Having a Baby.... What do we NEED?

[Issi]

Probably the best advice would be to ask your Mum what she used.

[John D.]

familyguy1 said:

I thought pouring the boiling water on to the formula was to sterilise the formula so having pre boiled water defeats the object. But I could be wrong as its been a while now.

+1 for perfectprep.

You are right as per latest advice / recommendations.

In the past sterilising the powder was not seen to be necessary (when I was a lad etc). We've chosen to do it the 'old' way with pre-boiled water. No apparent ill effects after 7 months.

[Matt_N]

skilly1 said:

I would strongly disagree. We had watchdog on the phone to us yesterday asking if we wanted to go on TV to talk about the mould issue (we don't). Apparently lots of mid wives have been raising concerns about them. Google 'Prefect Prep mould'.

We raised this issue with tommee tippee over a 18 months ago, chased it for 6 months and they fobbed us off. Convinced our child has been affected by it.

I just have and all I can see is some people posting pictures with some mould on the lids and in the hopper who obviously don't clean them out enough?

We've had ours for 21 months now and haven't seen any mould in it, because every week or so I take it all apart and clean it.

[griffin dai]

Just looking at the tommy tepee stuff, do we need both of these? Ones the full sterilisation kit and the others the perfect prep machine but it looks like the kit has a bottle warmer in it?

http://www.mothercare.com/sets/tommee-tippee-close...

http://www.mothercare.com/sets/tommee-tippee-close...

[familyguy1]

griffin dai said:

Just looking at the tommy tepee stuff, do we need both of these? Ones the full sterilisation kit and the others the perfect prep machine but it looks like the kit has a bottle warmer in it?

http://www.mothercare.com/sets/tommee-tippee-close...

http://www.mothercare.com/sets/tommee-tippee-close...

I would say you need the perfect prep if your going to feed formula, you need bottles and a way to sterilise those bottles after use. Personally I would buy some bottles and some milton tablets ( and change the water every 24 hours ) much cheaper than that link with tons of bottles etc and easier to transport for holidays or weekends away.

Also you are likely to buy bottles of all different types which may or many not fit in that sterilising device. I'm thinking at 3am when your in tescho finding yet another bottle for the baby to try so it helps with feeding. been there done that

HTH

[timmymagic73]

This being PH, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the ready-mix formula in bottles yet....?

Going out on a limb here, but we just used this exclusively after breastfeeding - none of the faff of "doing it the correct way" with powdered formula.

The small bottles are great for days out. Store and serve at room temp, or just pop the bottle into a cafe-supplied jug/mug of hot water to warm up. If you can convince the staff you're not going to pour boiling water all over yourself obviously.

Yes, of course it's more expensive - but the 1L bottles keep for 48 hours in the fridge when opened, if you add up the total cost until you move onto whole milk it's not a ridiculously crazy idea... especially if you're already thinking of spending £70 on a perfect prep.

Edited to add - We bought the Tommee Tippee black essentials kit - it was great. The steriliser is huge, you can throw anything in there. It did scale up though which stops it running a full cycle, so de-scale regularly. Bottle warmer is very convenient too.

Edited by timmymagic73 on Friday 14th October 11:58

[skilly1]

Matt_N said:

I just have and all I can see is some people posting pictures with some mould on the lids and in the hopper who obviously don't clean them out enough?

We've had ours for 21 months now and haven't seen any mould in it, because every week or so I take it all apart and clean it.

Great news. Most people don't do that every week (including us). We followed the guidelines which did not say to do it, although in hind sight we should have. The mould was under the insert / filter which we would not look at on refilling.

[griffin dai]

familyguy1 said:

I would say you need the perfect prep if your going to feed formula, you need bottles and a way to sterilise those bottles after use. Personally I would buy some bottles and some milton tablets ( and change the water every 24 hours ) much cheaper than that link with tons of bottles etc and easier to transport for holidays or weekends away.

Also you are likely to buy bottles of all different types which may or many not fit in that sterilising device. I'm thinking at 3am when your in tescho finding yet another bottle for the baby to try so it helps with feeding. been there done that

HTH

Thanks

Bit daunting this but really looking forward to it

[Matt_N]

skilly1 said:

Great news. Most people don't do that every week (including us). We followed the guidelines which did not say to do it, although in hind sight we should have. The mould was under the insert / filter which we would not look at on refilling.

Ay right, as per the pics then.

I saw some and thought, just clean it but maybe there were some issues?

The missus is very thorough with cleaning so we just did it as a matter of course.

It's a bit like a lot of the drinking cups that have a built in straw / teet thing, they all get very manky very quickly if you don't strip them apart and clean them, lots of people had Facebook rage when they realised things get dirty if you don't clean them.

I actually noticed yesterday a bit of black mould under the o seal on one of my little'uns beakers though

[familyguy1]

timmymagic73 said:

This being PH, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the ready-mix formula in bottles yet....?

Going out on a limb here, but we just used this exclusively after breastfeeding - none of the faff of "doing it the correct way" with powdered formula.

The small bottles are great for days out. Store and serve at room temp, or just pop the bottle into a cafe-supplied jug/mug of hot water to warm up. If you can convince the staff you're not going to pour boiling water all over yourself obviously.

Yes, of course it's more expensive - but the 1L bottles keep for 48 hours in the fridge when opened, if you add up the total cost until you move onto whole milk it's not a ridiculously crazy idea... especially if you're already thinking of spending £70 on a perfect prep.

we used ready mixed formula for a backup of those long trips, grandparents baby sitting etc, but can be pricey overtime compare to powered formula.

