GF Mums, what is the signifigance of the afternoon boiled water?

[melaniespeaking]

DD is 13 weeks today. I have been following GF, with a few adaptations as dd is quite a sleepy baby. I haven't been giving her the boiled water in the afternoon, as a) it took her quite along time to get used to the bottle, and I didn't want to put her off and 2) she still does a split feed at 5.30 and then at 6.30, but at the 6.30 feed she nearly always falls asleep after 5 mins.

Is the idea of the mid afternnon water bottle, to make her last longer so she feeds more at 6.30pm? If this is the case I don't think it would work as I'm sure dd would still fall asleep quickly with not as much milk.

What does anyone think?

DD is still waking once in the night (4.30 to 5.30ish), so could try boiled water then, but want to understand a bit more first.

yours about to go and wake dd up its 2pm!!!!

If she is stll 100% bf than IMO she doesn't need water. I can't remember the significance / reasonomg for it but having had 2 babies on GF.... neither had the water and both were happy on the routine.

Agree with pupuce. My dd didn't get any mid-afternoon water and was fine. She just seemed to last well from 2.30 feed up to next feed - and now she's on solids (she's 7.5 months) she only drinks diluted juice with her meals. I actually tried to give her some water once during a night waking when she was around 12 weeks and she just refused it. I never figured out the reason for that mid afternoon drink either - but I managed to keep her on a pretty good routine anyway.

BTW - it's great to hear about others doing the GF routine. I feel like a total freak among my friends. They all just take things as they come with their babies and I feel weird being the only one who says 'Right, it's time for a nap now' or 'OK time to wake up the baby'. Friends just look at me as if I'm mad - I actually WAKE UP the baby rather than let her sleep on and get a longer rest myself?? (Sorry, Melaniespeaking, this is totally irrelevant to your original thread!)

Also agree that the water is not necessary. My DD used to make the most awful faces when offered water, or commercial juice, or even freshly squeezed dilute peach juice which I had lovingly prepared. I did continue to offer for a while - just in case she was thirsty, but never worried if she didn't want it. On the couple of occasions atht she took some water it didn't make any difference to when she wanted feeding later.

I know chuff all about GF (didn't fit in with my life at all ) but could it be simply to get the baby used to the "taste" of water?

Or maybe for breastfed babies to get them used to a bottle - but then wouldn't a cup be better for a 13 week old breast fed baby?

gf uses water to settle babies in the night, and to give them a little drink to get through til tea time, I think. However, she doesn't say you have to do it. With a split feed I wouldn' bother. If she's hard to settle at that early morning waking, try it then, but she sounds like she's just around the corner from sleeping though

Getting them used to a bottle is, I think, a good idea. Even if it's expressed at 10.30pm, as she suggests, and given by daddy! That way, if you want to go on to formula at any stage there is less likelihood of rejection.

Thanks guys. I think it sounds as if I can ignore the mid afternoon water!!

Catt - No you are not mad, this is my third child (1st GF baby) and other mums do keep saying how dreadful GF is, then I say oh actually dd is a GF baby. The point is if it makes you happy then your child will be happy, and for me and dd it works really well!! If not just leave it!

Did your babies sleep through without doing the boiled water in the night? Or did you just cuddle? Or did they just get there by themselves?

Melaniespeaking - I have to admit that I had to do one night of controlled crying with my dd. She was waking up aroung 5.30-6.00 am looking for a feed, but then when I fed her she wasn't really interested (plus then she wasn't very hungry for her first feed of the day at 7.30 of course). We came to the conclusion it was just a habit she had got into and so one day we gritted our teeth and didn't pick her up when she cried. It took her 40 minutes to settle but she never looked back. Now she sleeps until 7.00 without problems. I must say, though, that those 40 minutes were some of the worst of my life.

DD is 11 weeks and has never had the water as I could not work out the purpose and she would not take it. DD has slept through the night since 7 weeks and has never had water. She generally only ever woke up once in the night between three and four thirty and fed for about 10 mins. There were a few occasions where she woke and cried about 5.45 / 6 (instead of earlier time) and the last time we left her to cry and she settled within 20 mins. The night waking just stopped suddenly one night much to our surprise and delight!!!!!! CC does not suit everyone but it is worth a try for a full nights sleep.

I assume its something to do with the grizzliness that sets in between 4-5pm. ds1 and 2 have been much the same in that I call this our witching hour. For ds1 it worked to tide us over til proper food at 5pm (milk or solids, depending on age) but with ds2, who's been much more successful with bf, he's never taken to a bottle. Unless its boob its not coming in my mouth attitude! So the boiled water/ v diluted fruit juice hasn't worked at this time.
Purist bfeeders say that there is no need for additional fluids in an exclusively bf baby, so there isnt any specific need at all. Does that make sense?

Actually, plain boiled water is bad for newborns; their immature kidneys don't handle it well (at all). I don't know at what age a baby's kidneys are supposed to be mature enough to take plain water.

zebra, was advised by our community midwife to give a little plain boiled water for colic in the early days/weeks. it worked very well.

Sears says it's just displacing calories, and other sources (ie, this site ) say that water tends to displace precious electrolytes in newborns.

Standard advice is surely no water for breastfed babies?

there is probably a difference between giving them quite a bit of water as a drink - not necessary for bf babies - and a spoonful max to help colic/wind.

Batters - your community midwife has either not updated herself or has decided to continue with advice out of the arc. I remember being taught to give B/F babies water after every feed in the first few days till the 'milk came in'. Also a baby's first feed was water 6 hours after birth !! They didn't get their first milk feed sometimes until they were 12 hours old and then only 3 mins at the breast. No wonder women were not successful at establishing breast feeding.
Breast fed babies do not need water and it is, in fact, detrimental to breastfeeding.

mears, are you saying no boiled water at all not even a tiny amount for a colicky/windy baby? btw - my community midwife was quite young, in her twenties, so even if she hadn't updated herself since training, this advice would be relatively recent.

I was told by a midwife to give my newborn ds regular bottles of water to flush out jaundice ... since found out I probably prolonged the condition by following that advice

Lack of consistency of advice seems to be a real minefield with midwives and health visitors (at least in my experience).

Breastfeeding advice has been that water is not needed for a good few years now, more than 4.
If a mum was desparate with a colicky baby and felt water worked then I certainly wouldn't tell them to stop. It's debatable whether it is of any benefit though. Sometimes mums were giving their babies water when what they needed was actually to go back on the breast. I remember as a first time mum 15 years ago trying to give my unsettled baby water. Soon learned he settled better with a 'top-up' bresatfeed. Fourth baby never got anything other than the breast until 6 months. It simply is not needed.

Totally agree mears. I remember faffing around with bottles of water (trying to wait for it to cool from boiling) when my breastfed ds had hiccoups. Then I read that the best thing for hiccoups is to breastfeed.

dd didn't have a drop of water or any other fluid/food till she was 6 months. Even now at 9 months I doubt if she has more than a few mouthfuls of water everyday. I try to get her drink from a beaker but she isn't too keen. It is more to get her used to the idea as she seems to still being getting plenty of fluids from me.