Is it necessary to warm a bottle?

[Anonymous]

Hello, I have been hearing mixed advice on bottle warmers and warming a bottle. Some of my books say not to get baby used to a warmed bottle. So, moms out there is it really necessary?

[Anonymous]

For mixing formula, we always just used room temperature water. Seemed to work fine and saved us from an extra step.

[Anonymous]

We took expressed milk out of the refig and gave it to my children. They never turned it down.

[Anonymous]

My father in law is a pediatrician and says that cold bottles are perfectly fine, but they initiate poop. Cold gets the colon going, apparently. We warm a cold bottle from the refrigerator to room temperature in the bottle warmer, but not to warm. It's just not necessary.

[Anonymous]

My baby is 3 months old now and I never warmed any bottle. He is very happy drinking it cold straight out of the fridge or at room temperature. When I bottle fed him at the hospital, the formula they gave me was not warm either, it was at room temperature.
If I were you, I would not warm bottles b/c if you do that, your baby might get used to drinking warm milk and then refuse to drink it cold and it will make your life more complicated, and trust me, it is hard enough to take care of a newborn. If you always serve it cold or at room temperature, it will make your life easier and your baby will never know that he could have had it warm.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if you are talking about formula or expressed milk. For expressed milk that I refrigerated, I warm it to room temp. But I have heard it is not necessary and that many babies will take it cold. So you can experiment. (If you are thinking of getting a bottle warmer, I would wait to see how your baby does.)

[Anonymous]

I would warm up expressed milk just enough to take the chill off (sit the bottle in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and swish it around a few times). With formula, I just used room temperature water.

Had a bottle warmer, never used it. Too annoying. I might have used it if either kid had expressed a disinterest in cool or room temperature bottles, but neither did.

[Anonymous]

It is not necessary. We never warmed a bottle.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for room temperature bottles...we keep a stash of bottles with pre-measured water on our kitchen counter, along with one of those divided cups with pre-measured formula, and it takes about a minute to get a bottle ready. It's so nice to have everything ready to go when we're bleary eyed early in the morning or when the baby is hungry five minutes ago.

[Anonymous]

To warm bottles of expressed BM, we always just microwaved a cup of water for 20-30 seconds or so, and then put the bottle in the cup for a few minutes to take the chill off. Also convenient if you are out and about. No need for a bottle warmer, even if you do choose to warm.

[Anonymous]

For breastmilk that's been in the fridge, I usually have to swirl it around to get everything that's separated and stuck to the side of the bottle mixed up again. After a minute or so of swirling it's probably a little warmer than it started, but I don't warm it at all besides that.

[Anonymous]

For formula we used room temperature water, but for expressed milk from the fridge, i used to put in a bowl with hot water for 5 minutes, that brought it to room temperature.

[Anonymous]

Babies will generally take cold or room temp milk/formula when they aren't used to having it warmed. My BF infant usually got a bottle of expressed milk once a day or so for the first few months and didn't need it warmed. Then his grandma came to take care of him for a few weeks once I went back to work and warmed all his bottles. After that, there was no going back to cold!

[Anonymous]

It's not necessary but just sooo much nicer for the baby! And it's definitely nicer on their little tummies. So why not, I just heated it in the microwace. My pediatrician was very laid back about that (in Europe this is common), just make sure you shake it well and taste/feel if temp is ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for room temperature bottles...we keep a stash of bottles with pre-measured water on our kitchen counter, along with one of those divided cups with pre-measured formula, and it takes about a minute to get a bottle ready. It's so nice to have everything ready to go when we're bleary eyed early in the morning or when the baby is hungry five minutes ago.

you know what's even nicer than pre-measuring water and man-made powder? breast-feeding. everything is always ready to go when you're bleary eyed or otherwise. i'm just saying.