Mixing, Storing, Transporting, & Warming Formula Tips
There are many ways to mix, store, transport, and warm formula, I'm sure. I will give you a quick idea of what we do and why it works for us!
Mixing Formula Ideas
I typically mix our formula in big batches (24 hours worth) so that the formula has time to settle any air out before it goes in the bottle or tube. We recently switched to Elecare from Neocate and the instructions are different now that she's on 24k/cal instead of the normal instructions on the can. Luckily, our nutritionist at the children's hospital created a cheat sheet for us! So below are the supplies I use and the steps I take!
Blender Bottles are great! You can use the side measurements. It has ml and oz measurements on the back side. I also love it because it has a blender ball that it comes with to help break up any chunks, comes in multiple sizes, and also the top is spill proof!
|
The blender bottle also comes with this blender ball! It is great. The formula doesn't clump and mixes very quickly!
|
After mixing formula once or twice you will spill some on the counter. You will also learn that when water is also dripped on said powder formula on the counter, it creates a hard substance that's hard to clean off the counters. Putting the can of formula on a dishtowel along with the bottle that's being filled ensures that you don't have to scrub the counters!
|
Make sure you also have your mixing instructions handy! If you lose them, you can always call the doctor/nutritionist and/or check out your formula's website. They tend to have the 20, 22, 24, 26 & 28 cal mixing instructions on the sites.
|
Storing & Transporting Formula Ideas
There are so many ways to store formula. Lets hear what works for you! Here's what works well for us :)
As we talked about above, if you pre-mix formula, blender bottles are the best way to go for me! Buy the right size, mix er up, stick her in the cooler/fridge, and away you go!
|
This is how our formula comes. Boxed! (Elecare is actually better than Neocate in this sense, Neocate came four to a box where Elecare now goes six! Less boxes to carry haha!) I use a bookshelf to put all of the formula on! This makes it easy for me to see how much we have left on the off chance that we were to run low and I need to ask for more.
|
If you don't make your formula ahead of time and you travel with the powder, these things are awesome! You put the right amount of powder in the container, then the whole container sits inside the bottle and you put the top back on the bottle and viola! When you're ready to make the bottle, you pull out this little thing, add water to the bottle, and then open this and pour the powder in!
|
Warming Formula
Keurig! I don't even drink coffee and I have one. Want to know why? Its to quickly heat up water for bottles! I have a large cup I stick under there and keep there, whenever we need to warm up a bottle, get hot water from the Keurig, stick the bottle in the hot water, two minutes later, bam! warm bottle :)
|
This contraption is amazing! So basically that white container you see on the left that has the bottle in it goes on top of the whole thermos. You fill the thermos with hot water, close it up, and bring it with you. When you need to warm up a bottle, fill up the white container with the hot water, stick the bottle in and in a few minutes, viola!
|