You know you need to heat up your baby’s bottle before feeding them, but you also know the last thing you want to do is feed them a bottle that’s too hot and will end up giving them mouth and throat burns. To help, here are a few tips to safely warm a bottle for your baby.
Prepare With Warm Water
If you’re preparing powdered formula, you can simply use warm water from the tap to prepare the formula. Once you’ve filled the bottle with the appropriate amount of water, mix and swirl the contents to distribute the temperature evenly. Remember, you want the milk in the bottle to be at or a little less than body temperature—98.6 degrees—as it would be if you were breastfeeding.
If you’re not in too much of a rush and are concerned about the quality of your tap water, boil room-temperature tap water. Allow the water to cool to body temperature before mixing it into the formula.
Set Under Running Water
While this method is fastest with bagged breast milk, you can also use this method with a bottle. When using a bottle, hold it under warm running water while rotating occasionally and swirling the bottle to distribute the heat evenly. This is a safe and effective method, but it will take a fair amount of time, and you’ll be using a considerable amount of water.
Let Sit in Warm Water
When it comes to the dos and don’ts of formula preparation, you never want to heat the bottle on the stovetop or in the microwave. However, you can use the stove and the microwave to your advantage to warm up a filled bottle. You can heat up water in a pot or a bowl in the microwave until it’s warm. You should be able to put your finger in the water without any pain. Then, place the bottle in the bowl of warm water and allow it to sit for about five minutes.
Use a Bottle Warmer
Bottle warmers heat up a bottle fast, but they’re not all made the same and aren’t perfect. While you can set the bottle in the warmer, select the temperature, and let the warmer do the magic, it’s still important to check the temperature.
Now that you know safely warm a bottle for your baby, remember that no matter which method you choose, always check the temperature by dribbling some formula on the inside of your wrist. If it’s too hot for you to touch, it’s too hot for your baby.
