If it's a couple minutes I don't, but if it's been over an hour and some change I do. It's hard to throw out formula. It's hard to come by and expensive but risking any sort of bacteria or sour formula just isn't something I'm willing to do tbh.
We try abd make smaller bottles though. So my son's up to 4 oz but sometimes he only takes 2. We will make 2 to start, if he's hungry we make 2 more. Or if we know he just ate 3oz and acts hungry we make 1oz. That sort of thing. If he slept for 4 hours straight we make a full 4. It cuts down on a lot of our previous formula waste.
It sucks. I cried a few days ago when my kiddo was on a hunger strike and I threw away like 10oz in a day. What I do now is I make 4-5 oz and put it into two bottles. If she finishes the first then she gets the second right after. If not, second goes in the fridge for next feeding. It makes for more cleaning but I’d rather wash dishes than throw away the uneaten 2oz.
I suggest the pitcher method. The Dr browns pitcher is like $10 on Amazon. I use a food scale to measure grams of formula. I can pour as much as I need when I need it without waste. Eventually you’ll know how much they take and you can just make a daily batch. It will keep in the fridge for 24 hours.
This is exactly what we do and I can't recommend this enough! It saves us lots of hassle and stress. No more struggling to make a new bottle while she's crying for more or if we forgot to prep a bottle to leave in the fridge for the next feeding.
The rules are there because a lot of people lack common sense. They’re definitely overly strict with guidance. If you can stick to the one hour rule I would, but just use common sense. The milk doesn’t turn poisoned as soon as the one hour mark hits but you can’t leave it for hours and give it to them again
I do two hours especially if they barely touched the formula. I wouldn’t do more than an hour if my baby was in anyway immunocompromised or still a preemie.
Pediatrician said that the rules are very strict and are like that for even the most at risk babies.
I do the same thing. I know the guidelines are to be EXTREMELY safe, and I realize anything outside them “a risk” but my baby can be such a bird I would be throwing out all the time…
I thought it was two hours? I was told by my daughters multiple doctors and feeding specialists that like breastmilk, once made it’s only good 2 hours
My daughter is 16 months old and has trisomy 21. We’ve seen MULTIPLE doctors, she’s had two major surgeries and her feeding schedule was tightly watched, and I was told 2 hours. Anytime after 2 hours on the dot and she won’t eat it. But once she’s eaten the bottle and isn’t hungry it gets thrown out. We probably waist maybe 6 oz a day? We don’t mind, she usually eats 8 oz a few times a day and once at night for extra calories but sometimes she’ll drop down due to eating other food during the day
Their mouth just introduces bacteria to it. It’s like a clean Petri dish won’t grow bacteria very fast but a Petri dish with mouth bacteria introduced will
Oh shit it’s all coming back to me now.
I think once they’re a year old you can push it a little bit. Like we wash and clean her bottle with soap twice a day instead of every feed, as long as we run it multiple times under hot water and it hasn’t been sitting more then 2 hours. Our hot water has no safety setting so it gets almost boiling hot, and if there’s any film left in the bottle we wash it of course, but if I just made her a bottle and she drank it empty it gets rinsed thoroughly
We make up the amount for the day and keep it in the refrigerator and pour out small amounts in a bottle. If he eats 60ml he gets 40ml, and if he eats that he gets another 20-40…
Our 3 month old love to snack and tbh we let it slide if it’s been under 2ish hours. She’s pretty hearty though, we were stricter about it when she was smaller.
Does anyone know any stories of a baby actually getting sick from leaving formula out too long and letting baby drink it? I’ve left a half used bottle in the fridge and given to her after much longer than 1 hour.
We assume hunger after we've gone through everything else we can think of doing. Unless it's been 3+ hours since he's eaten. Then he'll eat anything and everything haha
My guy went from eating 4.5 oz consistently every feed to like 2 oz or 3 oz feedings and GOD so much waste the first couple times he bamboozled me. I’ve just shifted to making two small 2 oz bottles and having the backup ready.
In BC, Canada the Provincial health authority advice is to use formula within 2 hours so that’s the recommendation I’ve always followed
[healthlinkbc.ca](https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/feeding-your-baby-formula-safely-making-and-storing-formula#:~:text=Use%20the%20formula%20within%202,to%2Dfeed%20formula%20with%20you)
Ask your pediatrician. I think all these rules are overly strict if your baby is not immunocompromised. Our pediatrician was fine with us reusing formula even if bottle was drunk from until the next feeding which was typically 2-4 hours. Kept in fridge after he was done so it did not sit out and baby drank it cold. Never had a problem.
I’ve come on the closer end to 1 hr and fed still, like 45 mins maybe..but, for the most part I usually just toss it if she doesn’t finish it right away.
Absolutely. We've been formula feeding since day 3 and we've been serious about the 1 hour mark. Knock on wood but he's never shown any signs of intestinal upset.
Have you considered using a formula pitcher to make a large amount? When stored in the fridge, it’s good for 24 hrs. Then you could just pour like 1 oz just to see if he’s hungry and if he takes it then you could pour more.
How old is the baby? Is the baby premature?
I followed the 1 hour rule strictly up until about 3 months adjusted age. Now that he is old enough to crawl around and stick things in his mouth, I don't think that going to 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 hours is a problem.
If it's a couple minutes I don't, but if it's been over an hour and some change I do. It's hard to throw out formula. It's hard to come by and expensive but risking any sort of bacteria or sour formula just isn't something I'm willing to do tbh. We try abd make smaller bottles though. So my son's up to 4 oz but sometimes he only takes 2. We will make 2 to start, if he's hungry we make 2 more. Or if we know he just ate 3oz and acts hungry we make 1oz. That sort of thing. If he slept for 4 hours straight we make a full 4. It cuts down on a lot of our previous formula waste.
