Weaning - how much water do you offer your BF baby?

[Thesebootsweremadeforwalking]

DD (8 mo) is BF and getting on well with BLW. She has some water in a sippy cup at lunch and dinner, and will drink anything from nothing to 60ml each time. I thought that was ok, but she's a bit constipated, and the HV reckons she should be drinking more water. I thought she was doing ok as we still feed on demand, and she's still feeding about 6 times a day.

So, would you mind telling me how much water your DC drank at mealtimes at this age? I think my judgment might be a bit off as DS refused water at this age and only took BM.

TIA.

I just used to offer the cup when I was giving ds his meals. Once he was moving (not much younger than your dd) I would leave his cup for him to get himself.
She will get there I wouldn't worry. She's still having decent feeds from you it could just be her tummy getting used to the solids.

boots dd is a bit younger and just started weaning, i give her her cup a couple of times an hour, usually she has 1 sip. How does the hv suggest that you get her to take more? If dd gets a bit constipated i'd change her diet a bit. . (Pear, peach and peas are supposed to be good)
I've also cut back on food for a couple of days and she's had more boob , that helped too.
Does no harm to offer the water but you can't make them drink :)

Thanks both - we're veterans at constipation as poor old DS suffered, so I'm being super careful about her diet (and luckily she loves peaches, pears and plums, and has just mastered peas in the last week!) but I know that the high-fibre foods need lots of water to get the benefits.

I'll try offering the cup more often during the day, I think.

I see mums of bottle-fed babies giving their LOs whole bottles of water at a time - I honestly have no idea how they get their babies to do that!!

Hold on, I've just realised I'm still confused. I thought that BM was mainly water so feeding on demand would provide most of what babies need, fluid-wise. Won't water between meals discourage DD from feeding, which I really don't want to do?

My HV said to go by how many pees you get in a day to determine if they're dehydrated, so more solid poos might be more of a diet thing, rather than water, iyswim.
I offer a cup of water but he never drinks much. It's currently a rather effective bashing device.

That's true - she has lots of very wet nappies, so can't be actively dehydrated. Dietwise I try really hard to offer her a good range of foods, but like DS she's taken to solids very enthusiastically and I do wonder if for both of them it's just a bit quicker than they can cope with easily, despite BLWing with DD.

Arf at bashing device - DD also has a nice line in highchair tray bashing just now, egged on by her big brother! It's pretty much how I tell when she's decided dinner is over

I honestly didn't worry about water whilst I was still bf. I still offered it but, like you, I thought it changed to suit baby's needs

That's what I thought too. Can't force a baby to drink water anyway.... Think I might just have go rely on a laxative for her, for a while.

Just started blw too. I'm surprised that such a small amount of food (that actually goes in his mouth) has made such a difference to his dirty nappies. Really solid.

Based on the advice as I understood it, I only gave a cup of water for the purpose of teaching the skill of drinking from a cup, not as an integral part of her diet.

I know that when DS was a toddler and in outpatient care for chronic constipation, the advice regarding diet was that the most important things were 5-a-day and lots of clear liquids, with a bit of whole grain food each day. Am wondering if the HV is simply applying that for a much younger child.

Anyway.... DD appears to have settled into drinking an ounce or two of water with lunch and dinner, in addition to 5-6 BFs a day for now. I think we'll leave it there and see how we go.

I offered water with food.
I have no idea how much I mopped off the floor after each meal
Consequently, I have no idea how much he drank.

Good point - perhaps it would be more accurate to say that an ounce or two leaves the cup, where it goes afterwards is another matter!