If you’ve read my post on Life Lately from last week, you’ll know that I’m really struggling with the tiredness at the moment. Although I’m mainly breastfeeding, the one thing that we regularly do to try to allow me to get a tiny bit more sleep, is for John to do the first night feed when Ben wakes up. But that first wake up can vary hugely - sometimes he’ll wake as early as 9.30, but it can be as late as 1am. And because John prefers to take the milk up when we go to bed, rather than when Ben wakes, it can be difficult to remember whether you made it within the ‘safe’ time limit of 2 hours (the generally defined time limit for formula in the UK).

I’m very much a rule abider in life. If the guidelines say that the milk is only safe for 2 hours, I won’t give it if it’s even a minute over that. I want to know that what I’m feeding my baby is safe.

This is where the Milk Monster comes in! As soon as I was approached to ask if I’d like to test it, I could see how well it would work for us. It’s a cute little timer in the shape of a monster that you set yourself, depending on whether you’re feeding formula or expressed breastmilk, and it simply counts down. It’s really easy to set the timer (I didn’t even have to look at the instructions!), and it’s backlit with glow in the dark elements, so it’s easy to see at night. The stretchy rubber band means that it fits to any bottle and it’s also dishwasher safe, should you get it dirty. There’s no annoying alarm once the timer has run out (I had visions of maybe being woken up by it!), it just quietly hits zero and you know when you get woken up that that bottle is no good.

 

 

When we take up a bottle with us to bed, it gives me the peace of mind that the milk we’re giving is still safe, and if it’s gone over the time limit, I simply feed Ben myself.

It’s also a great idea when you’re mixing feeding formula and breastmilk. So often my husband has thrown away good breastmilk as he didn’t know that it could be kept out for longer - and if you’ve ever expressed, you’ll understand how devastating that is. The phrase “don’t cry over spilt milk” definitely doesn’t apply when it’s your hard earned expressed milk!

It’s a really simple invention, but so often the simple ideas are the best ones!

 

Disclosure: We were sent the Milk Monster for the purposes of this honest review, but all words and opinions are my own.