Can I give baby tap water?

[gerbo]

Anyone clear this up - when can I stop giving cooled boiled water and just give tap water with meals? (dd is almost 9 months and enjoys solids.)

[belgo]

yes you can give water straight from the tap

[Chardonnay1966]

I always thought it was 12 months. That's when u stop sterilising too...?

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

Surely not? Otherwise why sterilise??!

Have things changed that dramatically since last time I had a baby (six years or so ago..)??!

I would say boiled, cooled water Gerbo.

[belgo]

Do you really need to sterilize until 12 months?

[belgo]

and I was certainly giving my babies sips of tap water from 7 or 8 months

[speak2deb]

I gave my dd tap water when she started to drink half the contents of the bath every night (around 7 months).

[StealthPolarBear]

oops
I've been giving tap water since I started offering drink, at about 7 months

[WigWamBam]

Many people don't sterilise at all (RTKM has a very long, long-running thread about it).

And really, once they start shoving things in their mouths there's precious little point in sterilising things anyway. Or in boiling water, for that matter.

[Aitch]

from 6 months tap water is fine, deffo.

[massivebigpantsface]

I stopped sterilising and gave filtered tap water from about 7 or 8 months.

[Seona1973]

the 'official' advice is tap water as a drink from 6 months but boiled water for formula to kill the bacteria in the formula. You are also supposed to sterilise bottles and teats till 1 year also due to bacteria in formula but plates, bowls, spoons, etc are ok to be washed in hot soapy water.

[Aitch]

oh yes that's right, water for formula to be boiled and cooled to 70degs.