For new mums, bottle feeding for the first time may seem very difficult. Luckily, WHO (World Health Organization) have this guide on safe preparation of milk formula for babies.
How to prepare a bottle feed
Fist, you have to clean and disinfect the surface on which you are preparing the feed. Then wash your hands with soap and water. Dry with a clean or disposable cloth.
Now, boil some safe water. Make sure you wait until the kettle switches off if you are using an automatic kettle but If using a pan to boil the water, make sure the water comes to a rolling boil.
Find out how much water and how much powder you need by reading the instructions on the formula's packaging. Pour the correct amount of boiled water at the right temperature into a cleaned and sterilized feeding bottle. Add the exact amount of formula to the water in the bottle and mix thoroughly by gently shaking the bottle.Cool to feeding temperature immediately by holding the bottle under cold running tap water. You can also cool it by placing it in a container of cold or iced water. Dry the outside of the bottle with a clean cloth and label the bottle with information formula type, baby's name, date and time made and name of the preparer. Before feeding it to the baby, check the temperature of the feed by dripping a little onto the inside of your wrist. Make sure it feels lukewarm and not hot. Feed your baby now and throw away any feed is still left after two hours.
Do not use a microwave to prepare or warm-up your baby's feeds. This is because it does not heat evenly and this can cause ‘hot spots’ which could scald your infant’s mouth.
How to store bottle feeds
It is better to prepare formula fresh for each feed and to consume immediately instead of storing them. However, in some cases, you may need to prepare bottles of feed in advance and then store them in the refrigerator for later use.
Prepare the feeds in different bottles. Cool, label and place the bottle feeds in a refrigerator.
How to re-warm refrigerated bottle feeds
Before it is needed, remove a bottle feed from the refrigerator and re-warm for about 15 minutes. You can re-warm feeds by using a bottle warmer, or by just standing the bottle in a container of warm water. Shake or swirl the feed in its bottle occasionally so as to make sure that it heats evenly.
Drip a little onto the inside of your wrist to check the temperature of the feed. Make sure it feels warm and not hot before feeding your baby. Any re-warmed feed that has not been consumed within two hours should be discarded.
Special circumstance
If the formula cannot be prepared with hot water
Because of compositional reasons, some formulas cannot be reconstituted with water at 70ºC. In such cases, feeds should be made fresh as needed by using boiled water that has been allowed to cool below 70ºC.
If boiling water is not available
The best way to prepare a feed is by using water that has been boiled and cooled to nothing less than 70ºC. You can use sterile liquid formula if you do not have access to boiling water. As an alternative, you can also prepare feeds with fresh, safe water at room temperature and then consume immediately.
If water quality is poor
If the water quality is poor, it is very important to boil, chlorinate and filter the water to make it safe. You can disinfect water by bringing to a rolling boil and then add about 5 drops of chlorine to 1 liter of water.
The original document can be found here:
WHO Guide for Safe Milk Preparation
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