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Not boiling water for bottles after 6 months?

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if any of you have heard this?

A few of us in my 'born in forum' have been told by various HV's that after a baby is 6 months old there is no need to boil the water used to make up their bottles - am just wondering if any of you have done this/been told this?

I know we need to still steralize until they are 1 year.

Any help would be great.

Thanks xx
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Replies

  • Definitely do NOT stop boiling the water for bottles, or sterilising their bottles. You do both for the same reason - to kill the germs in the milk. Tap water is fine after 6 months to drink but not in their bottles.

    I can't believe your HV's are giving you advice that could make your lo's poorly :roll:
  • My HV said to boil water and sterilise bottles for milk until 1 year but that LOs can have tap water to drink from a non-sterilised cup from 6 months

    xxx
  • You really must boil it, it kills the germs in the formula. I've never been told to not use boiled water past 6 months. Lo has tap water now but not for her formula.
  • not heard that before. the advice i was given was bolied water and sterilze all bottles till one year. tap water to drink is fine from 6 months.
  • i heard same as berly!
  • I have always been told and read that feeding bottles water MUST be boiled up until a year old along with being sterilised! Tap water is only ok after 6 months for them as a drink, not to be mixed with milk!
  • ditto what immense said ..... but even then we didn't start tap water for drinking until he was 8.5months (only found out u cld then lol) and i still sterilse his water beaker of and on lol, i sterilise it once at night before we go to bed, when i make the bottles up but then just wash it thru out the day, lol don't know why i still sterilise it, just habit i guess xx
  • I always boil the water for bottles still but don't really understand why as I do the same as mitchellbabe so does cooled boiled water still kill the germs in milk powder? x
  • no, but thats why they say to use it with in two hours of water making contact with the milk, if it killed all the germs and was then sterile and sealed u cld leave it forever lol x
  • 'I thought boiling the water, was to get rid of bacteria in the water not the milk'


    exactly what i thought, u acn't make milk sterile xx
  • the boiled water kills off the bateria in the milk. i tend to keep some ready made cartons (whihc are already sterlie) on hand in case of sudden hunger emergancies x
  • all milks we've used have said to boil water and leave to cool for 30 mins, then add to milk, so it wldn't be boiling. in fact it actually says...'do not add powder to boiling water due to the risk of scalding'

    i honestly thinhk that if a milk does say to use boiling water its to help it dissolve, u can't make a food stuff sterile...which is why they say to use with in 2 hours , because its not sterile. and we can't have cartons, they don't come in the soya variety which is mightily annoying, but we we use those tt dispenser things for if we're out andabout, all tho it wld be easier just to get out a carton. x
  • Well i think ive been doing it all wrong! I boil the water then add to the bottles and leave on side untill we are ready to use them. So the water is cooled boiled water then i add the powder at feed time. He doesnt have a warm bottle either. I have very recently (jack is 8 months now) stopped sterilising and just put all my bottles in the dishwasher. He has normal tap water to drink too.

    xxx

  • thats how i do it clarkie, except dish washer (we still sterilise but then we don't have a dishwasher) and he has tap water for drinking which is fine 6m+ xx
  • they tell you to use boiled water because it kills most of the bacteria in the milk, which is why it has to be hot when you mix the two together. In the past it was thought the milk was sterile which is why it was ok to use cooled boiled water, but they've found that when it's being packaged bacteria can get into the milk, i think a child in belguim (off the top of my head) died of menigitis linked to the bacteria in the milk.
    We've managed to always use hot water to make pippa's milk, i phoned the milk manafacturer and they suggested buying a flask boiling the kettle filling the flask in a morning and using this water to make her feeds, then emptying it out and refilling at lunchtime and so on .once the milk is made either run the sealed bottle under the tap or stand it in some cold water to cool it (takes no longer than to warm it up) and then use it straightaway. It worked really well for us doing it this way and i was happy we were doing it following the guidance as much as we could, i know people use to do things differently but guidelines are there for a reason not to make life difficult.
    Pippa now has tap water from her cup, and we still make her milk this way and sterilise all her bottles, she's nearly 9 months now
    xx
  • girl in leeds, austins milks (aptamil comfort, nutrimagen, and no sma wysoy) have all clearly said NOT to use boiling water.

    deited to say boiling, i originally wrote boiled lol, it definately has to be once boiled, but they do say not to add powder to boiling water. xx

    [Modified by: siany on December 31, 2009 10:56 AM]

  • I am probaly going to get shot for saying this but:

    In answer to your original question - I think that like all things it depends on your individual baby, like someone else said earlier, I also forgot to boil some water one night, and didn't fancy making Abby (then 7 months) wait until it had cooled so I used raw tap water, and she was fine, so ever since I have used raw tap, and she has always been fine.

    I think that as long as I give her the bottle straight away, (so dont give the bacteria in the milk any time to breed) then it is OK. As it's already been established that the water doesn't kill the bacteria in the milk - I think it is juts that milk is a perfect breeding ground for bugs. So as long as they dont have time to breed, I think it's OK.

    Of course if Abby gets sick because off it, I will feel terrible, and will need a serious re-think.

    So in conclusiuon, my 2p worth is that it depends on the baby, and how lazy/forgetful the mother is! image

    Nx
  • siany, that's fine if it says on the tin not to use boiling water then that's what you do, but on normally formula is does specify that the water temp must be higher than 70oc, i'm guessing there's something in the other formulas that would be damaged by boiling water. I didn't mean to sound like i was having a go at anyone just trying to say that you should just follow the instructions on the tin as there there for a reason
    xx
  • i'm using aptamil which you boil the water for and leave to cool for 30 mins - so it reaches approx 70 degrees so i think this may be the same thing? i believe this is to ensure water is hot enough to kill bacteria, but not too hot that it kills off the added vitamins and iron etc. We've always gone by the info on the tin but think a lot of poeple do it differently without probs from other posts i've seen here x

    [Modified by: mel7 on December 31, 2009 01:04 PM]

  • On all the tins I can remember (al least normal aptamil, follow on and comfert, which I have here to check, but I think other brands have it as well) it is written to boil the water and than wait 30 minutes to use it for the bottles. If I boil the minimum amount (which I do, cause the rest I can throw away) it is not much warmer than room temperature at the end of the 30 minutes. So how can it kill bacterie in the milk if you follow guidelines? It is definitely not warmer than when I use 5 oz of roomtemperature an 2 oz of boiling hot water and use that for the milk)

    Same as others I thought it was to kill the things in the water rather than the milk. I thought it was the same reason as not to use bottled water to make up feeds, but use tapwater instead.
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