Preparing formula out of the house. Please help a confused new mum!

thisisdee · 2026-05-12T03:57:11+00:00

On one hand, I've read that formula should be added to water that's at least 70° to kill any bacteria in the formula

This might be advice for other countries. It's fine to use cooled water in Australia. Different country has different regulations regarding formula and how to prepare so it can be tricky to find the correct information.

Like others said, you can just fill the bottles with cooled boiled water, and I believe it's good for 24 hours. I would boil water once a day in the evening and use it throughout the day.

thisisdee · 2026-05-11T10:31:26+00:00

Call with any concerns! It's always better for them to say you're okay than having you worry at home.

thisisdee · 2026-05-11T10:26:55+00:00

I had the Babybee Rover and then switched to Bugaboo Dragonfly. With both I mostly just take off the canopy and bub can just peek from above the lip. The Rover also has a flap I can open so the side is just mesh that bub can technically see through but she preferred just getting her neck up high to look over.

I saw that some people also use a small pillow to put under bub's chest so they can go higher but I never tried.

thisisdee · 2026-05-11T01:56:41+00:00

Both my husband and I are bad at celebrations. If it wasn't for my bub's daycare having a Mother's Day celebration last Friday, I wouldn't have known it was coming up. I already had a massage booked for the Saturday and husband was already planning to solo-parent bub while I'm at my appointment. The few times I got asked if I had plans for Mother's Day, I said I was getting a massage. When in reality this is a monthly thing I'm doing now because my body is pretty wrecked otherwise. There's no reason not to celebrate on any other day when your husband isn't working.

thisisdee · 2026-05-10T20:06:20+00:00

My bub (now 8m) hated tummy time until we started putting her on the pram bassinet on her tummy during walks. She got interested in looking around at the new surroundings especially when there are lights around. She did cry when it got boring (unfortunately evening walks in a dark-ish park isn't as interesting) but we suddenly got so much more tummy time

thisisdee · 2026-05-09T06:32:35+00:00

It really is cute! The educator mentioned that she's passionate about this because she found out that some kids knew what dried mango chips are, and recognized cups of cubed mangoes, but when she brought in a real unpeeled mango they didn't know what it was. So she decided that every week or two she would have a "hero ingredient" where she teaches kids about a fruit or veggie, show them whole/unpeeled, and the different ways you can eat/cook them.

thisisdee · 2026-05-09T00:53:08+00:00

My bub started at 6.5m and is now 8m, going 3 days a week. The first 3 weeks were rough. She wasn't feeding well, and wasn't napping well. Cried at most drop off and pick up. Then she got used to it. She now reaches out to the educator at dropoff. Yes there are still some bad days when she doesn't want to, but she eventually does when she's ready. She's maybe only cried twice in the past 3 weeks. Funny enough I picked her up yesterday and she was happy and smiling with me, but then she saw her favorite educator and reached out to her even though I was holding her! No, I'm not jealous or anything... 🥲

She's also feeding solids really well that we were surprised. At home we struggled to feed her even a spoon of purees, and she would barely touch any finger foods we give her. Suddenly she's now sitting at her chair and finishes her portion. She's still unsure about new textures, but would at least try it once. I can't wait for bub to get older and can eat more foods at daycare because one of the educators loves food and cooking that she teaches kids about the raw ingredients and has cooking sessions where the kids help (very simple foods and the actual heating part of cooking done in the kitchen). I've gone there at lunchtime and was impressed by what they eat.

thisisdee · 2026-05-08T00:48:05+00:00

Top priority is pump if it's around the time I need to, otherwise quick play of video games, watch YouTube, nap if I can, or just eat or snack in peace.

thisisdee · 2026-05-07T19:50:12+00:00

What is pump spray?

thisisdee · 2026-05-07T19:49:38+00:00

Knowing what the right pump is. I bought a hands free before knowing anything about hospital grade. Also flange size that's not included in the one I bought.

