If your child has been formula fed and they're eating a balanced diet, your child probably won't need formula after 12 months. Your child can also have tap water, but there's no need to boil it after 12 months.
6 Sterilizing water for healthy term infants has historically been recommended until infants are four months of age. By four months infants are commonly putting many non-sterilized objects in their mouths. Therefore four months has been chosen as the age for discontinuing the sterilization of water.
Boil water for the first 3 months of age.
Boil water longer if your health care provider recommends it or if water safety is a concern.
Unless there is a known contamination of your local water source, you can use tap water to prepare concentrated liquid or powdered formula. In general, though, it is best to primarily use safe tap water that is fluoridated and occasionally use some non-fluoridated bottled water.
Tap water is preferred for preparing infant formula. Bottled water can be used to prepare formula if unopened. Boil fresh drinking water. Let water sit for 30 minutes to cool.
When can my baby drink tap water? Babies under six months should only drink tap water that has been boiled and cooled down. Water straight from the tap is not sterile so is not suitable for younger babies. Once your baby is six months old, you can offer them water straight from the tap in a beaker or cup.
Use fresh water from the cold tap to fill your kettle every time you make up formula. Do not use water that has been previously boiled or artificially softened water. Bottled water is not recommended to make up a feed as it is not sterile and may contain too much salt (sodium) or sulphate.
Formula powder is not sterile and when made up it provides an ideal medium for bacteria to grow. Using boiled water of at least 70°C to make up the feed will reduce the risk of your baby becoming unwell with infections like sickness or diarrhoea. Any harmful bacteria present will be killed at this temperature.
To kill germs like Cronobacter in powdered infant formula, the formula must be mixed with very hot water. Boil the water and then wait about 5 minutes before mixing with powdered infant formula.
You can use clean tap water or bottled water for concentrated liquid or powder formula. Other safety tips are: Ask your public water supplier to test for lead in your water. If you have concerns, talk to your health care provider about lead testing for your child.
Can I use fluoridated tap water to mix infant formula? Yes, you can use fluoridated water for preparing infant formula. However, if your child is only consuming infant formula mixed with fluoridated water, there may be an increased chance for mild dental fluorosis.
Add formula powder to cooled, boiled water, following instructions on the tin. Shake well and test temperature. If your baby doesn't finish all the formula, throw it away within 1 hour. If you need to prepare infant formula in advance, put it in the fridge within 1 hour of making it, and use within 24 hours.
Can babies drink cold formula? Baby formula doesn't have to be warm. It's fine to feed your baby cool or even cold formula. It's all up to your baby's preference – they may prefer it warm, at room temperature, or even chilled, and all of those options are just fine.
Not only is your baby at risk of getting very ill, but the formula's nutrients may degrade. This means your baby would not be getting the vitamins and minerals needed. If your baby is not receiving the full nutritional value of the formula, this could affect their developmental milestones, Jones says.
When learning how to prepare bottles for night feeds, the NHS recommends boiling a litre of fresh tap water and pouring it into a previously sterilised bottle. Next, add the correct amount of formula and shake to dissolve the milk powder before cooling the milk to the correct temperature.
For a bottle of formula, prepared at 70°C to cool to a safe temperature of approximately 37°C, it will need to sit for at least 30 minutes, possibly longer. This may allow bacteria time to multiply and is contradictory to usual safety advice for any other foods.
If your baby starts a bottle but doesn't finish it within an hour, throw the leftover formula away. Bacteria from your baby's mouth can seep into the bottle, contaminate the formula, and make your baby sick if they drink it later.
Take it out of the fridge just before you leave and carry it in a cool bag with an ice pack, and use it within 4 hours.
Use freshly boiled drinking water from the tap to make up a feed. Do not use artificially softened water or water that has been boiled before. Leave the water to cool in the kettle for no more than 30 minutes. Then it will stay at a temperature of at least 70C.
How do you make formula bottles in advance? Mix concentrated liquid or powder formula with cool water (35 to 75°F); it should feel cool on your wrist. If you prefer, you may mix with warm water, but only if you plan to feed or refrigerate the formula immediately.
Let the formula settle
Shaking and blending naturally introduces air bubbles into the mix, which your baby can swallow, resulting in gas. Try using warm (but not hot) water, rather than cold or room temperature water, to help the formula dissolve more effectively and produce fewer bubbles.
They're generally fine, as long as the water goes into their stomach and not their lungs. It's important for parents to limit the amount of water they swallow. If you think your baby may have inhaled water into their lungs, sit them upright.
From 0 to 6 months
Fully breastfed babies do not need any water until they've started eating solid foods. During hot weather they may want to breastfeed more than usual. If you're bottle feeding, as well as their usual milk feeds, you can give your baby a little cooled boiled water.
5 to 8 months
It is not until around the fifth month that the eyes are capable of working together to form a three-dimensional view of the world and begin to see in-depth. Although an infant's color vision is not as sensitive as an adult's, it is generally believed that babies have good color vision by 5 months of age.
The term newborn is often used for babies under 28 days or even up to 2 or 3 months of age, according to experts. After this period (and even during the newborn stage), your little one may be referred to as a baby or an infant up until they're around 1 year of age.