Video transcript

Narrator: Whether you are formula feeding or expressing and feeding your baby breastmilk from a bottle…

Mother 1 (in background): I labelled these ones when I expressed it.

Onscreen tip: You can freeze your breastmilk, but make sure you date it and throw it out after 3 months.

Narrator: …you’ll need to wash and sterilise the bottles to kill any germs that can make your baby sick. Removing and washing the teat, ring and bottle with a bottle brush and soapy water will clean them most of the way, but you need to pop them all into a pot of boiling water or a microwave steriliser for about 5 minutes to stop all the invisible germs as well, and don’t forget to wash your hands.

For preparing the formula, make sure you have infant formula, sometimes called Stage 1. Bring fresh water to the boil. Leave to cool down to lukewarm or room temperature, about 30 minutes. Fill a sterile baby bottle up to the line you need with the water.

Onscreen tip: Fill to either 60, 120, 180 or 240 ml line.

Narrator: Then it’s just a matter of measuring the dry formula accurately. Check the tin carefully for how much water you need for each scoop of formula. Give each scoop a couple of gentle taps to get rid of any major air gaps. Don’t let any moisture into the tin of formula, because that can turn the whole tin rancid within a day.

If the scoop gets wet, rinse and dry it before putting it back in the tin. Put the lid on with the sterile rubber teat in place with the cover. Let the powder fall down into the water a bit, helping it along by gently tapping it on the bench top, and swirling it before you vigorously shake the bottle to thoroughly mix it. Then you can wait a few minutes for most of the foamy bubbles to settle down before offering it to your baby.

You can choose to feed your baby room temperature or lukewarm milk formula, or you can warm up the bottle by placing it into a pot of hot water in the sink. Either way, test that the milk is flowing out of the teat and that it’s not too hot.