thread: Microwaving bottles?

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  1. #1
    Registered User

    Oct 2008
    Canning Vale, Perth
    1,318

    Question Microwaving bottles?

    Usually i heat DDs bottles in a bowl of hot water, but her early morning feed (e.g. 4 or 5am) i am sooo tired and she is cranky and wont wait more than a minute for her bottle before screaming her head off, i microwave her formula to heat it up. i shake it well afterwards to ensure there are no 'hot spots', but im worried that microwaving it kills the 'good stuff' in the milk?

    i only do this for 1 bottle a day, which is how ive justified it to myself (lol) but is it really bad to do it? TIA

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Jan 2006
    8,369

    The advice I was given for those feeds:

    "Sleep with the bottle next to your body to keep it at the right temperature so you don't even have to get out of bed to sort out a bottle."

    I think you are a super-mum for using a microwave! As you say, it's just one bottle a day.

    Another alternative would be to have a bottle of cool boiled water next to the bed and some formula next to the bed (like one of those going out bottle things) and just mix it up at 5am. Less waiting. But would the water still be OK like that? I am thinking so but don't know for sure.

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Oct 2008
    Canning Vale, Perth
    1,318

    The advice I was given for those feeds:

    "Sleep with the bottle next to your body to keep it at the right temperature so you don't even have to get out of bed to sort out a bottle."

    I think you are a super-mum for using a microwave! As you say, it's just one bottle a day.

    Another alternative would be to have a bottle of cool boiled water next to the bed and some formula next to the bed (like one of those going out bottle things) and just mix it up at 5am. Less waiting. But would the water still be OK like that? I am thinking so but don't know for sure.
    sleep WITH the bottle? lmao!! knowing my luck itd spill all in the bed or id roll on it and hurt myself...and ive tried doing the cooled water thing but shes a fussy madam and likes it warm haha

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Jan 2006
    8,369

    Maybe you could sleep with the water against you? You shouldn't do it with the formula because of all the nasties that can breed in it when left for hours at a nice temperature, but with boiled water it should be OK, shouldn't it?

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    6,706

    I won't microwave a bottle that already has formula in it. I've got no idea if it's going to have an impact on anything, but I just won't.

    Sam likes his bottles warm, too. And our formula just doesn't mix in well if the water is cold (nan HA 2 - bit better than 1, but still hard to mix).

    What we do is keep cooled, boiled water in the kettle, then flick it on for about 30 seconds to warm it when we are about to make a bottle up. I keep some cooled, boiled water in a container as well so that if it ends up too hot I can mix in some cooler water.

    On occasions I do microwave. Generally when I've gone out and had a bottle of water that's gone cold - I'll take the top off and just microwave the water for 30 seconds and then add the formula. The number of parents rooms that only have a microwave is just ridiculous. We started by taking a plastic cup to heat water in the microwave and then heat our bottle in the cup, but as Sam got bigger and so did his bottles, heating things that way got slow and difficult.

    BW

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Feb 2008
    Country Victoria
    5,945

    invest in a bottle warmer, plug it in next to your bed. When u go to bed, take the water in the bottle with you and the amount of formula u need in a formula dispenser. Then when she wakes, put it in the wamer, (the water) while u change her nappy or give her cuddles and add the formula fresh to the warmed water. I used to take the bottle to bed wit hot water in it, so by the time she wanted a bottle, it had cooled down just enough.

  7. #7
    2014 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.

    Oct 2007
    Outer South East Melbourne :)
    4,346

    Tattoo - my friend's DS is the same and likes his milk a little warm, she just fills his bottle up with the required amount of cold boiled water, then heats it in the microwave for 40 seconds THEN puts the formula in and mixes it - its a bit more fiddly but at least then you dont have to worry about killing the good stuff

  8. #8
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Feb 2006
    melbourne
    11,462

    Tattoo - my friend's DS is the same and likes his milk a little warm, she just fills his bottle up with the required amount of cold boiled water, then heats it in the microwave for 40 seconds THEN puts the formula in and mixes it - its a bit more fiddly but at least then you dont have to worry about killing the good stuff
    thats what i thought your ment to do

  9. #9
    2014 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.

    Oct 2007
    Outer South East Melbourne :)
    4,346

    thats what i thought your ment to do
    Is it? I don't FF so i wouldn't have clue My girlfriend has always done it for her DS's early morning feed so that's all i know about it

  10. #10
    Registered User

    Dec 2006
    Out of my mind. Back in five minutes...
    3,304

    We put a bottle in the fridge with cooled boiled water in it, and leave about 50-70 mls free and then we just boil the kettle. If we boil it before we go to bed, it doesn't take that long to boil again (mind you, we go to bed at like 11.30 or something!) so she's only really waiting about a minute. Then we put in the formula and make it up fresh.
    That is exactly what I do and it works a treat. I have such a small amount of water in the kettle too, just enough to cover what i need to use, and to not burn the kettle out. I have the formula measured out and ready to go, as my DS only really need a bottle maybe once a week in the night now, so this is the easiest way for us.

  11. #11
    SugarDust Guest

    Ever since I put DS1 on formula I have always warmed up his boiled water for 30 secs in the micro and then added the formula! DF always makes DS3's bottles with cooled boiled water and it just doesn't mix right!

  12. #12
    Registered User

    Dec 2007
    Sunny Qld
    14,682

    I think the main thing is that if the bottle has BPA in it, its not good to microwave them - not about killing any nutrients in the milk (which is more typically for breast milk, not formula).

    We put a bottle in the fridge with cooled boiled water in it, and leave about 50-70 mls free and then we just boil the kettle. If we boil it before we go to bed, it doesn't take that long to boil again (mind you, we go to bed at like 11.30 or something!) so she's only really waiting about a minute. Then we put in the formula and make it up fresh.

    Its awful when they are screaming for their food in the early hours of the morning, DS was an absolute shocker. 10 seconds late and you were in trouble! lol