can a 6 month old drink tap water

[yackityyak]

I have started weaning a 6 month old and am currently boiling water to give as a drink with food. Is it safe to give tap water at this age

yes, it is fine after 6 months. my HV told me the other day i had to keep boiling it till 1 year old but she was talking out of her arse so i ignored her...

Mine had tap water at 6 mo.

Tap water is fine, no need to boil.

If you're using formula though, you should still make it up with water at 70 degrees, and sterilise bottles for formula as long as you use them.

BTW there is also a weaning forum on here, if you need it.

yes, i wondered if the HV was getting confused with the formula guidelines - you certainly still need to use boiled water for formula.

As others have said, you're fine to use tap water. If you think about it, there's water in all sorts of foods and that hasn't been boiled, so once babys are on solids there's no need to sterilise, boil, etc.

Mine's now putting all sorts of crap into his own mouth, so yes, tap water is fine.

Mineral water, however, is NOT OK because of the levels of mineral salts, etc.

Both of mine had tap water at 6 months. If you are in the UK it is fine.

Like the others have said though, mineral water isn't ok.

didn't know this about mineral water - even as an occasional drink? from when is it ok?

Evian is OK and another commonly found brand but I can't remember which. All the others are too mineral-salty.

Having said that, mineral water is tap water somewhere. The own-label basics very cheap bottled water is often the stuff that comes out of my taps. Morrison and Asda basics range I think, maybe others. Look on the bottle - if it says "Bottle in HD8" or "Bottled in Huddersfield near the Pennine Hills" or something like that, then it is ths stuff that comes out of my taps. There is a field full of boreholes down the road. SO it should be OK for a baby.

The problem is that babies' kidneys are under developed and can't cope with salt in the way adult kidneys can. That's why you're not supposed to put salt in babies' food - and why they shouldn't drink mineral water. Basically, unless you're an expert you don't know what levels of mineral salts are in different waters, so you shouldn't give them to babies. Tap though is certified safe to drink.

And BikeRun, even if your tap water is local, it's treated first to remove the nasties and make ig consistent with national water standards. So it's not the same as the stuff that comes straight out of the ground.

I know! I work in the water industry, but the bottled stuff has to meet Drinking Water Quality Standards too.

Yes.

yes, and that's something my HV told me when I asked her - they're not all rubbish :o

My DD drank tap water at 6m