How old can you give cooled boiled water to baby?

[Babyaug2020x]

Hi everyone,

My little boy is 8 weeks old and he sometimes gets quite a bad tummy straining to have a poo.

My mum suggested a tiny bit of cooled boiled water, is he too little? If not, how much would you give?

I did text and ring my HV but she hasn’t replied yet, last time I spoke to her she suggested tummy rubs and a bath but this doesn’t seem to help him :(

I’ve tried giving him the ready made bottles of formula too but this also doesn’t seem to have much affect

I wouldn’t. I don’t think it will help though they used to suggest sugar in water. Is he breast or bottle fed? If breast is just feed loads.

Is he a BF baby? If so it's highly unlikely he'll need additional fluids but you can give cooled, boiled water at 8 weeks.
Also, has he tried a bottle yet? TBH he'll probably only take a few sips anyway, but you won't be doing him any harm, so don't worry.

In a bottle or syringe. He will onky take a few sips. It will do no harm.

Babies don't need water until 6 months if bf. ff only need water if it's really hot (which it isn't) otherwise 6 months

@pimble

Babies don't need water until 6 months if bf. ff only need water if it's really hot (which it isn't) otherwise 6 months

Agreed.

I think the straining is pretty normal. Newborn babies don’t have very good gut coordination. What’s his poo like when it actually comes out?

Hi everyone, he’s formula fed as I didn’t produce any milk sadly. We switched from aptamil to Hipp when he was 4 weeks as he had terrible trapped wind on aptamil.

It’s weird because when he does have a poo it looks normal, the odd time it’s been a little more firm or loose but mostly it looks fine.

And he manages to poo every day at least once but it always seems like such a struggle for him for a good few hours before he manages it. He’s screamed terribly today and I feel so bad not being able to help him

Hi OP

My HV actually suggested this when my little one was struggling. Just make sure it's cooled properly beforehand.

It eased for my LO when she was about 12 weeks. I think it's when their digestive system starts kicking in properly but now she has no problems. We used Cow&Gate as she is on formula but tbf I think the formulas are very much the same!

Hope it helps!

Xx

Cool boiled water is outdated advice. No need unless it's very hot.

Speak to your health visitor, you ll get lots of "no not until 6 months or I did this at 8 weeks and they were fine"

The advice is no water needed until 6 months when weaning unless told otherwise by a health professional

If his poops look ok when they come out, I don’t think the straining is anything to worry about. If they were little hard pellets then that would suggest he’s dehydrated. Personally I wouldn’t give water if the poops look normal