Do I Have to Warm up the Milk???

i haven't read the previous answers, but the answer is NO at least for the water for formula. the issue with breast milk is that babies are used to it body temp so you don't really want to give it to them cold. i always did both expressed milk and formula at room temp (or maybe slightly warmed for expressed milk) for the exact reason you are talking about. it was very easy to toss a bottle of water in my diaper bag and know that i could add the formula and be done. both of my kids are happy despite this :) AND as an added bonus, when they were switched to whole milk at or around their first bdays they both took it cold w/o complaint!

My ped said it's not medically necessary to warm it up. It's more of a preference thing. I liked to run the bottle under hot water to take some of the chill off, but my baby didn't seem to care that the milk was cool.

My son never needed his milk warmed.
When I had to quit breast feeding, he wouldn't drink milk without ice in it and is that way today. He will not drink anything but ice cold milk.
It's a personal thing.
It's what a kid gets used to I guess, but you don't have to warm up the milk.

We never warmed up bottles for either of our sons and it's been just fine. It is not medically necessary to warm up the milk and you don't need to worry about the nutrients not being absorbed properly or too slowly.

The bonus? You can be out anywhere with a bottle and feed your child without fear of him/her not taking it because it isn't warm and you can't find anywhere to warm it up. Additionally, when you switch over to whole milk at 1 they'll already be used to taking their beverage cold so no big change there.

Advice from a pediatrition after my first son was born ... he said there is no reason to warm it up if the baby will drink it cold. If the baby won't drink it then sure, but go for the easiest way! Personally, with expressed breast milk I'd usually put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds just so it was warm enough to mix back up (it would seperate when it sat in the fridge), but I don't know if that really matters or not.

I always warmed up the milk and still do for my 6 year old and 4 year old. Now they switch between cold and warm milk. Some might say its a bad habit I've created - but really - is it too much to give your child milk that's warmed up for 30 seconds! I personally say, do what you feel most comfortable with - if the other caregivers have to adjust a bit to your style, well, then that's what they have to do. Everyone has different ways of getting their kids to eat and sleep and do other things - this is just one more of those things. Again, do what makes you feel content. Good luck on baby #2 and congratulations. :)

I have 4 children, all formula fed, and I never once heated up a bottle for them... for the reasons you mention above about it being so hard to go anywhere or do anything. I boil my tap water and keep it in a container (pitcher, etc) till it cools down (at night, cool by morning) and all of my children have been fine with room temperature bottles.

Once they started drinking milk, I would warm it up, only because it was so cold coming from the fridge... Final temp would be around room temperature or slightly warmer.

Best wishes!

I don't know about breast milk that is pumped but as far as formula, no you do not have to warm it up. I never warmed up formula for my kids. I would serve it room temperature or cold so they would get used to cold milk later on.

When I was in hospital with my 4th son, the nurses told me that it is not necessary to warm the milk, that room temp is fine. Straight from the fridge is not great as it is upsetting to the tummy but room temp is okay. I always warmed it up to room temp or body temp but never warmer than that. If you have the canned formula that is ready to serve, just pop the top and serve!

As for breast milk, its not supposed to be microwaved or heated above body temp because it reduces the anti-infective action of the milk and can also cause a loss of the Vitamin C content amongst other nutrient losses.
Room temperature or body temperature seems to be the rule of thumb, any warmer is more for comfort than health.
Hope that helps.

Congrats on the new baby! Hope everything goes well for you and your family.

Absolutely not. I bought a bottle warmer but never used it. Some babies are more particular than others but when I realized that my son was perfectly happy to have room temperature .. or even cold milk, I didn't even dare warm it up for fear that would be the only way he would take it. When it came to expressed breast milk we simply ran it under hot water to mix it back up. As far as formula went we used room temperature nursery water for the most part. When summer came I started keeping the water in the fridge and came to find that he really enjoyed his milk cold. It really helped with the transition to cow's milk when he turned 1!! If your baby will take it cold I say go for it! It saves a lot of hassle and effort. ;-) Good luck to you!

I don't warm up my milk at all unless it's coming out of the fridge. And even out of the fridge, I warm just enough to take the chill off. If we are out, i just pull the bottle out of the cooler bag, and let it sit out about 10 minutes or so, and it's warmed up enough for my daughter.

With my daughter there were times that i just feed it to her cold and she never fussed at all with it being cold. So i would say try out different ways and see what way your son will take it. good luck.

