Preparing for the pitcher method as a FTM

@highlyfavoured Agree with not pre-measuring bottles for newborns until they start taking a more consistent amount each feed. And even as our baby grew, we still found it was almost just as easy to pour from the pitcher each feeding. That said, we found it helpful to use the "mix as you go" method for nighttime. Some people use freezer packs/insulated bags or a mini fridge to store pre-made bottles for those middle of the night feeds, but we preferred pre-measuring the water into bottles and just adding the powder right before feeding baby. We had little formula dispenser cups that we'd fill before going to bed. That way we didn't have to worry about scooping and measuring while half asleep. These are also awesome for on the go feedings when you're away from home. (This was our go to: https://a.co/d/i0ERRQ2) Again, no need to worry about chilling bottles- just pop the dispenser into the bottle already filled with water, mix up, and you're good to go. Good luck!
 
@sarnmere I recently started the pitcher method after ditching pumping and RTF. This is what I do:

1) make a day’s worth of formula in pitcher
2) pour them into medela milk storage bottles (these warm up much faster than regular bottles and I had a bunch from pumping)
3) put in fridge and pop one in the warmer when baby wakes up
4) pour the warm milk into feeding bottle
5) dump everything in the dishwasher

In the beginning, my baby refused to drink anything other than warm milk but I gradually heated it less and less so now he takes it room temperature. I just need to pop it in the warmer for 2-3 min max and it’s good to go!
 
@teendad777 Awesome! So glad to hear all these positive pitcher routines where people call it a lifesaver. It makes me feel like I didn't waste my $10 on one, and I may end up buying a back up in case one is dirty.
 
@sarnmere A few things I do that are different from your list: I dont sterilize, just let them air dry. When we make a pitcher, we may pour a couple bottles and put them in the fridge, but we also fill some as-needed. Sometimes you just have an inkling that the baby will not drink a full bottle, and then you can always easily add more to a smaller bottle if needed.

We also give the bottles straight from the fridge. I think we warmed them (under hot water) for the first 2 weeks, then started giving less warm bottles over the next week or so until they were cold!
 
@sarnmere The pitcher is totally awesome and I highly recommend it. However, I would switch up #4 to pour out bottles as you need them to fed your newborn on demand. Once you have a better idea of how much/often your baby eats then you can pour out the bottles for the day. Less wasted formula that way.
 
@sarnmere For the first 3-4 weeks, your baby will increase the amount they want to eat, so I recommend not pouring the bottles ahead of time, unless your LO is very consistent. Once your LO a consistently eats the same amount, you can make them ahead of time. But no big deal either way.

Bottle warmer - yes. My LO took it cold at first then got picky and wanted it room temp or warmer

of bottles - maybe start by pouring them as needed, then start with 2 at a time and increase as feeding amounts become predictable.​


Sterilizing - I sterilize after every feeding (microwave sterilizer fits 4 bottles), but I have also heard others say once a day or whatever

Btw - I really love the pitcher method because it’s faster when LO is hungry and crying. Also it ensures that the water and powder are fully mixed. It’s kinda magical how there are NEVER any clumps when using it, vs making one bottle at a time

Don’t overthink it. You will find what works best for you!
 
@sarnmere This is many more steps than I personally did. This was our method, but again, different countries have different recommendations for preparing formula (outside of the US it is recommended to boil the water) and different babies are more or less picky about temperature.
  1. Prepare estimated daily amount of formula in the pitcher.
  2. When it is time for a feeding, pour into individual bottle and give to baby.
  3. Bottles washed in the dishwasher.
  4. For overnights, we would pour bottles of his average feeding amount and store them in the fridge until he woke up to eat.
A couple things about this was beneficial for us. Number one, no need to heat up bottles, which means that he was easier to feed while out and about/in a rush/etc. He had room temp RTF bottles for a couple weeks after birth then switched to formula straight from the fridge just fine.

Also, not portioning out the formula at the beginning of the day was helpful because we found sometimes he wanted 3 oz, but sometimes he’d want 4oz, and it was easy to go get him a little more from the pitcher versus from a whole desperate bottle. We did portion it out for overnights though just to save time.
 
@sarnmere we were told 2hrs at room temp for formula, so long as baby hadn't drank from it yet, 1hr from start of feed to finish.

measuring out single bottles ahead of time does save time and i did it in the beginning, it also saved time during the short stint i combo fed/bottle fed breast milk since i pumped more than she'd take at once.

overall this is very good though! as for the bottle warmer, it's up to you. cold milk can upset tummies when they're little little, but on the flipside if they're so used to warm milk it can make it hard to get them to accept anything less than warm. im only speaking from experience, my daughter refuses anything less than 98 degrees (we have a water warmer that keeps water warm so i know the temp) and if we're out and about she'll sometimes take cool formula, room temp is 50/50 most times
 
@sarnmere The routine you described steps 1-8 is almost exactly what we do, and it has made feeding our baby (who has feeding challenges that make feeding stressful) more sustainable for us. The Papablic and Dr Brown’s formula pitcher are two of the most important things we own. Sterilizing and drying the bottles after every use allows me to keep the prepped bottles in the fridge for up to 24 hours without much fear of contamination. (YMMV: I do not use 70C water to sterilize the powder, though that is recommended by European formula brands. For all we know, we have a healthy and not immunocompromised 4-month-old, and we started this routine when she was 8 weeks old.)

