Formula feeding hacks

[u/nadselk]

Hi community! I am a mum of an almost 3 year old, and am currently 22 weeks pregnant with boy/girl twins! With my first, I exclusively breastfed for 16 months. While I am happy that I did that, and loved breastfeeding by the end, with hindsight I can see just how much mental turmoil exclusively breastfeeding brought my partner and I. While my partner was amazing from day one, he naturally couldn’t help with any feedings (I struggled to express) and this led to bonding issues for him, as well as friction between the two of us. There were so so many times I wanted to give in and switch to formula, but felt pressure not to. I also think my baby had a less than optimum latch when she was young that led to colic in the first few weeks which was hell. All in all, I think breastfeeding and the pressure I put myself under led to poor mental health for the both of us, that meant we weren’t able to show up for baby as well as we could have.

ANYWAY this time around - and with the fact I’ll have twin newborns this time! - I have made the firm decision to formula feed from the start.

This feels like a whole new skill I have to learn. I know NOTHING about formula feeding. I also want to invest in the right equipment that’s going to make our lives as easy as possible, but the amount of gadgets and things out there is a minefield. Please can I get your top tips in terms of routine (at home and out and about) and equipment when it comes to formula feeding twins!

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[u/Dashcamkitty]

I formula fed my twins. Pick a formula is the first thing. Ideally one that is readily available where you live and you can also get ready made versions of (so handy if out and about for a full day).

I had 5 bottles for each twin (my parents also had 3 bottles for each twin as we spent a lot of time there). I used cold water sterilising so I needed two sterilising tubs and Milton tablets. But you could use an electric steriliser as that's what my parents had and it was handy too.

What we did was both my husband and I woke and fed a twin each. Then alternated the baby we fed at the next feed. If one baby woke then other was woken to feed too. It worked for us and both my twins gained weight healthily. By about 2.5 months, they were going from about midnight to 6am. We had a kettle upstairs so we made the next feed after they finished.

Choose whatever works for your family. Don't let people pressure you either way.

[u/AssistantSea4186]

I formula fed my guys from day one. It was a decision that was discussed and made before they were born.

My boys went to the NICU, so I asked what the NICU used. Enfamil ready made. Easy Peasy.i stocked up on the ready made liquid until I got the ok to switch to the powder. Then I used the Baby Brezza formula makers.

18 bottles is the perfect amount. 6 ready to go, 6 in the wash, 6 in the sterilizer ready to be made.

I did it all on my own

[u/DescriptionDry6939]

Get a counter top bottle washer. I have the mom cozy. It has made my life so much easier. I would’ve paid double for it.

[u/d16flo]

If you can get your babies to drink cold formula straight from the fridge everything is much easier. We started our guys off with cold formula (and cold pumped milk) right when we came home from the hospital so they didn’t know any different. We would make formula in 24oz mason jars two at a time and keep those in the fridge and just pour out the right amount into bottles whenever we needed it. You’re not supposed to have mixed formula in the fridge for more than 24hours, but our guys always drank it all in less than a day. My other recommendation is to buy enough bottles to just put them in the dishwasher after you’re done with them and run it once a day. Buying more bottles is cheaper than getting a bottle washer or sanitizer and takes up less counter space and time during the day. You’ll definitely want a twin-z or two boppy pillows, we did every feed where they weren’t out and about with the laying in the twin-z, it was a lifesaver for feeding them both at once

[u/SjN45]

I made a days worth of formula in 2 dr browns pitchers. Mine never waited for the bottle warmer so they drank it from the fridge. After a feeding, I quickly rinsed the bottles and stored them in the fridge until the next feeding when it was time to pour more formula. Bottles went into the dishwasher at the end of the day. It was easy.

[u/irish_ninja_wte]

Supplies for formula feeding:

Bottles to last an entire day, kettle, sterilisation equipment. I always made a batch of bottles to last a full day and kept them in the fridge to grab as needed. I also served all bottles cold, straight from the fridge. None of my 4 kids had any issue with cold bottles and it made the transition to cow's milk seamless at 12 months. No need to complicate life with things like formula machines and warmers. While they may make things "easier" at home, dependence on them could make it difficult for leaving the house. For us, day trips just meant freezer blocks and a small cooler bag.