I feed my DD expressed milk. I either throw it in a warmer if I'm home, or if I'm going somewhere I will stick a cold bottle next to her in the car seat. Her body warms it up (and she has clothes on, so it's not too cold to be next to her.) There are dozens of affordable warmers on the market, including the kind that you can plug into your car... it doesn't have to be a hassle if you are prepared and resourceful. You really don't want to microwave BM though, it destroys the anti-infective properties, and it can destroy the vitamin c content. It's better to heat it up in hot water. My DD refuses cold BM, and I am a little worried about giving her a brain-freeze... they are soo much more sensitive than us in every little thing!

I had two formula fed babies (not by choice) and with our first we warmed her bottles, painstakingly even in the night. It wasn't the end of the world but at 3am it sure felt like it. With our second we would just allow them to be room temperature.

My suggestion and what worked for me with our youngest is that room temperature or warmed is fine, straight from the fridge cold, at the beginning probably not so much. When it came right out of the fridge I'd leave the cap on, flip the kitchen faucet onto super hot, let it run over the bottle a few minutes and voila. Other than that, we didn't worry about heating a bottle when we were out.

Good luck, you'll find what works best for your baby and for you :)

We didn'tt with either of our kids and it sure made life easier. Our friends didn't with their 1st but their 2nd wouldn't drink it cold so they had to heat it up for her.

I never once gave my son anything warmer then room temperature. After 7 months, he really liked it to be cold! Heating is not necessary.

I never warmed up the milk. Not once. I nursed, but both my girls got their fiar shared of frozen milk and formula. Frozen milk - I did put in warm water to thaw, but i had no problem serving it cold.

I thik this falls under the category of pushing adult assumptions on kids. Ift make sus feel better to warma bottle, but I don't necessarily think children care. And it definately mad ethem flexible and they adapted ot cow's milk, from the fridge, beautifually.

Every baby is different. Some don't care at all and others will only take it one way. I have noticed that babies that are BF tend to lean more towards warm milk. Both my kids were BF for 3 months and my daughter didn't care but my son would only drink warm milk. I feel your pain about having find a place with warm water, etc for the bottles cause we drove 900+ miles to go home one year and he would scream from hunger before he ate a cold bottle!!! We ended up getting a 12V bottle warmer. Kept it turned on with water in it and then added the powder when he was ready. It would take 20 mins for that silly thing to warm up 6oz of water!!!

Now a friend of mine who didn't BF either one of hers will take a bottle straight from the fridge!

So I say do what ever works for you. If the baby doesn't like it, then he/she will let you know!

Good luck and Congrats!
S.

Nope, not necessary at all. The hospital gives room temp formula (my son is formula fed) and that's what I do at home as well. Sometimes I give him cold formula, especially when it's really hot out and he loves it.

I don't think breast milk would be different, but our ped told us straight up that it was NOT necessary to heat formula. It is a comfort issue. If it is TOO cold, sometimes it might cause some cramping for baby, but otherwise, there is no medical reason it needs to be heated. We didn't heat it for either of our two kids. They are perfectly fine, and as you have discovered, it was a LOT easier not having to deal with figuring out how to heat up a bottle. I just kept them in a cool-pak lunch sack thingee with freezer packs and when they were ready for it, pulled it out and gave it to them right away. No need to heat anything.
Neither of our kids objected or seemed in any way less soothed to have cool bottles. Maybe because we live in the deep south where the summers routinely hover around 95-97 degrees and the humidity is equally high.
Life was much simpler doing it that way.

My kids both took bottles and I never warmed them. I used room temperature water, not cold. I think your baby will be fine with whatever you start with. They get used to having it a certain way, so if you start out with things at room temperature that's what they will be used to and will have no problem with it.

I did not warm up breast milk or formula during the daytime for both of my sons after they were a couple of months old. Before 2 mos. old I had it at room temperature b/c I was doing both breast milk and formula - I did this so it would be easier for them to take the formula since the breast milk was naturally warm.

I only warmed it to room temp at night so the cold milk wouldn't 'wake' them up too much during the midnight feedings. I had a milk warmer that had a cooler to keep the bottle cold until I needed it in their room, so I never had to turn on a light or go to another room.

I gave them cold water and juice, why not milk? We live in Texas, I always figured they would want a cold glass of milk on hot day, just like I do.

I never warmed up my milk - I had no desire to find myself in the situation you had with your first. My kids would take BM/formula room temperature or even straight out of the fridge without issue.

