Water needed?

[peacemakeruk]

Hi,
My DD is 6 months old and breastfed and weaned. She has 2 feeds directly from me and 3 bottles of EBM. I keep getting my MIL and SIL (both FF their children) telling me I should be giving my DD water aswell, is this right? I didn't think I did need to but maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks.

she doesn't need water on it's own. Breast milk is thirst quencing and full of nutrients.

I think I started giving water with meals from about 7 or 8 months.

no, no you don;t need to give her water

breastmilk will be a drink for her

don;t need to fill her tummy with water , milk and a bit of food is fine

thanks belgo/Lulumama, so I was right, thank goodness for that, my husband actually told my SIL last week that she could give her water (she was babysitting). I told him she didn't need it but he thought because she was on solids now she did.

my MIL tried to tell me this as well from day one, that is should be giving water between feeds to 'freshen her up' because 'you don't realise how thirsty they get.' ahem.

I found DS needed a bit of water with his food once he'd started solids to stop him getting constipated. I was at work by that point though, so he had restricted milk (ie what I could express) during the day. If you're bfing on demand it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm not BF on demand as I'm at work but she has 3 bottles of BM during the day when I'm not there so she's not going without fluid.

is she on pureed food? That will also contain water.

I hate to say it belgo but she's on jars (I think I'm the only bad mum that does this)

I don't have a problem with jars! (except that they smell disgusting)Don't worry about it.

It ceratinly doesn't make you a bad mother.

Well she certainly seems to enjoy them So that doesn't change the fact that she doesn't need water? She does plenty of wet/pooie nappies so she's definately not dehydrated.

she doesn't need water if she is breastfed. ff babies need water when it is very hot and when they start eating solids.

Thanks everyone, looks like I was correct but I'm sure DH will still want to double-check with the HV tomorrow when we take her to get weighed.

peacemaker, I don't think there is any reason to be dogmatic on either side - at 6 mths, water can be a useful addition to the baby's diet, and helps her accept it (rather than only ever wanting juice) when she is offered a cup. There's no rush, of course, and to say she 'must' have water is as daft as saying 'she must not'

DS is bf and I found he wanted water whe we started weaning, just to rinse his mouth out a but when he was eating. But he used to throw a paddy until he got it then carry on eating so expect if your dd wanted some for that she would let you know!

does your mil and sil know that you are bf maybe they think you are ff as you are back at work. ff baby's need water as there is no fore milk which is the watery bit of the breast milk...

you do not need to give a breast fed baby any water.
baby can get it all from b - milk.

Hi Yomo,
Yes they both know. We actually live with my MIL and she definately knows about my BF.

We couldn't ask the HV in the end about the water as she was useless. My DD has put on 10oz in 2 weeks and is now 15lb 10oz so we're happy and I think my husband now realises that she doesn't need any water. Thanks for the help everyone.