To give my baby water??

[Hotmad]

Pls give me your stance on whether to give water to babies or not?
My DD is 3 months old and bottle fed approximately every 3 hrs.
I've read current advice not to give water unless constipated or really hot weather.
My friends who have babies all say yes give her water! We drink water, why would she not want to have a drink between meals.
I'm totally confused on this one..... Wondering what the general consensus on MN is,
If you do then how much and how often

I gave all my babies water, I've never heard not too!

I wouldn't unless constipated until at least 6months and only then with meals.

The risk is they will fill up on water and not take enough milk.

An additional risk is water intoxication, rare but deadly.

At this age and, assuming you are in chilly UK, milk is all they need. Maybe yes if constipated or in a heatwave. Not in the UK in March.

I was told not to. Milk milk and more milk at that age.

Her milk has water in it already so she is getting water

Not at 3 months no! I know our mums all did it (as she told me again and again... and again) but they don't need it. they get all their water from the formula or breast milk and if they have more there is a rare risk of water intoxication as pp said.

I started giving DS a little bit in a sippy cup at mealtimes since weaning but only a tiny bit.

I haven't given her any as I don't feel she wants for anything other than her regular milk, but some people are so adamant I give it to her

Mine did cooked boiled water in between feeds when they were grouchy as I didn't use a soother/dummy. They were fine. But that's was years ago so I know advice has changed.

Cooled not cooked

Isn't milk 99% water

As long as the water is boiled it is safe, other than it messing up a feeding routine it will be fine.

DS was often thirsty, so I just gave him cooled boiled water between feeds.

Told my health visitor that and she said it's fine, as long as it's boiled first and then not too much

My dr said the odd oz or two was absolutely no problem at that age.

My ds was drinking small amounts of water from maybe a week old. No problems with feeding and 14 months on he loves water.

An additional risk is water intoxication, rare but deadly.

For the love of fucking Christ, the Op is talking about a few sips, not shoving a hose down the mouth and water boarding a'la'Navy Seals style.

I gave mine the odd few ounces. It seemed to help wind them as well.

They've survived the risks (looks at 5ft 3" DD11)

Hullo there Darling

Liking the hyperbole and inflated language!

Babies don't need to be 'waterboarded' to get water intoxication - that's why it is so dangerous, because some people don't bother to read up on it first and assume they know.

They already have a lot of water in feeds - they don't need more.

I know what you mean though OP I felt really pressured into it!

Ask your health visitor what the most recent evidence-based advice is.

you're doing the right thing - ignore them.

Darling grace love your post! :)

nhs says this:

Fully breastfed babies don’t need any water until they’ve started eating solid food. Bottle-fed babies may need some extra water in hot weather. For babies under six months, use water from the mains tap in the kitchen that's been boiled then cooled. Water for babies over six months doesn’t need to be boiled.