Formula For More Sleep

How a Formula Dispenser Helped Me Get More Sleep

Speaking of sleep deprivation, (I know, you weren’t. You were talking about the weather or something else sensible. But sleep deprivation makes every conversational direction sensible. And appropriate. More on that in a separate post.) here’s a product that could actually increase the amount of sleep you get.

Philips Avent BPA Free Formula Dispenser and Snack Cup on Amazon

This magical formula dispenser is genius. If you use formula, or even breastfeed and need a break, consider investing the $7. It could be the best decision you’ve made since you decided to reproduce. It seems so simple.

If you use formula, you know that you have to mix the formula powder with water to make food for a baby who can’t eat solids. That’s straightforward enough, and most of the times (because I cheated and wrote the time of mixing on the bottle with a dry erase marker and wore a watch/had a phone) I even knew when the formula expired. (You can only use the formula for an hour after it’s been mixed without refrigerating it.) But in the middle of the night, I hated mixing formula. I could keep the formula container and a bottle of water already measured to the right number of ounces by my bedside and still muck it up (or myself – don’t sleep in that foul stuff. It’s worth it to get up and clean up or just switch pajamas.). Was that one scoop or two? The third? Now what?!?

Instead, with this nifty gadget, I measured the formula powder into each of its three separate compartments during daylight, while awake and functioning. Then at night, when I was asleep and definitely not functioning, I opened the lid and dumped the formula into the bottle of water. Shake (the bottle, not the baby) and feed (the baby, not your husband or dog or the houseplant). Nothing comes out? Rotate the lid and dump again until something comes out. Unless you’re on feeding number four, in which case you buy two of these suckers and move on to the next dispenser.

Philips Avent Powder Formula Dispenser on Amazon

Breastfeeding? Awesome! You go girl. Hand your partner this container already pre-filled with formula and a couple bottles with the correct number of ounces of water, and get your first full night of sleep since delivery day. Worried about adding formula to your little one’s diet? Wait until you start solids and you won’t even notice a significant change in output odor.

As an added bonus, it’s also super handy for not hauling the entire container of formula powder to your bedroom. (You, too, will learn to buy formula in the largest container possible.) Even better, you can use the dispenser outside the house, and not have to hurry home for feedings or lug the formula bucket with you. (I used to put the formula in the bottle, and then add the water on the go. Now I find this much easier, as I never run out of water or end up with some weird fractional amount. Remember: no sleep equals no math skills. And I had six college-level calculus classes.)

Really need to justify that $7? Around your child’s first birthday, when you finish using formula, you can remove the inside section and hand your toddler a nifty snack cup that is much harder to dump during fits.