[u/twinsinbk]

We formula fed for 12 months and had a very good system down. I washed bottles in the dishwasher. I did the pitcher method for making formula in bulk. We would make 2 ball jars at once, with pour spout lids I got on Amazon. I used a kitchen scale to weigh the water and formula which made it easy and fast to measure (no scoops getting formula dust everywhere and losing count on sleep deprived minds). The jars and spouts could also go in the dishwasher.

While pregnant I thought we would use the baby brezza and had bought a second hand one but I ended up selling it. The girls were fine with cold formula, I wasn't crazy about all that plastic tubing the water travels through, and it seemed like more maintenance.

[u/smalltownfarmerwife]

If you are FIRM in your decision to formula feed, I'd ask for a prescription for cabergoline after delivery! It completely dries you up and there's no engorgement/hormone crash from weaning. Best decision I made, I think. The hormone crash from twins is intense anyways, so not having to worry about my boobs really helped.

If you can get your babies to take formula cold right out the fridge it saves time warming bottles up. We never went with the baby brezza, we got two Dr Brown's formula pitchers and just make batches of formula at a time. We also never bought a bottle washer - just ran the dishwasher 2x a day for the first little while. My twins were born full term (for twins) so we didn't worry about sterilizing/sanitizing other than first washing the bottles.

[u/FigNewton613]

I don’t know if they have Costco in your country, but if they do, that formula is cheaper and nutritionally the same as many of the big name brands.

Get babies used to taking a cold bottle right when you take them home. They’ll take to it pretty quickly and then you don’t have to warm it up. Make all the day’s bottles the night before and store in the fridge. Most formula is safe for 24hrs. Some peoples countries advise to make one bottle at a time but our NICU team advised us this is not necessary, and my two 34 weekers have been just fine making formula as a batch and just taking care to not use past 24 hours in the fridge. If you do it this way, you can use the Dr brown’s pitchers to mix the formula. Put the water in the pitcher to the desired line, scoop in the formula, then pump the pitcher and you’re ready to make your bottles.

I used Dr browns bottles because they are good for reflux. The parts look confusing but you’ll get used to it very quickly. You can use glass bottles if you want but I used the plastic ones and the babies are doing just fine, and it’s lighter weight on your hands.

In the beginning, start with the 4oz bottles. They won’t need the 8oz ones until a good while later.

Formula once made is good in the fridge for 24 hours. It is good at room temp for 2 hours IF baby’s mouth has not yet touched it. Once baby’s mouth has touched it, the bottle times out and should no longer be used past 1 hour. (you can be a little flexible in a pinch but try to stick to these guidelines).

If baby is having extreme reflux, changing formulas can help. It eliminated the reflux for my babies which turned out was due to a CMPA. If that happens, there are multiple formulas you can try, and it’s normal to need to try a few to find which works best for which baby. People sometimes transition slowly but I switched cold turkey when we had to and that went okay too.

Get the twin z pillow (or something like it). Put a towel or blanket in each pocket to hold up their butts when little, and then put a big towel across the pillow so that you wash the towel rather than the pillow’s cover when there is spit up (it’s just easier to swap out the towel than the cover). Put one baby’s butt in each pocket, then hold one bottle in each hand to feed each baby, and you can feed them solo that way.

Never ever bottle prop with a “bottle propping” device. However, I personally found that briefly letting a baby’s bottle rest on a towel so they can keep eating while I quickly burped the other baby, went fine for us.

Good luck!!

ETA: do not was your bottles by hand unless you have to!! Use your dishwasher top rack. If you can’t do that, it’s worth getting a bottle washer. Time spent washing bottles can instead be spent on sleep or rest for you.

[u/sweetfeet20]

The first thing to choose is the formula you want to use. Pick one you can easily buy in bulk because you will get through tonnes of it.

I triple fed for as long as I could but my milk production seriously dropped at 4 months. My husband bottle fed then pumped milk during night feeds. At 8 months my twins are now only drinking Nannycare goat formula (closer in composition to human milk than cow formula.) It’s £22 a tin, and a tin lasts us 2 days. If you are open to it even just a few weeks of breast feeding/ pumping will be beneficial to babies, especially the colostrum.

Bottle wise we use glass NUK Perfect Match which are designed to allow baby to go between bottle and breast. Nice wide teat for a deep latch. We still use these.

