Why no water for a breastfed baby?

[SardineJam]

I exclusively breastfed DS1 very successfully and am on month 5 now with DS2

Whenever I see MIL she bangs on and on about me needing to give water in between feeds. I know this isnt standard but I dont really have an argument as to why, and she just wont back down

Would love to have a stock answer to keep her quiet

www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/baby-water.html

OK the stock answer for your MIL is "It works for us as a family"

No point arguing with her about it if she is anything like my FIL
However the answer is that breast milk is all that is needed kelly mom says breastmilk is 88% water.

Good luck

My mother was obsessed with this as well, to the extent that she kept saying 'Look! He's thirsty! He needs water!' I just said he got water from his breastfeeds. I thought the reason was that water had no nutritional value and that their stomachs are so small that if they have water, then they can't take enough breastmilk. When I expressed, especially if there was a gap between feeds, I would produce quite a lot of quite watery foremilk. Thats all they need.

Thanks ladies

What makes me laugh is that milk is clearly liquid so is going to quench any thirst he may have, not sure what she thinks is coming out of my breasts? Bread?

I wish I knew why she is so against breastfeeding, but you're right I do need to say to her that it works for us!

Breasts that feed on demand make the right water/nutrition ration and vary it according to the environment and baby's demands. So on a hot day with a frequent feeder, your milk is likely to be more watery than a cold day when you've both been on germy plublic transport (when your milk is likely to be higher fat and have extra immunities).

If you feed your baby water in between, it interferes with the relationship and your breasts will get it wrong.

There is also a risk of water saturation which in rare cases can kill.

Bread! Made me laugh out loud!

No it must be Cream crackers - you definitely need a drink after eating one of those

Agree with the others that water is not good for an EBF baby and can be very detrimental if given in even moderate quantities (can cause hyponatraemia which is where the electrolytes in the baby's blood become too dilute and the baby can have a seizure and if untreated can cause death). It also replaces breastmilk in baby's diet and has no calories/nutrition/immunity so could lead to lower weight gain etc even if it didn't cause any other health problems.

I think a lot of mums from a different generation formula fed, as that was the thing to do, and then with formula feeding I believe a little drop of water occasionally is useful? That certainly has been the case with my mum.
I think it's just a case of old fashioned ways V modern ways (also known as progress, in some occasions) (although not always, but I digress).

Even FF babies shouldn't be given water under normal circs (unless advised by HCP in specific circs e.g. heat wave or similar conditions) as they can also suffer from hyponatraemia if FM is replaced by water feeds as formula milk is also made from a similar proportion of solute to solvent as BM (Different ingredients though ).

Well there's always a clever-clogs on mumsnet!

Not that clever - I had to ask DH what the word for the thing that is dissolved is called (and I am the one who did Chemistry to A-level not him!)

Dont know if its cheeky to print out this thread and show her [Grin]

SIL, so her DIL, bottle fed her little girl and she said she never gave her water either, so agree that its 'older' thinking. Bet she never pestered SIL about it, like she does with me! Hey ho...

Apart from anything else, how does she think the human race survived before bottles were invented?!