Should Babies Have Water?

A.Water is usually introduced around three to four months of age in my practice. The reason is that we want them to get nutritional value with breastmilk or formula and these feedings contain 80% water, so there is no need for extra hydration. However, in the summer months, I will sometimes have the mom give a liitle water. As far as feeding a baby only every 4 hours, I personally do not agree with that. If the baby is breastfed, lactation consultants and experts use a "demand feeding" schedule, meaning nurse when the baby seem hungry. Babies vary in their appetite between each other and even within days of the week. If nursing, they can go through growth spurts when they are trying to bring in more of mother's milk and therefore, feed more often for a few days. If the baby is bottle-fed, they could try increasing the amount of milk they give, but even formula babies may need to eat every 3 hours at times. They can try other ways to comfort the baby, but if it doesn't work, I would try feeding. They should also check that the baby is gaining enough weight. If the baby is not, he is not getting enough milk. Dr. Christine Wood is a practicing pediatrician in Southern California. She is the author of "How to Get Kids to Eat Great and Love It," a book that addresses the issues of why and how to feed kids healthy. You can visit her website at http://www.callyour

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Comments

Showing 9 out of 9 Comments | Add Comment

Bob

11/15/2011 1:36 pm

Whats wrong with wetting the little ones whistle once in a while. oh...brother..use..your head and heart on what will help your little one. now days you may wish to distill the water you use but it will not hurt them.

LLR09

03/21/2011 3:01 pm

A baby gets all the water they need through their formula or breastmilk!!!! you can cause your babys electrolite's to be not in balance if u give ur baby too much water, also it is possible to overdose your baby on water!!! i would listen to the dr who has a degree and does it for a living!!! my mother in law is all the time telling me things i need to do with my newborn son, and it drives me crazy, just because you have children doesnt make you an expert on anything i use my mother instincts and what my doctor tells me because all babies are different!!!! times have changed from 20 years + ago!!! no one baby is the same as another

Father

03/18/2011 5:32 pm

Ignorance isn't wisdom. listen to your doctors, people. breastmilk contains all the hydration an infant needs. for the same reason you carefully measure the amount of water you add to formula is the same reason you do not supplement breastfeeding with water. your infant's kidneys are not mature enough to balance its body's water to salt ratio. the outcome of overfeeding your infant water: seizures. breastmilk or formula, nothing else for 3-4 months.

Steve

02/28/2011 8:21 pm

Milk already has enough water in it. no need to feel like the baby needs to be hydrated from a bottle of water, milk does that. water won't harm a 1 month old but it is not necessary unless a pediatrician instructs you to. just because you gave your baby water and nothing happened doesn't make you knowledgeable of what to and what not to give the baby. you don't want to have the same concept of everything else then make a mistake! babies react different from each other. children don't need to be taken chances on. you need to listen to your pediatrician! one who knows best! people we go through different revolutions as time passes. back in the day was back in the day, history corrects past events! just because your actions back in the day didn't do any harm doesn't mean it is still probable today. that's the whole point of research! to improve how and what was done back in the day! pediatricians today are a lot more trained than back in the day. so either listen to your pediatrician or burry your baby because of your "back in the day" concepts. good day

Michelle

02/27/2011 10:50 pm

Breastmilk is 88% water. a breastfed baby does not need additional water. water dilutes the breastmilk in a baby's system, and you dont want the baby to fill up on water.

P. HE

02/21/2011 2:09 pm

I am a grandmother of 6. the first time i heard babies don't need water, i was not at all happy. one reason water is beneficial is because it helps with excess mucus build-up. you cannot convince me there is enough h2o in formulas and breastmilk. our bodies need water. i gave my children water after every formula or breast milk feeding. it never hurt them. we need water whether we are young or old. what's going on with these pediatricians! every time they come up with these new ideas they are passed down to our children. i am thankful for our peds, but our children are not test animals. come on people, let's use wisdom!!! our babies need water!!!

Alisha

03/02/2010 8:51 pm

I formula feed my 1 month old daughter right now and she wakes up every 1-2 hours and is screaming for more food until i break down and give it to her. she will then consume about 2 to a most likely 4. i am going to start giving her water just flavored by formula every other feeding. my best judgement is sure to not fail, so after researching for days this is my conclusion.

louise

02/16/2010 3:32 am

My niece breastfeeds her doughter she is 5months old and i cant understand why these new mothers think water will harm them she has a 3 yr old doughter too if it was me i would give water,milk especially whenthere sick an fool ofcongestion cant breath good

Granny

11/14/2009 1:01 pm

My daughter breast feeds and didn't leave me with enough to satify the baby's hunger with the 2 oz she left me with. i didn't have any mommy's milk nor formula and the baby was hungry. i boiled water, left it cool to room temperature and the poor little thing devoured her 5 oz water bottle and enjoyed every second of it once i calmed her down enough so that she'd drink it slow. when i first gave her it she was trying to gulp it and would have to make little coughs. i soothed her with my voice by telling her to drink it slow and she did and then drank all 5 oz within 1/2 hour. she is one month old. her mommy was mad at me but i really didn't have any other choice. with the situation at hand was it alright to let her drink so much water? i didn't force it on her, she was defitely hungry and she definitely enjoyed the water to the extent i got a burb and a smile when she was done. no harm done corrct, i hope not she was here for about anothr 45 minutes amd she didn't seem to have adverse effects only an effect of what appeared to be very satisfied and quite happy, but yet i feel so guilty?? confused 1st time grandma of a sweet breastfed granddaughter and apple of my eye.

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