Are you wondering how many times can you reheat formula milk?
We’ve all been there. You make the baby a fresh bottle of formula when the phone rings, and suddenly fifteen minutes have passed and the bottle’s gone cold.
Do you make another new bottle, or can you safely reheat the one you made? Keep reading to learn more about food safety when it comes to baby formula.
How can you safely store formula?
According to the CDC, baby formula that’s been pre-prepared and left at room temperature can spoil starting two hours after making it.
If after two hours you haven’t used the prepared formula, then you can safely store it in the fridge for use within 24 hours.
Remember, always throw away any formula leftover in the bottle when you’ve finished feeding your baby.
The mixture of your baby’s saliva with the formula can cause harmful bacteria to grow in your baby’s bottle. This is why it’s extremely important to ensure that all bottles and accessories are clean and sanitized before use.
Can I make my infant’s formula taste better?
It is not recommended that you introduce any additional ingredients into your baby’s formula unless otherwise instructed by your health care professional.
What do the experts say?
The FDA states, “it’s not a good idea to repeatedly reheat formula because lots of nutrients can be lost.” The USDA adds that you should “Never use a microwave oven to heat bottles of breast milk or infant formula. They may explode or the milk may get too hot” However, neither of these offer you much of a definitive explanation, much less an actual number.
How many times can you reheat formula?
It can be hard to know how many times is too many when it comes to reheating formula for your baby.
You only want to give your baby the healthiest foods and supplements. So just how many times can you reheat formula?
Well, we couldn’t find any government or medical authority who would give us a definitive number.
However, the closest thing we did find came courtesy of the website, Healthy WA Health Information for Western Australians.
And while they first recommend, as expected, that a fresh batch of formula be prepared before every feeding, they also say that you should discard un-used infant formula after two hours at room temperature once it has been reheated.
From this, we can conclude that formula should only be reheated once after its already been heated.
How can I reheat formula that has already been prepared?
You know that formula should only be reheated one time after it has already been prepared and heated, you might be wondering how to re-warm it.
Here’s how you can re-warm pre-prepared, stored baby formula:
- Remove the prepared formula from the refrigerator immediately before use.
- Place the container in shallow, heated water for up to 15 minutes, or use a bottle warmer.
- After 2 hours at room temperature, throw away any un-used infant formula.
Now that you know how to better prepare formula for baby, feel free to check out one of our other articles for more information on how to properly re-heat food for you and the rest of your family.