In line with the advice given by the UK NHS we recommend that you prepare your little one's baby formula fresh every time, right before feeding. However, there are a few tricks you can use to help speed up the formula prep process. You can store freshly boiled tap water in a vacuum flask, which will the water sterile and over 70 degrees until you need to make up a bottle. Just make sure that the water isn't too hot, even after several hours in the flask! You can also pre-measure your formula powder using a milk powder formula dispenser. You can also make sure that all your bottles are washed and sterile at the start of the day. Keep all these items together in a formula prep station in your kitchen. You'll be making up a feed in a flash!

If you have prepared a feed and then stored it in the fridge you must use the formula within 24hrs. Although babies can drink room temperature or even cold baby formula, you may want to warm up the bottle before feeding your baby. This can be done by placing the bottle in a mug of warm water for no more than fifteen minutes. You should always check the temperature of the bottle by placing a few drops on the inside of your wrist: the liquid should be warm but not hot. Never use a microwave when preparing your feeds, as this could cause scalding due to heat pockets formed in the milk when being microwaved.

Check out our popular guide on how to prepare formula here.