When it’s time to feed, we grab a bottle from the fridge, and put it in a bowl of very hot water for a few minutes to warm it to room temp or warmer if time. We have 9 bottles so that we can wash and rotate them through the Papablic throughout the day (its capacity is about 4 at a time with their component parts), and have a set of clean bottles to fill at night. We also sterilize the pitcher in the Papablic after each use. I do use a kitchen scale to measure the water and formula in grams so that I don’t accidentally miss a scoop of formula or add an extra because, generally, I’m sleep deprived and my brain isn’t working as well as it did pre-baby.
 
@sarnmere If you’re in the US the CDC recommends sterilizing if your baby is a preemie, immunocompromised, or 2-3mo or younger. Usually your Ped can advise you if they think it’s necessary. Generally thoroughly cleaning in a separate bin with designated brushes and air drying, or running thru a dishwasher is sufficient.

My system was simple and as follows
1. Make days worth of formula in pitcher
2. Place in fridge
3. Pour bottle at feeding time PLUS a “top up bottle” meaning a bottle with a cap (not nipple) to pour extra ounces in during feeding if baby is hungry after finishing bottle. Top up bottle is refilled and stays in fridge all day.
4. At bedtime we pour bottle(s) for overnight feeds from remaining pitcher formula. Put everything in fridge.
5. Empty pitcher and used bottles go in dishwasher.
6. Wash everything (including our normal dishes) on the hot setting with high heat air dry.
7. Repeat in the AM

It honestly was so simple. Our ped didn’t think we needed to sterilize. We also never warmed bottles. So it was literally pour from the pitcher and feed straight to baby.
 
@sarnmere So I have eff we started out with the pitcher and as she got into eating more we just got rid of it. We stopped using the bottle warmer 4weeks pp because we found it wasn’t really warming the bottles up as it should despite what type of bottle it was or how much was in it. Back to the pitcher, the pitcher is great when you get into weird numbers like 3oz per feeding but after 4oz it’s kinda easier to just make with room temp water and give straight to baby imo it’s also better for when we’re traveling because I can just fill the bottles with the proper amount of water and then just open them and put formula inside, which is also what I do at night I leave 2-3 bottles out with the water measured and then I just have to put the formula in and go. Honestly you’ll figure out what works best for you as you go there is no wrong or right way as long as baby is fed and happy you’ll be fine
 
@sarnmere I liked the pitcher and your list is about right except we didn’t/don’t sterilize every day. We just hand washed the bottles with hot water and soap.

The bottle warmer takes forever so if your baby will take cold formula, you could skip that. We would start the warmer then change LO’s diaper while it was heating the bottle. Ours doesn’t like it cold so we had to go through the trouble of heating it. This got annoying when she was still hungry and we had to prep another bottle. It just took way too long.

Now, we just use a warm water dispenser (with distilled water) and pop a couple of scoops of formula in there and shake it. It’s way faster overall. I see the allure of the pitcher method but it wasn’t right for our needs.
 
@sarnmere I bought the pitcher but found it to be more time consuming as I didn’t like taking it apart and reassembling with daily wash. I also easily lose track of scoop count so I had bought a food scale. I didn’t like needing to wash and completely dry the food scale bowl before adding powder every day to measure. It takes me less than 30 mins every night to prep 8 bottles and refrigerate for the next 24 hours. I measure distilled water and add in the scoops for each all at once and shake 2 bottles at a time with a closed bottle cap vs the nipple.
 
@edwardsson I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of that 😅 I have to prepare 40 oz a day anyway and just cannot get over needing to take apart and reassemble an additional item daily on top of the Dr. Brown bottles with a million pieces.
 
@sarnmere I’ve EFF for 10 months and don’t understand how the pitcher saves time.

I run tap water directly into the bottle and then scoop in the formula. It’s room temp so no need to bottle warm.

At night, I keep a canister of formula and clean bottles upstairs so I don’t have to go down to the refrigerator.

Seems like the pitcher just creates an extra dish to clean. And idk how you stop from wasting formula if you don’t estimate your child’s needs correctly or run an extra errand where you have to give a bottle but don’t have the pitcher. I don’t get it.
 
@might The main difference for me is the ability to make bottles that contain any amount of formula. Since one scoop is 2oz, scooping directly into the bottle means I can only make 4 or 6oz bottles when my baby most often drinks 5oz for example.

And if he's extra hungry, it takes only a few seconds to add an ounce or two.

I still mix bottles on the go when I'm out because that's easier than making sure to keep a prepared bottle cold, but at home the pitcher is way easier.
 
@edwardsson Gotcha. I use Kendamil and it has a 1 oz scoop so that’s not an issue for me either. Maybe that’s why I didn’t see the point of the pitcher.
 
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