Hi there. My dd is three months old (born two months premature) and has been eating expressed breastmilk. I have begun to wean myself from the pump and will be transitioning her over to formula. Can anyone using formula advise me on how you prepare the formula (for example, what kind of containers/utensils do you use to mix it), how you store it, and how you store extra formula in case baby wants more? Anything else I'm not thinking of? Thank you so much in advance for all your help.

Hi JoJo,

I bf and supplement with formula when I need to due to supply issues.

Anyway, the formula I use comes with a scooper in the container to measure out the formula with. The amount depends on how many ounces you plan to make. The cans come with a guideline on how many scoops per ounce of water. So just follow the instructions on the can.

I believe that once you open powdered formula, you need to use within the month. Premix is 72 hours in the fridge.

I always prepare my bottles when I need them, never in advance unless she's going to grandma's. Once the formula is mixed, you either need to use right away, or it can be stored in the fridge up to 24 hours. The guidelines are on the formula can.

I just put the nursery water and formula in a bottle. Put the cap on and shake away. I came up with a song, "shake, shake, shake... shake shake shake, shake your groove thing..." while I shake my butt around. This keeps dd entertained when I'm making it and I know she is hungry. (I'm so glad my neighbors can't see me!)

A word of advice, make more than you need. You would rather have to dump a little extra than not have enough at a feeding. Your dd will tell you when she is full by turning her head or pushing the bottle away. This way you now she's got a full belly instead of wondering if she ate enough. Sometimes my dd eats all of it, sometimes I have to dump 3 oz.

Once you heat the bottle, you have to use within the hour. If not, throw out.

HI

I too had a preemie (4 weeks early) who Had low blood sugar and feeding difficulties. I expressed milk at first and then had to switch to formula due to medication I had to take. If at all possible try to breastfeed, I still do regret that I had to stop. But you definetly have to do what is best at the time. In saying that. . .

I got the Dr. Browns bottles which are a bit more expensive but are better on the belly for gas, spit up etc. They have a lot of parts. I have 3 baskets for the dishwasher and put all the parts in there and the bottles all on the top rack. The baskets you can buy at target or anywhere that has baby stuff.

I usually wash the bottles separate from the rest of my dishes so as not to get food particles all mixed in with the bottles.

I make the bottles as I need them but I do not shake it, I stir it with a butter knife, it mixes better and not so much bubbles.

When I take the baby to daycare I make about 4 bottles in the morning and put them in a bottle bag with an icepack.

I fill a small pot with water and heat it on low and put the bottle right in it. At the daycare they use a small crockpot which they keep on all day and just pot the bottle in to warm it.

I keep a container by the sink that I put dirty bottle parts in until they are ready to go in the dishwasher. I have another container with a lid that I store clean parts and you can get a bottle drying rack for clean bottles.

I like to take the bottles out of the dishwasher and put all the parts together and fill them with filtered water ahead of time. Then when I go to make the bottle alls I need to do is mix in the formula and warm.

Also I keep one section of my kitchen counter for baby formula, bottles and baby food preparation only and don't use it for anything else. I try to wipe it down and keep it sanitary even if the rest of the kitchen is a mess.

Good luck.

I also use the Dr Browns bottles, but I guess I'm much more lax about the rest of it.

My DD is eating about 30 oz. per day and when she got up 24 oz. I started making bottles in advance and storing them in the fridge. I've NEVER heated up a bottle for her, even when making single bottles and baby never minds. She goes by whatever she's used to, which is room temp or cold. Makes like MUCH easier on us parents, for sure!

I bought a Rubbermaid container with a pour top and put in 24 oz. of water and 1 cup of formula (I use Similac). I stir it using these lovely stir sticks we got (for cocktails!) as a wedding gift... I find not shaking the container means less bubbles overall. I then make 5 - 4 oz. bottles and 1 - 6 oz bottle (in an 8 oz bottle), since DD eats a lot at her first feeding when she gets up in the morning. I add Mylicon drops (0.3 ml) to each bottle, cap 'em, and put it in the fridge.

When baby cries out it's so nice to be able to just open the fridge and pick up a bottle, take of the cap, and go!

If baby only eats an ounce or two and the bottle has been out less than an hour, we'll recap it and put it back in the fridge (in a special place that we've designated as "use first" for bottles). If it's out more than hour or if there's only an ounce left, we toss it out.

I hand wash the bottles and the parts in hot soapy water each day. I wash all the bottles and parts first, then I add any other dishes I want to wash (so I keep it separate). If I use the dishwasher I just wash the stuff all together, since it's got a "sanitize" cycle. Because I make up bottles in advance I rarely have the dishwasher ready to run at the same time I've got several bottles to wash.... it just never seems to work out that way.

BTW, I bought the 4 oz. bottles locally, but I bought a batch of the bigger 8 oz. ones on **** at about 1/2 price of what they cost in the store. I would swear by the Dr. Browns since they really do seem to cut down on the spitting up and burping. MUCH less than when I tried other brands.

Wish me luck... I'm travelling with my 3 month old from Florida to Michigan on two planes (6 hours each way) and a stay in a hotel (without a kitchen) for 5 days. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to clean the bottles and store them, etc. effectively during the stay. sigh... nothing is easy, is it!?! (This would've been a much easier trip if I could've BF, but due to a c-section MRSA (staph) infection I couldn't.)

Xinerville

I hear you about traveling. We took DS up to the northeast from the deep south in a car (21 hour ride with stops) when he was 2.5 months old. To make matters worse, all the bottles, formula etc I had prepared in a nice travel bag got left on the kitchen counter and we didn't realize it until we were 100 miles away with DS sleeping happily in the backseat. We had to scramble to find a foodstore in rural south, buy bottles of course they didn't sell Dr. Browns and formula, buy boiling water cups at truck stop to sterilize bottles and nipples, then later stopped at walgreens to buy more Dr. Browns. Also, I spent a lot of time in public bathrooms washing bottles with soap and water and in the hotel room, washing with soap and water and bottle brush in the bathroom sink. Not ideal but it worked. I too was cursing the day I had to give up breastfeeding (also C-section with preemie and also had to take medication after he was born) Good luck, I would be terrified to fly with an infant. But driving isn't much easier either!