Do you give your FF baby water to drink as well?

[emza78]

I noticed LO had a slightly sunken fontanelle the other day and upon my internet research have noticed a few people saying it could mean dehydration and FF babies should have cooled boiled water to drink too. So, I tried feeding LO some water from her bottle but she wouldn't take it. Does anyone else give cooled boiled water? If so, how often and how? She's 14 weeks - I just bought a Tommy Tippee first sips beaker so will try it from that - or perhaps just from a teaspoon if all else fails.

Thanks

If it's hot or they seem dehystrated, but never more than a couple of ounces as if they still want more after that, they need milk.

As colditz said - a BF counsellor said the same thing to me. At that age milk is what they need and should be sufficient unless it's particularly hot.

After 6 months we started offering DD water in a cup with her meals, but at other times she has her bottle.

FF babies should be given water as well.
BF babies get the foremilk which is think and watery and stops thirst before getting thicker and providing the "food"
Formula doesn't provide the thirst quenching fore drink. So water is recommend.

I gave DS water in a tommee Tippee sippy cup from 3 months, so if she won't take it from a bottle the cup may work. However she doesn't much. So if you try her with the water in a bottle before her milk, she will take a few sips before she realises its not milk. And if you do that for each feed, it'll all add up and make a difference.

HTH

Fontanelle should have a slight indent to it - does it seem more so than usual, or is it more that this is the first time you have noticed what it's like? What volume formula is she taking per day? I was told it should be 120-150 x kilo body weight. Does she have plenty of wet and normal nappies?

Normally, formula fed babies don't require water - it's not correct to say they 'should' have water. Water for formula fed babies has not been recommended for years and years - not sure where you have heard it is, jesiebe.

It's very hard to diagnose 'dehydration' and if a baby seems genuinely dehydrated, you need to seek medical advice. All babies have a slightly sunken fontanelle - it's normal.

Formula milk is largely water, anyway - that's the main ingredient of it.

tiktok - I'd also heard that ff babies "need" water. see eg

www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyneedwater.htm - just googled to see what i could find.

is this all a load of nonsense? be really interested in what you know about this tiktok - cos you tend to be right about this kind of stuff [smiles shyly] wondering if it is maybe predicated on the assumption that formula feeds may be made up "too strong" so babies need extra water to correct for this? dunno. signing off now cos dd has just vomited down my leg...

Tiktok. Re giving water: was told at college, was told at uni. It's been discussed on many training courses since. It's what we were told to advise parents. Admittedly I haven't worked in Early Years for 3 years, but I was then told with DS when he switched, although he was dehydrated from BF (but that's a different story) we were told at post natal group and it was less than a month ago a friend phoned and said her MW had told her to give water as she was FF and she asked me how she was meant to etc.

So is it old advice that is stuck in the system by old timers or not? Now i'm confused.

Reasons "I" would say for why water is needed:
To quench thirst.
To help reduce Constipation, as if formula is mixed to thick it can cause Constipation.
And to reduce the concentration of salts and minerals to help baby's kidneys.

There are probably more if I dusted off some books.

We used to give DD water as well as formula. We lived in an extremely hot country and babies (or so we were told) couldn't adjust their own interal thermometers as well as adults could.

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_124525

www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/formula-feeding-information.aspx

Official advice on ff from the NHS/Dept of Health - nothing about ff babies and water.

The 'wholesomebabyfood' website is not one to read for good advice, I would say - you can tell by looking at it and all the ads on it.

There are occasions when water might be advised for ff babies but normally it is not needed. I don't know about the need for it in extremely hot countries.

Even the formula manufacturers don't recommend it:
www.smanutrition.co.uk/know-how/baby-nutrition/baby-nutrition/information-659.aspx

It's quite wrong to say a baby routinely needs water to reduce the impact on his kidneys - scary stuff, there.

Your training courses are giving wrong info, sorry. I am as sure as I can be of this.

This is not to say ff babies should never have water or that it is harmful to have small amounts of water occasionally - but normally, they don't need it.

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_124525

www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/formula-feeding-information.aspx

Official advice on ff from the NHS/Dept of Health - nothing about ff babies and water.

The 'wholesomebabyfood' website is not one to read for good advice, I would say - you can tell by looking at it and all the ads on it.

There are occasions when water might be advised for ff babies but normally it is not needed. I don't know about the need for it in extremely hot countries.

Even the formula manufacturers don't recommend it:
www.smanutrition.co.uk/know-how/baby-nutrition/baby-nutrition/information-659.aspx

It's quite wrong to say a baby routinely needs water to reduce the impact on his kidneys - scary stuff, there.

Your training courses are giving wrong info, sorry. I am as sure as I can be of this.

This is not to say ff babies should never have water or that it is harmful to have small amounts of water occasionally - but normally, they don't need it.

I never gave DS water, but then again I never thought he needed it. Has he got any other symptoms of dehydration (apparently skin appearance can be an indicator)? Any reasons why he should be dehydrated (heat, diarrhea, vomiting)?
If you think that's the right thing to do what's the worse that can happen if you give him a bit of water? I am not trying to be controversial, I am only asking.

thanks tiktok. will have a read. i know the wholesome baby site is pretty naff - just thought i'd google the subject and this was a randomly chosen example of what came up. if i hadn't then been vomited over by dd i might have spent more time coming up with a better site .

Thanks guys,

She doesn't have any other signs of dehydration - I think perhaps it's just the first time i've noticed the indent as I've just started feeding her when she sits up so I'm looking straight down on the top of her head. I'll try giving her water in the cup - it can't hurt and she's nearly 4 months now. I was wondering if it was ok just to dilute the formula a bit more to get some more in her?

emaza - speak to your HV about this.

If she thinks your dd is dehydrated she will tell you.

No, don't dilute the formula - this is never a good idea.

There is no real harm in giving a small amount of water if you really want to but it should only ever be given separately.

Perhaps you can phone your HV and ask about this?