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Preparing bottles for infant formula

Clean equipment. Wipe down preparation area. Wash hands with soapy water. Wash bottles, teat and ring in hot, soapy water. Rinse thoroughly. Squirt water through hole in teat.

Sterilise equipment. Cover bottle, teat and ring with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Or use a microwave, steam or chemical steriliser following directions. Store empty sterilised bottles in a clean, sealed container in fridge.

Be safe. Keep children away from boiling water. To avoid scalds, let equipment cool in the pot until you can touch it. Use sterilised equipment within 24 hours.

Making up infant formula

Boil fresh tap water. Cool for at least 30 minutes until lukewarm or room temperature. Prepare only one bottle at a time. If you need to, store sterilised, sealed bottles in fridge for up to 24 hours.

Check instructions on formula tin for how much water to use. Put this amount of cooled, boiled water in a sterilised bottle.

Check instructions on tin for how many scoops of powder to use. Tap scoop, and level powder with a sterilised knife. Add powder to cooled, boiled water in bottle.

Getting bottle ready for baby

Put cap on bottle. Tap bottle gently so powder falls down into water. Swirl and then shake bottle to mix powder and water. Use formula within one hour. Throw away any leftover formula.

To warm formula to room temperature, put bottle in a pot of warm water for no longer than 10 minutes. Shake bottle. Squeeze a drop of liquid onto your wrist to test temperature and make sure milk is flowing from teat. Cold formula is OK too.

When going out, put bottle with right amount of cooled, boiled water in insulated bag with cool pack. Pack measured amount of powder separately. Mix when baby needs a feed.

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