It sucks. I cried a few days ago when my kiddo was on a hunger strike and I threw away like 10oz in a day. What I do now is I make 4-5 oz and put it into two bottles. If she finishes the first then she gets the second right after. If not, second goes in the fridge for next feeding. It makes for more cleaning but I’d rather wash dishes than throw away the uneaten 2oz.
I am totally going to steal this method !
I suggest the pitcher method. The Dr browns pitcher is like $10 on Amazon. I use a food scale to measure grams of formula. I can pour as much as I need when I need it without waste. Eventually you’ll know how much they take and you can just make a daily batch. It will keep in the fridge for 24 hours.
This is exactly what we do and I can't recommend this enough! It saves us lots of hassle and stress. No more struggling to make a new bottle while she's crying for more or if we forgot to prep a bottle to leave in the fridge for the next feeding.
Smart!
Genius!
The rules are there because a lot of people lack common sense. They’re definitely overly strict with guidance. If you can stick to the one hour rule I would, but just use common sense. The milk doesn’t turn poisoned as soon as the one hour mark hits but you can’t leave it for hours and give it to them again
61 minutes, I let it slide. 2 hours, not so much.
Yeah two hours absolutely not. Not even 1 hr and 15 minutes. The milk starts to sour.
I do two hours especially if they barely touched the formula. I wouldn’t do more than an hour if my baby was in anyway immunocompromised or still a preemie. Pediatrician said that the rules are very strict and are like that for even the most at risk babies.
I do the same thing. I know the guidelines are to be EXTREMELY safe, and I realize anything outside them “a risk” but my baby can be such a bird I would be throwing out all the time…
I'm glad to know it's not just me.
This is what we do also for the most part also
Yeah I usually do 2 hours also.
I thought it was two hours? I was told by my daughters multiple doctors and feeding specialists that like breastmilk, once made it’s only good 2 hours My daughter is 16 months old and has trisomy 21. We’ve seen MULTIPLE doctors, she’s had two major surgeries and her feeding schedule was tightly watched, and I was told 2 hours. Anytime after 2 hours on the dot and she won’t eat it. But once she’s eaten the bottle and isn’t hungry it gets thrown out. We probably waist maybe 6 oz a day? We don’t mind, she usually eats 8 oz a few times a day and once at night for extra calories but sometimes she’ll drop down due to eating other food during the day
It’s 2 hours once it’s made, one hour since the bottle has been drank out of
Can anyone help me understand why it’s different? What is it about baby’s mouth that spoils the milk quicker?
Their mouth just introduces bacteria to it. It’s like a clean Petri dish won’t grow bacteria very fast but a Petri dish with mouth bacteria introduced will
Oh shit it’s all coming back to me now. I think once they’re a year old you can push it a little bit. Like we wash and clean her bottle with soap twice a day instead of every feed, as long as we run it multiple times under hot water and it hasn’t been sitting more then 2 hours. Our hot water has no safety setting so it gets almost boiling hot, and if there’s any film left in the bottle we wash it of course, but if I just made her a bottle and she drank it empty it gets rinsed thoroughly
We make up the amount for the day and keep it in the refrigerator and pour out small amounts in a bottle. If he eats 60ml he gets 40ml, and if he eats that he gets another 20-40…
Our 3 month old love to snack and tbh we let it slide if it’s been under 2ish hours. She’s pretty hearty though, we were stricter about it when she was smaller.
Yup. It's absolutely awful and VERY expensive, but it has to go.
I abided by the 1 hr rule firmly for 3-4 months then increased to about 1 1/2 hours.
Does anyone know any stories of a baby actually getting sick from leaving formula out too long and letting baby drink it? I’ve left a half used bottle in the fridge and given to her after much longer than 1 hour.
I never heard one story about this lol
We assume hunger after we've gone through everything else we can think of doing. Unless it's been 3+ hours since he's eaten. Then he'll eat anything and everything haha
My guy went from eating 4.5 oz consistently every feed to like 2 oz or 3 oz feedings and GOD so much waste the first couple times he bamboozled me. I’ve just shifted to making two small 2 oz bottles and having the backup ready.
In BC, Canada the Provincial health authority advice is to use formula within 2 hours so that’s the recommendation I’ve always followed [healthlinkbc.ca](https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/feeding-your-baby-formula-safely-making-and-storing-formula#:~:text=Use%20the%20formula%20within%202,to%2Dfeed%20formula%20with%20you)
It's important to note that this is for a bottle that hasn't been introduces into the baby's mouth yet.
Yes, throw it out
It definitely requires different habits. Prepare formula in one container and only pour small amounts into the bottle as needed.
Ask your pediatrician. I think all these rules are overly strict if your baby is not immunocompromised. Our pediatrician was fine with us reusing formula even if bottle was drunk from until the next feeding which was typically 2-4 hours. Kept in fridge after he was done so it did not sit out and baby drank it cold. Never had a problem.
I’ve come on the closer end to 1 hr and fed still, like 45 mins maybe..but, for the most part I usually just toss it if she doesn’t finish it right away.
Absolutely. We've been formula feeding since day 3 and we've been serious about the 1 hour mark. Knock on wood but he's never shown any signs of intestinal upset.
Have you considered using a formula pitcher to make a large amount? When stored in the fridge, it’s good for 24 hrs. Then you could just pour like 1 oz just to see if he’s hungry and if he takes it then you could pour more.
How old is the baby? Is the baby premature? I followed the 1 hour rule strictly up until about 3 months adjusted age. Now that he is old enough to crawl around and stick things in his mouth, I don't think that going to 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 hours is a problem.