Are you looking for a fast and efficient way for preparing bottles for night feeds? Then you have come to the right place!
In this post I will be sharing the methods my husband and I used to quickly prepare bottles of formula and bottles of breast milk for night feedings.
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Formula Feeding At Night Time
If you are formula feeding your baby or have decided to combine breastfeeding and formula feeding, there are strategies you can use to efficiently prepare bottles of formula. I will share with you what my husband and I did with our twins, in order to feed them bottles of formula, as quickly and effectively as possible.
To get started, you will want to stage the following supplies next to where your baby sleeps at night. In our case, this was on the nightstand next to our bed because we had our twins in bassinets on each side of our bed.
- Bottle of water
- Empty baby bottle
- Small Tupperware container with formula powder and scoop
- Burp cloth
When our babies woke up at night, we had all our supplies staged and ready to make formula on demand. This was actually much faster than trying to warm up pre-made formula and we didn’t have to worry about storing formula milk for night feeds.
If you pre-make the formula it will need to be in a cooler because it can only be out of the fridge for 1 hour. So, plan ahead and have your supplies ready.
Then when your baby wakes up during the night, make the formula on demand. We kept our babies in the room with us until they were capable of sleeping about 6 hours at a time.
I really liked the fact that I could feed my babies without getting out of bed. It helps make it much easier for parents to fall back asleep after caring for their newborn.
How To Prepare A Bottle Of Breast Milk For Night Feeds
As far as breast milk goes, there are two options for bottle feeding breast milk at night. The first option is to pump right before you go to sleep.
Breast milk lasts for 6 hours at room temperature. If you know your baby will wake up in the next 6 hours, then you can use this breast milk for a night feed.
The other option is have the following supplies next to where your baby is sleeping:
- Cooler with bottles of breast milk (or bottles with a mixture of formula and breast milk).
- Bottle warmer
- Burp cloth
The downside to this method is it does take a couple minutes to get the milk warm enough to drink. On a side note, I always recommend that you try feeding your baby cold milk – straight from the fridge.
Unfortunately for me, none of my children would ever drink it. But if it was was warmed up just a little bit, they would take the bottle.
Tips For Preparing Bottles For Night Feeds
Now that you know how to prepare both formula and breast milk bottles for night feeds, I have also compiled a summary of general tips to help with preparing bottles for night feeds.
- Stage the supplies you need (listed above) next to where your baby is sleeping.
- Make sure you have enough bottles and milk to get you through the night (your baby might wake up more than once to eat).
- Prepare the bottles at your own pace to make sure it is done correctly. It’s easy to feel rushed with a crying baby, but if you spill milk the whole process will be much longer.
- Have your baby sleep next to the bed until he or she is capable of sleeping in a long stretch (at least 5-6 hours). This way you can do bottle feeds without ever leaving your bed.
That sums up my thoughts on the fastest and most effective ways to prepare bottles for night feeds, whether you are feeding with formula or breast milk. I hope you found this post beneficial and are able to use these tips too.
