How do you warm your bottle - feeding?

[sofiam]

In our unit If it is just a litlle of milk, we do it under the warm water but if dont we do it on the microwave, but i and my colleagues dont agree and im trying to change it .... We now have the possibility of having a machine that warms the bottles, till a programated temperature by the water steam. How do you warm your babies milk, and what do you think about this equipment?

Thank you

sofia

[LilPeanut, MSN, RN, NP]

We just use warm/hot water.

Please please please, get your unit to stop using the microwave. It denatures proteins, but even more importantly, it can superheat the fat in milk and even if you mix it and test it, it could still contain fat that could hurt the baby. Microwaves should never be used to heat infant milk/formula.

[rn/writer, RN]

Totally agree about hot spots and denatured proteins in nuked milk and formula.

We feed room temp formula as is unless we have a really finicky kid, in which case we will set the bottle in warm/hot water. Makes a difference for some.

Frigidated or frozen EBM will be set out for a bit, then popped in the ever-popular low tech Styrofoam cup full of hot water. No expensive equipment to have to maintain and keep records for. No infection control issues. And it works like a charm in about five minutes for cold and 10-15 minutes for frozen EBM.

Some things don't need to be complicated.

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

For frozen EBM we're never allowed to put it in warm/hot water as we're told it breaks down the proteins in the milk.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

We warm milk and formula in water. That machine seems like more work than necessary. And potential for an accident. Not too clear on how this steam machine works but someone in a hurry not notice that machine has overheated milk and burn baby or spill water and burn you. This one reason we're not allowed to use microwave to heat water or formula.

I use a steam warmer for my own baby's bottle at home and find it to be a bit off sometimes. You pour in water - more or less depending on how much milk there is to heat - and the metal base heats up to steam the water until it's completely evaporated. The bottle heats while it sits in the steam. We've been through two of them already and both had issues with bottles being over or underheated at times.

At work, each baby has it's own plastic jug - the same kind used for ice water in adult areas, just without the lid - and we just fill those with warm water to heat the bottles. They are labeled and kept at each baby's bedside, then disposed of when the baby is discharged. We dry them out upside down on a washcloth in between feedings. We also place each bottle or syringe of milk inside of a glove when placing it in the water to keep any water-borne germs away.

We use these jugs for both thawing out breastmilk and heating up feedings. We heat them because it's easier to digest if it's warm - especially important for preemies and babies with reflux. I was once told by a GI doc that food has to reach body temperature before it's able to leave the stomach - so makes sense to heat it a bit!