Giving baby water.

marco_79

Hi

Our 5 month DD has recently started taking solids. HV has a advised that we start giving her some water between feeds about 1-2oz a day. My question is from a keeping things sterile point of view, is it ok to make up a bottle of cooled boiled water in the morning and leave out with the lid on when not in use. Or should we make up a new bottle of cooled boiled water every time she is going to take it. Thoughts please.

Marco

sunnth

Have you thought of giving her water from a baby cup? You could make up some cooled boiled water in another bottle then just pour a small amount into a baby cup for her. With my children it was unusual for them to have more than a sip or two of water between feeds unless it was especially hot. There are some cups made especially for use with very young babies (with or without a lid).

I wouldn't use the same bottle all day myself as I wouldn't drink water I had drunk from hours earlier iykwim.

jcr16

with my son , i would make up a 3 X 4oz bottles in the morning, and keep them in the fridge. i would then warm one up for brekkie , lunch and dinner. my son would prob drink abour 3 oz out of each bottle.

it is personally choice and what u find works best for you.


as soon as my son turn 6 months , he was on a cup. he only has a bottle now for his milk. he is 8 months and can drink from a cup perfectly.

marco_79

Sunnth- the cup sounds good don't know if she would know what to do with it but he you got to learn some time.

jcr16- your idea sounds good too currently though DD is taking 2oz solids and 5-7oz milk at each feed during the day then a bottle on its own at night don't know if we could fit the water in at meal times yet.

across

i used to just make an extra bottle up with cooled boiled water and store in fridge then offer it mid morning, mid afternoon or as often as required by pouring a little into baby cup (they dont all bother with it so just go with the baby! my first wasnt interested and still isnt a great drinker but the second couldnt get enough and drinks tons of juice and milk now large cups and we spend most of the day at the toilet!!!) so if baby doesnt bother dont worry they still live!!

pdoff

just to say i wouldnt worry over much about sterilising cups etc - i sterilise anything to do with milk but other than that i don't bother much as by this age they are putting anything & everything in their mouths anyway! washing them in antibacterial washing up liquid will do, i found - ds1 is 3 & very healthy! i had a friend who sterilised everything - toys aswell - & her son was ill more often than mine - health visitor told her she wasnt giving his immune system chance to work.

black-saturn

I just used water straight from the tap. I dont understand all this !!!!! footing around babies. They put their feet in their mouths and people are worried about stuff being sterile. They eat more germs than any of us believe me.

mummysaver

Pretty sure that I just gave mine cooled boiled water for a while, then just normal tap water. Everything else was put in their mouth, so I'm sure health visitor said not to worry too much. Just used to wash bottles in hot soapy water, or put them in DW when we got one.

Edit: by the time they had milk from bottles they were about a year old, so sterilisation wasn't really necessary.

Gingham_Ribbon

I gave him cooled boiled water from a cup washed with the rest of the dishes. He couldn't manage a sucky cup or bottle at that age, so we gave him it from an ordinary plastic cup. We had to hold it for him but he managed fine until he could cope with one with a spout.

Have fun! I loved making new food for him. Good times!

£Ronnie

I think the "cooled boiled" thing rather than tap water is due to something added to tap water. I think it may be flouride, but wouldn't swear my life on it. Apparently it is too much for a young baby but by a year old should be fine.

Maybe the dept of health website may confirm this, or maybe its dental. i just remember it from the post natal group talks we had outside speakers in for....

Gingham_Ribbon

I think it's just a precaution incase there's anything in the water that is impure and could cause a stomach upset. The advice is from the WHO with responsibility world wide. We live in a country where we are blessed with safe drinking water 99% of the time. It's a sensible precaution but I didn't bother boiling it after about 8 months. He was chewing the cats' tails and picking everything up off the ground. There seemed little point.