how she did it b/c I was lost and almost gave up pumping.

AllieAGame · September 2013

Oh, I should have also answered the question, huh? If I've just pumped, I put that milk in a bottle and leave it out until she's hungry unless it's a hot day. Usually, though, I take bags of milk in a small cooler with an ice pack and just heat them for a few minutes under warm/hot water. I store about a third of my milk in storage bags (in the fridge) to grab when we are out and about since they heat up exponentially faster than milk in the bottles. Takes less than 2 minutes.

Also, I ALWAYS take one more bag of milk than I anticipate needing. The hard plastic ice pack things keep them cool enough to pop back in the fridge if I don't use it, and then I'm never worried if my day goes longer than expected.

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