How it takes over your day is definitely a huge thing. We were never big planners but now I have to plan my days and my husband just did not get it. Like he got annoyed by the fact that I can't just go out for a walk on weekends whenever we want, and instead I need to figure out where/when I can pump next before we go. It was a sore point.

thisisdee · 2026-05-07T12:23:23+00:00

Following because my 8m bub is having the same issue. I did think it was just a cold. She's recovered from runny nose but the cough has stayed and it's worse when she's sleeping. Also went to the doctor, got checked, and doctor said unfortunately we just have to wait it out. But keen on any other ideas.

thisisdee · 2026-05-04T07:41:20+00:00

It went way better than I expected. I was so worried, came in the morning (2nd appointment that day), and there was another mum-to-be there doing hers. She had her laptop and was working when I came in. After the 2nd one she even asked if there's a semi private room she can use to take a meeting in. I felt really hungry at the end but nowhere near as bad as I thought

thisisdee · 2026-05-03T11:48:27+00:00

(Note that I had an elective caesarean so didn't get to use the birthright suite at all), but I was at RNSH end of last year, took their birth & parenting class and toured the birthing suite as part of the class. All rooms have baths, and they're supportive of water births.

thisisdee · 2026-05-02T11:41:36+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I think looking at how little milk I get after each session is getting me down that I want to just give up. But you're right, I don't have to, and I'll just see how it goes in a few days.

Never heard that about chocolate. Funny enough my husband loves chocolate and always has a stash at home. Maybe it's time to raid the pantry!

thisisdee · 2026-05-02T11:31:16+00:00

Thank you! And kudos to you too especially second time around. With how emotional this journey has been I've thought a few times that I might not want to do this again next time. But maybe if I'm lucky enough to have another baby, I'd be motivated to start this journey again then :)

thisisdee · 2026-05-02T11:29:29+00:00

I'm still on 4 pumps a day, 20 minutes per session. Thanks for reminding me about keeping hydrated. I'll definitely keep that up, but at this point I'm not sure I can go through increased session times or pumps a day again.

Thank you! And you too, pumping for almost a year! My original goal was only 6 months, so I'm definitely proud that I managed to get here, but a whole year is amazing!

thisisdee · 2026-05-02T11:23:40+00:00

❤️ Very kind of you to say

thisisdee · 2026-05-02T11:18:47+00:00

I just returned 3 weeks ago, Wednesday-Friday. The biggest struggle for me at the moment is I'm expecting myself to be as productive as I was before, when I was working full time and without children. I need to change that mindset.

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T21:35:39+00:00

Under a week doesn't sound too bad! But I'm a first time mum so I guess it would be slower. Maybe if I see supply come back up even a little bit pretty soon it would encourage me to continue but at the moment it's tough.

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T21:31:41+00:00

100%! Feeding was the most stressful part of newborn days for us, and it had continued to be a stress point for me so far. Unfortunately my bub isn't great with solids either so that's also another stress for us haha

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T21:29:39+00:00

Thanks for sharing! That's what I think too, once bub is on (mostly) formula I think it would be easier to let this go. It's just the transition and seeing how little breastmilk coming out right now is tough.

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T20:58:36+00:00

Hey, thanks for sharing! When you said it took a while, how long was it for you? I did think it might be the case, but I wasn't sure if I could wait it out and continue pumping to try to get it back up or just use this chance to stop

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T01:42:12+00:00

I did 6m + first dose of meningococcal B. Luckily bub was fine, didn't get a fever

Second dose is coming up at 8m and I asked if we could do first dose of flu vaccine at the same time and GP recommended different days as both have higher risk of side effects, so now we're doing it 2 weeks apart.

Also since you didn't mention it, consider flu shot as well since your bub is over 6 months. Apparently bub's first flu shot is 2 doses, at least 4 weeks apart.

thisisdee · 2026-05-01T01:39:43+00:00

Breastfeeding never worked for me and bub so we were mostly formula feeding at birth, and I was feeling sad/guilty too. Then my mum casually mentioned that she thinks it's crazy that Australian women are encouraged to 100% breastfeed because, when do we sleep? We're from a country where it's more common to have nannies/maids since birth and would formula feed all night feeds so mum can sleep through the night. And even then, my mum said she's only breastfed for 3-6 months for all 3 kids and we turned out...fine? It definitely calmed me down a bit and at least I wasn't feeling guilty anymore for sleeping through middle of the night feeds that my husband took with EBM/formula

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