Whether you’re feeding formula milk or breast milk, or cow’s milk to your baby by baby bottles. You need to warm it up real nice so that the milk is sweet for your baby’s health and helps him sleep peacefully. Milk that’s slightly warm helps the baby sleep better. Ensuring that your baby’s milk bottle is warm and safe is vital for good hygiene and keeping all the nutrients within the milk intact. Heat kills the milk components making it not nutritious for your baby and also hot can scald your baby’s mouth. So warming the milk to the proper temperature using a safe method is important for your baby’s health.
Is It Safe to Warm a Baby Bottles?
Many mothers worry about the safety of warming the feeding bottle of their baby. Warming the bottle is totally safe if the temperature is gently raised to match the normal temperature of the human body. Heating the bottle or exposing the milk to high temperatures destroys the natural enzymes and immunizing properties of the milk. Whereas, warming the bottle preserves the nutrients present within the milk and also ensures that the baby’s mouth isn’t burnt by the hot milk.
If you’ve been breastfeeding your baby and are about to start feeding your baby with a bottle. You will also want to understand about the bottles you ought to buy. Well, you want to choose a feeding bottle which uses high-quality material and is BPA-free. A bottle made from inferior quality plastic when warmed may result in chemical leaching. So use a glass bottle or a BPA-free (bisphenol A-free) plastic bottle. BPA is an estrogen-like chemical which will cause health problems, so it’s advisable to go for BPA free bottles.
Different Ways to Heat a baby bottle
There are some ways to warm up a baby bottles. A number of them describe below:
1. Heating in Warm Water
This simple yet effective method of warming a baby bottle is very recommended .Also it requires no special equipment and is inexpensive.
How to Heat
- Heat some water in a vessel. The water shouldn’t be boiling just warm.
- Turn off the flame. confirm the water is in a deep or wide container to simply keep the feeding bottle in it.
- The cap of the bottle should be tight so no water enters the bottle.
- Keep the bottle within the warm water container for a couple of minutes.
- Swirl the bottle occasionally gently to stop air bubbles from entering the bottle.
- Remove the bottle after several minutes when the bottle becomes warm.
2. Heat the Milk Bags
This method is effective for mothers who store their breast milk in milk bags. The milk bag is made from thin plastic so it warms up quickly and efficiently in warm water. Doctors suggest it because the express milk evenly warm up by this method.
How to Heat
- Take out the express milk bag from the refrigerator.
- Keep it out for a couple of minutes.
- Heat some water in a vessel. Don’t boil the water just make it warm.
- Turn off the flame and keep the bag for a couple of minutes in warm water.
- Touch the milk bag to see the temperature of the bag. If it’s warm, remove it and transfer the warm express milk to the bottle and feed your baby.
3. Using a warmer
This is the most convenient method of warming feeding bottles or warming a baby bottle of breastmilk. It just requires setting the warming temperature, and your baby’s bottle will warm to the proper temperature and is totally hygienic. It’s best for the days when you need to quickly feed your baby and have little or no time to warm the bottle especially for warming bottles at night. To understand the way to use a bottle warmer see the below steps.
How to Heat
- Pour milk into the bottle
- Do remember to remove bottle parts while warming in the bottle warmer.
- Adjust the temperature setting on the baby bottle warmer to the temperature you would like .
- Keep the feeding bottle in the bottle warmer.
- Turn on the switch and let the bottle warm in it.
- After it switches off, remove the feeding bottle.
- Feed your baby.
4. Make Formula Milk With Warm Water
In case your baby is on formula milk, then rather than warming the baby bottle with formula milk, it’s better to form formula milk with warm water. It saves time and reduces an additional step.
How to Heat
- Heat water in the geyser or in a pan on the stove for a couple of minutes.
- Take water in a pan and let it cool to the right temperature or till it’s warm, not hot.
- Take the adequate quantity of formula powdered milk in the bottle.
- Add warm water to the bottle.
- Mix the formula powdered milk with warm water to form formula milk. ensure there are no lumps and it has a smooth consistency.
- Feed your baby.
- If you’re wondering how long is a heated bottle of breast milk good for, then here’s what you need to remember: it’s best to use it within 2 hours. Never re-freeze breast milk that has been already Heat up.
5. Heat in the Microwave
Heating bottles in the microwave is simple but it’s not recommended because the bottle might feel cool on heating but the milk inside could be hot and scald your baby’s mouth. Also, a microwave heats the milk unevenly, so one part could be warm and other parts could be hot. Microwave heating is additionally not good because it may change the composition of breast milk if you heat up the milk on a extreme temperature. If you’ve got no other option and need to heat the milk during a microwave, here’s what you’ll do
How to Heat
- Take out the milk in a bottle.
- Keep the bottle in the microwave and heat for about 30 seconds to a minute.
- Put it for more minutes if the milk is taken out of the refrigerator.
- Take out the bottle after it has warmed.
- Swirl the bottle gently to combine the milk just in case it’s warmed up the milk unevenly.
- Feed your baby.
To know more about your child’s health? Consult our expert Pediatricians today!