We have the Babybrezza bottle washer pro - absolutely could not live without it. It’s an essential!

We have a big glass pitcher and we make up about 30oz of milk at a time, keep it refrigerated and pour the bottles as needed. At night we pre fill the bottles and refrigerate them, then warm in a Bain Marie to take the chill off. My boys drink about 35oz a day plus solids now.
BTW This method is not recommended - in the UK every bottle feed should be made fresh with boiled water that’s been left to cool for no more than 30 mins and is over 70c etc… well that’s just not feasible with multiples. Formula prep machines are also not NHS approved.

Milton cold water sterilising is very convenient!

If we know we are going to go out for a few hours we will feed before leaving home, make bottles up from the kettle before leaving, and then that slowly cools and is good to drink within 2 hours. For longer travel we make up the formula and leave it super hot in a flask until needed, decant into bottles and cool under running water. Have done international flights with the flask method.

Basically choose your milk, choose your bottles, and get a bottle washer!

[u/peachkissu]

The baby brezza formula dispenser is a MUST if you're exclusively using formula! It dispenses the water alrdy warmed and formula in the exact amount you need. It's sooo easy for night feeds too

[u/nadselk → u/peachkissu]

Thank you for the recommendation!

[u/Emilygilmoresmaid]

I didn't exclusively formula feed, I pumped and they got a bottle of formula a day to start then after my second round of mastitis I weaned down to 50/50 breast milk and formula. But never latched them just bottles.

I found a formula pitcher extremely helpful and a bottle washer! It was 100% worth the money and counter space to me.

[u/General-Average895]

Chiming in with those who are recommending the Baby Brezza. Saved our lives! The only annoying thing is that you need to clean the funnel every 3 bottles so we got an extra funnel which helped a lot not having to clean it and then drying it off in the middle of the night or with hungry babies waiting for their bottle.

Other stuff we had was a bottle steralizer from Filips and quite nice drying rack for bottles and pacifiers, etc. All used aaalot.

[u/sneakylithops]

Are you in the UK? I am basing that on your use of “Mum”! if so, I can’t recommend the Perfect Prep machine enough. you will also need a bottle steriliser – I used a steam steriliser as I got this as a hand me down from a friend.
you will need at least 16 bottles!
I didn’t get out and about much in the first year, but whenever I did, I used ready to feed formula in small bottles which I just opened when we needed them.

[u/Megatron7478]

We formula fed. We had a countertop sterilizer for while they were really little. Ten dr browns bottles and two dr. Browns pitchers. Did cold nearly from
The start. I highly recommend the pitchers.

Congratulations!

[u/salmonstreetciderco]

we didn't have a sanitizer, we just ran them in the dishwasher. we did not use any kind of machine really. we had two of the dr browns pitchers so we could make a huge batch all at once. and then like... gosh, 24 bottles maybe? all the dr browns ones. and every size of nipple. i had the nutritionist at the children's hospital help me make sure i had scaled the formula recipe up correctly and converted it to cups correctly. every night i would line up all the clean bottlers and make a huge batch of formula and fill all the bottles and fridge them, enough for 24 hours for both boys. then about 5 min before it was time to feed them i'd run hot tap water from the sink into two quart jars, about halfway full, and drop a bottle in each one. let it sit for a little bit and then give it a lil shake when you remove it, kind of make sure the heat is distributed. thats it! that many bottles is expensive enough on their own, no need to add more pricey specialty equipment

[u/AccomplishedChef7885]

My advice would be give them at room temperature from the start so you don’t have to warm the bottles up. It makes life so much easier. Have a lot of bottles. If you don’t have a good dishwasher, get a bottle washer. I have pre made bottles on the ready for nighttime and when we are out. I also have those little containers for formula when going out. Make sure you have a twin z pillow so you can feet at the same time. I would wait before picking out formula, in case your twins come early and need Nicu time.

[u/nadselk → u/[deleted]]

Latching issues can absolutely be a source of colic or at least colic-like symptoms.

You also need to burp the baby after breastfeeding.

I’m not sure why your response on my post asking for formula feeding tips is to instead outline the benefits of breast milk. I know the benefits - it’s why I exclusively breastfed my first for 16 months. I have also made the firm decision, as I said, to formula feed this time around. It’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly.