Cooled boiled water - the stupidist question ever, apologies.

[snowchick1977]

I have to give my daughter cooled boiled water in addition to her breastmilk as she is dehydrated and has been ill recently.

She wont take it cold and I cant seem to time it right in order for it to be lukewarm.

Can I heat up the cooled boiled water in the microwave slightly?

If its a really stupid question, I apologise.

How old is she? I assume under 6 month?

Yes you could microwave but be careful of hot spots.

Or you can pour hot water from a kettle into a very small container then syringe some out. It then cools down quite fast - test it after a minute or too and should be ok.

Who told you to give her cooled, boiled water? Usual advice for breastfed babies is to offer more breastmilk.

Want to say the same thing. Bf babies can just have more breastmilk. No need to faff with water or rehydrating fluids. Whoever advised you aren't very knowledgeable with breastmilk.

Here's a link from kellymom

Breastmilk is 88% water and is very very easy to digest. Even after 6mo, when my DD was very sick with bronchiolitis (she was vomiting), I was advised to just bf and stop solids. Bf will stop her from dehydration and I don't have to give dioralyte.

agree with the others. offer your boobs often, the breastmilk composition is perfect for hydration.

however, imo it is ok to warm up liquids in the microwave as long as you stir or shake well to avoid hot spots.

Yes just bf. No need at all for water.

Ditto with the advice for just bm, no water needed. Who has advised you to do this? Are you confident that they are knowledgable about bf? I mean, maybe there is some other reason that we are missing to offer water. I was told the same by my GP, when I questioned and said I understood that bm was classed as a 'clear fluid' he waffled a bit but basically said he didn't know much about bf and that I was right

feed feed feed, the antebodies you generate and pass through your milk will help your daughter get well and rehydrate and there is no reason to offer water, it provides no benefit whatsoever. This is one of the best benefits of bm

snowchick, I agree with the other posts - this is extraordinary advice to give to a breastfeeding mother and baby, most odd. It's quite wrong to assume a baby who has been ill needs water in addition to breastmilk - the water could replace the breast milk and this could never be right.

Unless there's some urgent reason why your baby needs rehydrating and you cannot breastfeed her, water would never be needed, or helpful.

:(

Perfectly safe to heat it in the microwave, just shake well to prevent hot spots.

snow I hope she is better now.

Just a warning - heating water in microwaves is dangerous.

If the water is over-heated, it can become superheated, i.e. higher than boiling temperature, without appearing to boil.

If this happens, moving the water can cause the water to explode out of the container, which can badly scald you.

Putting a wooden stirrer in the water before putting it in the microwave can prevent this, but I don't know if that would unsterilize your cooled boiled water.

It'd be much safer to put some hot water (say from the hot tap) in a jug, and then use that as a water bath to warm a bottle of cooled boiled water.