When your baby is crying in the middle of the night the last thing you want, and for sure the last thing your baby wants, is to wait for the formula to warm up. Well you may be in luck.
Can babies have cold formula
The sort answer… Yes, Most babies can have cold to room temperature formula.
Long answer is while most babies can drink formula cold there are reasons people prefer to warm it up and some times keep it cold. Cold milk or formula can effect the body temperature of a premature babies more them warm milk or formula. However, even that doesn’t have an significant impact on their body temperature. Mostly it’s going to depend on your baby’s personal preference.
At what age can babies have cold formula
Babies can have cold or room temperature formula from day one if that is what they like. However, breastfed babies are going to prefer formula that is warmed up as it’s closest to breast milk. It will be your little ones personal preference on which way they prefer their bottle. Over time you can train your baby to be ok with cold formula.
Ways to warm formula up
Tap water
The best choice in terms of safest for the baby and yourself is to run hot tap water and put the bottle in it. I’ve done this when I used room temperature bottled water. When using cold water in the bottle, this method takes a while to get the bottle temperature close to that of breast milk.
Bowl of warm water
This has been my families go to forever. We never wanted to spend money on a bottle warmer nor did we have space for one. It took a bit to find our system. However, once we did it was super easy to warm the baby’s bottle up. You can do this one of 2 ways. Microwave the water or just use hot tap water like above.
What I loved about this method is I could prep the baby bottle with the powder formula and fill a Moderna bottle that is used when breast pumping with the measured out water. It makes the middle of the night feeds easier to make even when holding the baby. I just pout the water in the bottle, mix, and put in the warm water.
Our system was a 2 cup measuring cup filled with enough water to cover the milk line on the bottle and microwaved for 2 minutes. That is the water the bottle would be warmed up in. Then a few minutes for the bottle to warm up in the water and it was usually good to go.
Potential risks if you microwave water
This is considered an unsafe method for the person heating the water up because of Super heating.
Super heating is when the water under the surface gets to the point to boiling but the water around it is still cold. When that surface of the water is disturbed, flash boiling and even as extreme as exploding water can occur.
I’ve had both exploding water and flash boiling happen to me. The exploding was always when as the water was warming up and luckily only left me with less water and a mess to clean up.
The flash boiling happened to me when I put the bottle in the water. I usually wait a bit before touching the surface of the water with the bottle. I always put the bottle in at an angle that kept my hand as safe as I could and easy to pull away in case of flash boiling.
I have heard a wood spoon in the water as you microwave it can help keep super heating or flash boiling from happening. The University of New South Wales did a whole article on super heating and how to avoid it.
Bottle warmers
A bottle warmer is another method to warm a bottle and probably the safer then microwaving water. I personally never used one, but judging by how popular they are and looking at “how to” videos it’s similar to my microwaving water method just no microwave. So, if you are worried about microwaving the water this is another good option.
Safety Tip
Regardless of your method make sure to never submerge the nipple or even the collar of the bottle of formula or milk in water.
If the nipple gets in water it could pose as a health risk due to potential bacteria in the water. Same reason you shouldn’t use unfiltered tap water. As for the collar, I personally have found it can hold hot water and when you pick it up you can get scalding water on your hand.
How to warm bottles on the go
Bring your own
When you are on the go it’s sometimes hard to warm water. If we knew we wouldn’t have access to warming water we would bring our own in a bottle designed to keep items warm like a Thermo.
Coffee Shops
You can always get hot water from most any store that serves coffee because they usually also serve tea so they have hot water. I have found if you explain you need it to warm a baby bottle they will give it free of charge.
Family Places
Some places have bottle warmers if they have family service areas. Some major malls, Theme parks like Disneyland, even fair grounds that I have been to have had these service areas for changing and feeding.
Checking bottle temperature
Giving your baby a hot bottle will be our of your worries as new parents but it is very easy to check.
Once you feel the temperature of the formula or breast milk is good, you simple check the temperature of the milk on the inside of your wrist with a couple of drops to made sure it’s not to warm.
I usually test it a few times once as soon as it comes out of the water and again after a swirl (Not a shake) of the bottle to make sure the heat isn’t just in one spot.
What not to do
Never microwave the baby bottle to warm breastmilk, or formula for the baby. Microwaving anything can cause hot spots and could feel fine when you check it but it’s dangerously hot inside.
Think about when you warm up mash potatoes. Stays cold on the outside but if you stick your finger in it you get burned.
Though the baby bottles with the heat indicators are great don’t put your full trust in them. They might not always work or over time they could wear out. It’s a good idea to check ever time even a few times like I stated above.
Reasons to warm your baby’s formula up
So if there is all these worries about warming your baby’s bottle why even bother warming them up ion the first place.
It’s easier to mix
Depending on what type of formula you use it can be a little harder to get it to mix fully. We’ve used both formula powder and liquid formula. Powder can be a bit more difficult to mix with just cold water. At least to me it seams once it was warmed up I could get it to fully dissolve with a little swirl.
It’s can be easier on the baby’s stomach
Sometimes cold liquids can cause stomach discomfort in babies. A baby with an upset stomach can keep you up all night crying and no one wants that.
You’re also breastfeeding
If you ware breastfeeding you most likely want to keep the formula temperature closer to that of breast milk.
Reasons to keep formula on the cool side
Sometimes you don’t have a choice. There are times you will be out and forgot to pack formula, yes that happens, and you have to give them one you got at the store.
A few times of doing that and you learn to have back ups.
We always preferred Enfamil NeuroPro Ready to Feed Infant Formula Bottles. This is ready-to-feed formula, as in just pour it in a baby bottle and you are good to go. I remember these have saved us a few times from having to leave where we were or go back home to get a bottle.
There are times you are in a place that you just can’t get warm water to put the bottle in.
Maybe you are down at the beach, or on a road trip you can’t follow the above on how to warm a bottle on the go. You can’t keep water warm forever or maybe you forgot water all together. You may just have to hope they can deal with the room temperature bottled water.
When it’s super hot outside
When it is hot outside you have to be aware of the temperature of your baby. Heat stroke effects kids faster then adults and giving them a cooler bottle my help keep them cool and hydrated. Check out this post to on When can you take your newborn to the beach- with tips.
They are getting older
As your baby gets older and closer to drinking cow’s milk you may want to start giving them cold baby formula. We use to do this with our youngest when we were trying to wean her off from her bottle. Cold milk during the day and a warm one at night.
As you can see there are pro’s and con‘s on if you should give your baby warm formula or not. It can be confusing as a new parent on what you should do. However, if I have learned anything after having 3 kids is you’ll learn what your baby prefers as you listen and learn from their cues.
Disclaimer
Be aware that the information provided here is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. You should consult your doctor when considering any changes in your child’s diet, formula, and general wellbeing.
