If your baby didn't finish a bottle, can you reuse it? If your baby starts a bottle of formula but doesn't finish it within an hour, toss it. Don't refrigerate and reheat leftovers. Bacteria from your baby's mouth can seep into the bottle, contaminate the formula, and make them sick.
Mixing ready-to-feed formula with breast milk
Wash your hands, clean your kitchen counter and make sure all gear (the bottle, nipple, measuring scoop, can top) is clean. Because ready-to-serve formula is already prepared, you can simply pour it into the same bottle as your expressed breast milk.
Use prepared formula within two hours of mixing and within one hour of starting your baby's feeding. Once you've fed your baby their formula, make sure to discard any formula left over in the bottle. It's no longer safe to be consumed since it's been contaminated with your baby's saliva and can grow unsafe bacteria.
It is recommended that bottles be replaced every 4-6 months. Glass bottles may not need to be replaced as frequently if they're in good condition. Proper maintenance and care can increase the safety and longevity of your bottles.
Fortunately, you don't have to buy a baby bottle sterilizer to keep things sanitary. If you use bottles or pacifiers, you'll want to sterilize them before their first use and perhaps periodically thereafter, but it's not necessary to sterilize bottles after every use.
Most baby bottles can be cleaned and sterilized easily. That means it's safe to use them for multiple babies. But make sure to replace those nipples. Baby slings, wraps and carriers generally hold up over time.
For extra germ removal, sanitize feeding items at least once daily. Sanitizing is particularly important when your baby is younger than 2 months, was born prematurely, or has a weakened immune system.
Reused Plastic Bottles Can Leach Toxic Chemicals
Repeated re-use of plastic bottles—which get dinged up through normal wear and tear while being washed—increases the chance that chemicals will leak out of the tiny cracks and crevices that develop in the containers over time.
Salmonella and Cronobacter sakazakii are the bacteria of greatest concern when it comes to infant formula. Food poisoning caused by these bacteria may cause your child to experience diarrhoea. Any made-up infant formula that has not been used and has been kept at room temperature must be thrown away within two hours.
Don't keep formula milk for longer than the length of a feed, which is about an hour. If your baby doesn't finish all of his milk, throw away the rest. It may seem wasteful, but it's safer for your baby. Harmful bacteria can grow in the leftover milk.
It's fine to give your baby room temperature or even cold formula. If your baby prefers warm formula, place a filled bottle in a bowl of warm water or run under warm water. Test the temperature by putting a couple of drops on the back of your hand or wrist. The formula should feel lukewarm — not hot.
Leave the water to cool in the kettle for no more than 30 minutes. Then it will stay at a temperature of at least 70C. Water at this temperature will kill any harmful bacteria. Remember to let the feed cool before you give it to your baby.
Regular mixed feeding with formula can make breastfeeding more challenging as it can interfere with your milk supply. Some babies may start to prefer drinking from a bottle. The way you feed your baby is a personal choice. You may choose to feed your baby just expressed breastmilk as you prefer to feed using a bottle.
Instead of filling the kettle up each night and boiling it to make fresh baby bottles, you simply fill a flask up with just boiled water before going to sleep. A good quality flask should keep water at a safe temperature of 70˚C or above for several hours.
Most babies will do just fine with different brands of formula, including store brands, as long as they're the same type, like cow's milk-based, soy, hypoallergenic (extensively hydrolyzed), or elemental (amino acid-based).
But if it's been more than two hours, dump it; the risk of contamination from the baby's mouth and the milk itself isn't worth it, per the ABM. Naturally, this might lead to some waste. The best way to avoid this is to only pour out what you need into a separate bottle that you will give to your baby.
If your baby did not finish the bottle, use the leftover milk within 2 hours after the baby is finished feeding. After 2 hours, leftover breast milk should be discarded.
As long as they're not broken or warped, bottles are fine to reuse.
In theory, you can reuse an old water bottle for as long as you want, as long as water bottle cleanliness is something you're keeping on top of. If you don't notice any cracks in the plastic and are keeping it clean, there's no danger in reusing plastic water bottles.
You should never refill a plastic water bottle because it can leach chemicals into the water. Plastic is made from petroleum, and when it is heated, it can release harmful chemicals into the water. These chemicals can include bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor.
Until infants are four months of age: o All water used to prepare infant formula should be boiled for two minutes. o Equipment used to prepare and feed infant formula should be sterilized. infection i.e., pre-term or low-birth weight who are less than two months (postnatal age) or immunocompromised.
Sterlilise first thing in the morning, make up the bottles with 8oz freshly boiled water. Then when they are sealed with their lids on the inside stays sterile for 24 hours. The instructions only mean 6 hours when they aren't sealed, as germs can still get to the internal bits of the bottle.
Not sterilising your baby's bottles will allow bacteria to develop on the feeding equipment. This may lead to infections including diarrhoea and vomiting1.