All depends on how much you can spend vs your convenience

Edited by familyguy1 on Friday 14th October 12:09

[essayer]

John D. said:

You are right as per latest advice / recommendations.

In the past sterilising the powder was not seen to be necessary (when I was a lad etc). We've chosen to do it the 'old' way with pre-boiled water. No apparent ill effects after 7 months.

We prepared the feeds for our two year old this way, it didn't seem to do him any harm but I guess it's all down to luck. The newborn is getting stuff from the Perfect Prep-will keep an eye on the mound situation!

I guess as long as you and your OH keep a sensible hygiene level around the cleaning and preparation of bottles, there's only a small additional risk from the formula, but guidelines have to cover all bases and some people do have some very low standards.

I agree with whoever posted about breastapo, this time round they wouldn't even keep sterilised bottles on the ward, or give any advice on how to prepare it - fine for us as, much to their annoyance, we just went off and found the stuff we needed - but a new mum, no support, struggling to breastfeed, newborn screaming baby? That can't be good for anyone.

[TheInternet]

essayer said:

guidelines have to cover all bases and some people do have some very low standards.

This is an important bit IMO. As with anything in life, if you can determine and understand why you're being told to do something you can then form your own opinion about whether it is necessary/appropriate.

[SunsetZed]

Anyone got tips on Video monitors? I'm looking at a new one for our second due to the c**p quality of the first and the fact that it'll link to the iphone. I've been looking at the webcam style options with links below but am open to suggestions

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Monitor-Android-Wi...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinp-Monitor-Digital-Two...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YANX-Wireless-Monitoring-...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/1280x720p-Wireless-Survei...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Blink-Connect-Wi...

[RosscoPCole]

SunsetZed said:

Anyone got tips on Video monitors? I'm looking at a new one for our second due to the c**p quality of the first and the fact that it'll link to the iphone. I've been looking at the webcam style options with links below but am open to suggestions

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Monitor-Android-Wi...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinp-Monitor-Digital-Two...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YANX-Wireless-Monitoring-...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/1280x720p-Wireless-Survei...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Blink-Connect-Wi...

Why do you need a video monitor? If there is something wrong with baby they will let you know through sheer volume. A basic sound monitor is fine and will save you money.

All this technology makes me think how did past generations manage to bring up their children without it?

[SunsetZed]

RosscoPCole said:

SunsetZed said:

Anyone got tips on Video monitors? I'm looking at a new one for our second due to the c**p quality of the first and the fact that it'll link to the iphone. I've been looking at the webcam style options with links below but am open to suggestions

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Monitor-Android-Wi...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinp-Monitor-Digital-Two...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YANX-Wireless-Monitoring-...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/1280x720p-Wireless-Survei...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Blink-Connect-Wi...

Why do you need a video monitor? If there is something wrong with baby they will let you know through sheer volume. A basic sound monitor is fine and will save you money.

All this technology makes me think how did past generations manage to bring up their children without it?

I don't need one but my O/H wants one and seeing as she'll be spending at least a year at home with the baby full time then even to a tight arse like me it doesn't seem unreasonable to spend the extra £20 / £30 to upgrade from a basic sound monitor to a video option as per the links above

[familyguy1]

SunsetZed said:

I don't need one but my O/H wants one and seeing as she'll be spending at least a year at home with the baby full time then even to a tight arse like me it doesn't seem unreasonable to spend the extra £20 / £30 to upgrade from a basic sound monitor to a video option as per the links above

personally we were so tired, that when the baby was quiet or sleeping the last thing we wanted to do was watch them, ok on the odd occasion is nice.

But then again our rational thoughts don't come in to it and its only another £20-30 !!

[andy-xr]

The baby wont be out of your sight for a while. It's strange how limited you suddenly find yourself. We have cats, so for us, we take the baby anywhere we go if there's just one of us in the house. You literally cant take a st on your own anymore. Cat nets, throwing them outside helps, but if they're around, you just never turn your back on the baby.

When you're sleeping, they'll be in a Moses basket next to your bed. And you'll be sleeping

When they move to their own room, I can kind of see the reason for having a video monitor, but any standard monitor has a motion sensor on it, and that's probably one to be more interested in, because of no motion rather than too much.

[beko1987]

Talking of perfect prep machines, ours had a mould issue recently, it was spitting out little black bits with the water. SWMBO was about to sling it in the bin, so I opened it up (one of the screws is a slot head with a ridge in, I had a screwdriver bit for it, or just break the one out)

Inside the pipework is a non return valve, which had a big bit of black stuff in. 4 small screws had it apart, I also had the nozzle bit apart, and an hour in descaler, then an hour in milton had it all cleaned and back together!

The bit under the reservoir on ours was fine, this was internal.

Our youngest is coming up to a year now, we have so much crap to get rid of that we don't use now! The walker is to be sold, he can get out now. Luckily I only paid a tenner for it on facebook, so the inserts going through the wash, I'll clean the frame and it can go back onto facebook for a tenner and cost £0 to us!

[SunsetZed]

I agree with all the points above, especially the lack of motion.

without wishing to sounds like a know it all, I get that video monitors ain't all that but sometimes (maybe all the time!) it's just best to keep a pregnant woman happy hence looking for a recommendation!

[essayer]

The video monitor is a bit handier when they are older and in the proper cot, you'll see them shuffling about not long before they wake up properly - giving you time to make bottle etc