What water does your toddler drink?

[JoyfulJoyful]

Hello

I live in London where the water is very hard so I boil my 18 month old DS' s water then filter it but I'm finding it a bit tedious as I've been advised to change the water in the filter everyday. I am quite conscious of changing the water as he had a bacterial infection at 10 month old which required an op and 2 week stay in hospital.

What water do you give your toddler to drink? Straight from the tap like my sister or just boiled from the kettle?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Tap. Tap water fine from six months.

[nomdemere]

straight from the tap of course! can't understand why anyone would do anything else! Hard water has calcium in it - great for growing bones.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Well at home it's tap. At friends it's out the dog bowl

[JoyfulJoyful]

Thanks for the quick responses. Why do they advise to boil water for babies and toddlers then?

[weebarra]

Tap, but I'm in Scotland where we have naice water probably to do with so much of it coming from the sky

[JoyfulJoyful]

@ Giles and weebarra

[flipflopsandcottonsocks]

Tap water with squash in it

[PinkAndBlueBedtimeBears]

From the tap... Dd never had boiled water, at 6mo she was crawling around the floor and I caught her several times licking the bottom of my shoes, needless to say I stopped sterilising then as well

[magicalmrmistofelees]

Tap water. Like a PP, DD puts her hands in the dog bowl, licks the bottoms of shoes and eats mud so I think her stomach has worse things to contend with! I didn't realise it was recommended to boil tap water after 6 months?

[UriGeller]

I use Just tap, and not boiled. I can understand if your ds had a nasty infection that you'd want to boil his drinking water but at 18months its really not necessary or even useful. I'm sure he's eating a range of foods which contain the same stuff unfiltered or unboiled tap water would.

Were you advised to change the filtered water every day because of his past illness?

[FrootLoopy]

Boiled water tastes rank because all of the air has left it.

I don't think they do recommend boiling water for toddlers. For infants, yes. But that is for making sterile formula, which they should be having before 6 months old unless they are being breast fed.

[callamia]

Tap water, or bath water or paddling pool water. Revolting child.

[306235388]

Tap. I thought you only 'had' to boil until 6 months or a year.

[schmalex]

The reason you boil water when you make formula for infants is to sterilise the milk powder, not because there is anything horrible in the tap water.

I give my toddler tap water.

[Artandco]

I give mine tap. We live in London also. The waters fine IMO

Sometimes bottle but only if sparkling

[Poofus]

Tap. Never sterilised anything, never used boiled water.

[BertieBotts]

They don't advise to boil water for babies and toddlers. Where did you hear that? It's only up to 6 months, and that's for potential bacteria.

[Fairylea]

They don't advise to boil water in the UK. The only reason you need to boil water for babies is to ensure that when it is mixed with formula that it kills any bacteria in the powdered formula. That's it! :)

My toddler just drinks tap water. And extremely diluted squash as he often just won't drink enough and it's the only way I can encourage him to drink lots otherwise he gets constipated.

[JoyfulJoyful]

Thanks everyone. Tap water it is henceforth.

i was advised to change water in the filter daily as leaving water in it could encourage bacteria build up and i don't want to take any chances because of the infection he had.

[nomdemere]

Good decision Joyful, I think you're probably safer with plain tap water than with the filtered.

[FreeButtonBee]

tap water from 6 months. As you say, you're more likely to cause a problem by faffing about with filters and boiling and having it hanging around than running the tap for 20 secs and filling his cup. All UK water pipes have positive pressure - they are designed to leak out so that nothing nasty leaks in (DDad is civil engineer).

[whatsagoodusername]

Mine have been drinking London tap water from six months. I'd have boiled it for bottles because the formula mixed better but to have water they had it straight from the tap.

[addictedtosugar]

Tap.
Where my PiL live, they have very hard water. They have a third tap in the kitchen, and it has an inline filter, so they use that for drinks and kettle water I use the normal tap when I make myself a drink there as I think hard water tastes much nicer

[gamescompendium]

Do you use the jug filters where the water drips through the filter? I'd refill with water at the beginning of each day but changing the filter daily is pointless, it's just a way of extracting money from you by the filter manufacturers (unless that is you are just using a simple paper filter like you get in some coffee makers, then I'll let you change the filter daily).

[aubreye]

Tap water, nothing wrong with a few germs, they only make your immune system stronger.