Whatever you baby will drink is fine. Although, breast milk does separate in the fridge until it is heated a little. My daughter will drink room temp milk and doesn't like it cooler.

You shouldn't feed them COLD milk or formula. Babies are a bit more sensitive and don't like it cold and you don't want them to experience "brain freeze" like you can with ice cream or other things that are too cold.

That said, I mixed my daughters formula w/ room temperature water. That way, it was room temperature and was not cold. If I had extra mixed and had to put it in the refridgerator than yes I had to warm it a little (but just enough to take the chill off). As she got older, over 6 months, I would let her have it cooler and cooler until it was actually cold.

If you are expressing and immediately feeding your baby, you shouldn't need to warm the milk. If it is coming out of the fridge then yes you need to warm it a little....but does not need to be warm.

you don't have to but some kids won't take it room temperature. With my oldest he didn't care with him food was food but with my youngest everything had to be slightly warmer then room temp. If we were out to eat we would ask for a cup of hot water and just sit the jar in that for a little bit to warm up most places we went to did not have a problem w/ it some would even offer to warm it in their microwave for us.

I decided somewhere in the raising of my children, that it just kind of minimizes the shock of cold milk. However you might try awhile, until baby appears to be adapting to cooler and cooler milk. After all we drink cold milk don't we? As for absolutely medically yes or no,I do not know.

I've been told room temp is good, but my kids always liked it warm or at least body temp. My 2 mo old is the same as my other 4 - he likes it a bit warmer. As mine got older they started liking it a bit colder... just took time to get them to try the cooler milk.

Good luck w/ #2 - oh have you thoug of getting a car ligter adapter so you can use a bottle warmer in the car?

No, you don't have to warm up expressed milk. Some babies prefer it warmed but with mine it didn't make a difference.

You aren't supposed to use the microwave to warm milk because of the dangers of hot spots. If I needed to warm some milk I would put it in a cup of hot water or run the bottle under warm tap water. (of course always double check the temp before feeding).

If you plan to use formula follow the directions on the package or talk to pediatrician about if you need to boil water or not.

My first son weaned from nursing in August in Bakersfield, CA and it was 110 degrees that week. I made his first formula bottle, shook it up and stared at the microwave. Who in their right mind, baby or not, would want WARM MILK when it's 110 degrees outside? No one, I thought. So, I gave my son a cold, frothy formula bottle and he loved it. He never, ever took a warm bottle. Just add water, shake and serve. I did the same thing with my second son, even though he went to formula during a chilly, Santa Barbara spring.

My sons are now 12 and 16, perfectly fine and healthy. And they still love ice, cold milk.

Good luck!

Everyone is different. I love ice water and my mother absolutely cannot drink cold water, it has to be room temperature. If I have to drink room temperature water, I better be near dehydration.

With that said, cold milk may hurt your babies tummy, depending on your baby. You will just have to watch his reactions. I would probably warm it to room temperature and then see what he can handle from there (in coldness).

i never warmed it, maybe just let it sit for a cpl of miin to take the chill out

You can always get a travel bottle warmer they are light and easy to use. Some of them have a wall plug and a car plug. You dont have to warm the milk. They say that regular cows milk releases something when its warmed to make you sleep better. It is actually better to not warm breastmilk in the microwave bc that takes away important nutrients. So if ur options are cold breastmilk or warmed in the microwave the cold is better if your baby will drink it. As far as formula goes, I warm the water before the powder is put in

No, you don't need to warm the milk. My twins were exclusively breastfed, and as long as the milk was thawed, they'd eat. We never warmed it up, and they still ate it from the bottle.

Do you have to? No. But many children will NOT drink cold milk or formula. Others will, no problem. It's really an individual thing.

A little piece of information it doesn't obsorb into the body until it is body temperature. So if you are feeding a child a cold bottle when they are hungry they don't get the nutrients obsorbed immediatly. Same thing when you are very dehydrated it is better to drink warm water. Breastmilk is worm for a reason when it comes out. That's what a body needs.

While it's not medically necessary some babies certainly find it more soothing to their little tummies to have it warm or at the very least room temp. With breastmilk it will come back together better if it is warmed a bit (at least that is what I found in the 12 weeks I had to give my son my expressed milk before he learned to breastfeed.

Bottom line is some babies will take it less than warm and some just won't. They are little for just such a short amount of time and they have no idea that you are working, tired, sick, etc. They just know what they need and what does and doesn't feel good to them so follow baby's cues once he gets here. That's just part of the job.