When can you give a baby ordinary tap water without boiling it first?

[Wills]

I've completely lost track of time and now she doesn't have a cup of water today. Can I give her tap water - she's 6 months

Yes at 6 months they can have tap water to drink (still needs to be boiled for making up formula)

HTH It's so easy when you are out, most cafes will fill up a baby's cup for free!

yes, agree and was also told this by my HV

Oh and bottled water - try to avoid, it's better than them getting dehydrated if you are out and have nothing else, but most bottled waters are too high in sodium for babies.

but.... why would you still have to boil for the milk?

Why boiled for milk? Especially if it is for immediate consumption?

Because it's not the germs in the water you have to worry about, it's the germs in the formula.

Germs in formula?

But I thought you could make formula with cooled boiled water.

That formula has germs in it is surely wrong?

Yes, I've been making it with cooled boiled water so errrr

Is it that any bacteria in un-boiled tap water would multiply more in formula than in plain water?

But if the milk is drunk straight away, or stored at a low temperature, then that wouldn't be such a problem would it?

6 mos are ingesting all sorts - their grubby little hands clutching handfuls of cheese etc!

Cheese.
And my 11 mo CAUGHT A SPIDER AND NEARLY ATE IT.

Bleugh.
Off topic sorry but needed to throw it in there.

Yes powered formula is not sterile. That's why you are meant to use water that is at least 70 deg C.

You boil the water to kill the bugs which are present in the formula as it isn't sterile. Unfortunatly a few years ago a couple of babies somewhere in Europe (Frnace possibly) died which is why the guidelines on how to make and store formula changed.

Formula is not sterile and you do need to make it up with hot water to sterilise it. I've just started supplementing with formula and on the Aptamil container it says so in small red writing - I'm sure it must say this on other types.
Link to a WHO publication about it:
www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/en/qa2.pdf

Asked the q myself about tap water myself the other day as I just put in enough hot water to dissolve the formula, give it a few swirls make sure it's all mixed, then add tap water to make up to the correct volume - quicker cooling.
Conclusion: tap water fine for a 6+mo old.

I guess if you are using cold water to make up the formula anyway then it doesn't make much difference whether it's boiled or not. But as other posters mentioned, you should be using hot water to make it up anyway, because the powder is not sterile.

Snugglejunkie's way is probably the best combination of safety/convenience.

But 6 mos don't need sterile food! Cheese isn't sterile, scrambed egg isn't sterile, bread and butter isn't sterile!

I don't want anyone to go against the guidelines, but it isn't yet making sense to me!

Yes, but formula can have particularly unpleasant bugs in it, unlike bread and butter or eggs, for instance.

It would be equivalent to giving a baby raw unvaccinated eggs or unpasteurised milk.

Sorry I bang on about this on every thread it comes up on.

I read the WHO guidelines and agree with them, but here in France you are advised to make formula up with cold mineral water!

Please follow the WHO guidelines though. Formula has nasty things in it.

Formula made with cool boiled water for immediate consumption is fine. This is because the germs in the powder don't have chance to multiply into something nasty once mixed with water. In the powder they are inactive. Those 'ungrown' germs pose baby no problem.

So best to keep water and powder stored seperately until just before feed time.

If you have to make it in advance, then use 70 degree water as this kills those germs in the formula and no nasties can develop in the made up formula.

6 months. But personally would still use cooled boiled for milk while using formula. I sed to boil the water then put in sterile bottles and just mix with formula for immediate consumption (at room temp) - although goes against the guidance these days...

Sheesh, I only make up 1 bottle a day for dd3 and at the moment reading all this has made my head spin and want to give that up and go soley breast again. Blimey. But thanks everyone for all your posts its been really enlightening.

Powdered formula is made in a clean environment, like all other food stuff with strict hygiene guidelines. It is not sterile in a medical sense. It is extremely unlikely to come out of the factory with bugs in it (about as likely as other food stuffs)After all, a formula company wants bugs to be found in it's formula about as much as an airline wants one of their planes to crash! However, formula is stored, you put your hands in it every time you use the scoop, it's exposed to the air etc etc. So, along the way it can pick up the odd bug. That's why you make it up with water 70+ to kill any bugs and by doing so can avoid the vast majority of problems. If you are still worried though you can use the cartoons as they are UHT and considered sterile.

Ha ha, cartons not cartoons....