Heating Bottles

Just a bottle question, we are doing a combination of pumped bm in a bottle and formula, they probably get 80% bm and 20% formula. The bm we just give them at room temperature as according to the LLL it can sit out for up to 8 hours and I usually feed it to them within 3 hours of pumping. But their formula bottles we have also been giving them at room temperature, they seem to take it just fine, but now I am feeling a little guility about not warming it up for them, like I'm a bad mommy or something. Is there any basis for warming the bottles or is it just the preference of the baby?

TIA!

 

My girls got used to room temp formula in the NICU so thats what we do at home. If we grab a bottle from the fridge right before feeding them, we just put it in a container of warm water to heat to room temp. So nope you aren't a bad mommy at all!

Congrats on your twins! -Leighann

 

I say if they take it without warming it, dont warm it. I never warmed formula and when we began reg. milk, I did not warm that either. My mom could not believe (and still cant) that I dont warm it. It was one less thing I ever needed to worry about.

 

People just do it because there's a belief that babies prefer it (since BM is warm when they get it straight from mom). If your babies don't mind having it room temp, do it -- it will save you a lot of time in bottle-warming, plus you may have less trouble with the transition to cold milk.

 

I never warmed bottles, they were always given at room temp!

 

QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Oct 4 2007, 08:40 PM) [snapback]436198[/snapback]
My mom could not believe (and still cant) that I dont warm it.



My mother thinks I am terrible for not warming the bottles!! LOL
Mine actually like it cold (contrary to her opinion) - so, it is great...it saves me a step. When I do warm it, I also put it in a dish of hot water.

 

I have fed ALL four of my children room temp formula or EBM. A BTDT Mommy told me not to warm the milk because what do you do when travelling or when you are out an dabout - it sounded good to me and my babies have never known any different!!!

 

YOU ARE NOT A BAD MOMMY!!! I wish so bad that I had served them room temp bottles. it makes life soooooooo much easier, especially when you travel or go on vacation. the car bottle warmers NEVER worked properly and it would take an hour to warm their bottle which obviously was of no use. Unfortunately, we used canned formula so we had to keep it refridgerated so I got into the habit of always warming it. If you are using powder, and they drink it just fine, don't change a thing. It will really keep things a lot more simple for you.

 

Room temp is perfect for babies. It's best not to start with warming if your babies don't mind - that way they don't get used to something you might not be able to provide in future (say if you're out or something).

 

we do ours at room temp...

 

Because of the strict feedings I have for my two, I have to bottle feed. I have been pumping BM and adding formula to that for the extra calories, and If the BM is freshly pumped, then I just feed it to them.
I love the Munchkin electric bottle warmer, we use it all the time. And I have noticed that they sometimes take the food a little better when its warm, but other times nothing helps.

 

My DS takes his powder formula room temperature and does just fine. Unfortunately, we have to premake my daughter's formula in large batches so it has to be refrigerated; therefore, we had to heat them to room temp and obviously somewhere a long the way they got heated warmer and warmer. Now, her need for warm bottles is becoming the bane of my existence. She is not a big eater and she is a very slow eater so, sometimes I even have to warm it up a bit more for her in the middle of the bottle so that she will eat some more.

STAY with room temperature!

Amy

 

I actually fed mine straight from the fridge or the filtered water (which is cooler than room temp but not cold)...I had friends that told me if they got used to it warm then it would be harder to transition to cold drinks...and quite frankly they liked it cold - it helped my son from barfing so much!