Giving very diluted juice to FF baby in hot weather - yay or nay?

[messylittlemonkey]

Hi

My DD is just over 14 weeks old and is FF. She feeds very well.

My concern is that in this warm weather, she could perhaps benefit from some cool boiled water to quench her thirst a bit, but she's not at all keen on it and pushes the teat out as soon as she twigs that it's not milk!

My question is about giving her VERY diluted fruit juice in an attempt to get her to drink the water.

WWYD?

I would try giving the water from something other than a bottle.

My DD loved playing around with other cups. BIG BIG BIG mess, but that's not so much of an issue in this weather, if it's water?

I wouldn't give fruit juice to a baby of this age, tbh. Imagine it's not good for their tummies which are only designed to digest milk at this stage (the walls of their gut are 'open' to allow milk protein to pass through, they 'close' when babies are ready for solids).

Trying a cup (maybe a sippy cup?) sounds like a good idea. But I'm no expert on formula so don't know whether she actually needs water?

Hi, at my GP last week and she suggested adding more water to the bottle of milk e.g. 180 mls but only 5 scoops of formula. In her opinion just the same as giving water on its own. That might be much easier than going with the water route, I remember ds1 was almost 1 before he'd take it!

Oh yes ... I did what cheesey toastie says when DS was poorly. He was much older by that time, but the principle is the same.

It's what happens to breastmilk in hot weather, so the theory is spot on.

Thanks, all good suggestions.

Apparently FF babies do need water to quench their thirst as formula milk doesn't contain the same thirst quenching qualities as breast milk.

I can sort of trick her into having water if I alternate between milk and water, but she doesn't have much like that!

The fruit juice idea came from (dare I say it) GF who suggests giving babies of three months and older a drink of well diluted juice in the afternoon.

i gave my DD juice from 3 months, she gulped it down. was BF but OVIOUSLY hungry and showing interest in our food, and wouldn't take formula. would spit it out. so i tried apple juice, its not as acidic on the belly and she took it (or pear juice). just pure apple juice (no sweetners or extra sugar) in a bottle. it got me through a lot of tricky situations when i was out and about and she would want a feed but i couldn't BF her. we were in australia at the time and it was HOT.

a bit here and there dosen't hurt, it just shouldn't be the majority of thier diet, which its obviously not in this case.

DD was eating baby food from 2 1/2 months as well and she was BF. she was just hungry! and it didnt make her constipated, so i just went with her. now i offer her everything and the other day she even at spicy olives(at 13 months, no teeth).

Adding a bit more water to her formula is the way to go - or water from a spoon, a lot of them like that. But NOT juice - it's not good for theri stomach and can give them the runs

Bf babies don't need any other fluid.

seeker, they may not NEED it, according to all the research and literature, but if they want it and can handle it, why not?
BF babies are not supposed to be hungry either, but mine was.

obviously TOO much juice isn't good for them and can give them the runs, but not just a little bit, 20-50 mls. especially if baby is already on formula.

God, i gave mine fizzy. she has 3 older siblings and was obviously interested in our food from 2 months old! so we gave her tastes of everything we ate.

Jamoise, you are not giving very sensible advice... If a BF baby is hungry, you BF them more.

I'm sure more diluted formula would be fine

I started giving DD water when we were weaning, and would occasionally let her have apple juice & water (pure apple juice diluted about 1:10) Hopefully your LO will take to the diluted formula, though.

Thanks everyone.

I will go with diluted formula - that seems like the obvious solution. Have avoided that previously as on the formula tin it says not to weaken or strengthen the feed, but I can't see how weakening it would hurt.

I'm not keen on giving her juice anyway.

crosswordgeek, i am entitled to shar my advice, sorry, this is an open discussion. I am sharing my experience, from having read and informed myself. you need to go and read more.
how do you BF more? you are not supposed to be breastfeeding for hours at a time. baby should get what they need in 20 mins to half and hour. so if you are finding baby is feeding for 'hours' or baby is wanted to feed every 20 mins, then something is not right. there are many diff reason why breast milk might not be satisfying baby as well. in my case, it was because my milk was not high in fat, so baby WAS actually hungry. now if your milk isn't high in fat, you can change your diet eg, eat more nuts, avovado, salmon... but i have a food intollerance which prevents me from eating those foods alot. so what can i do? except, offer my baby food! and she refused formula, so i offered her all the appropriate baby foods and she ate them and drank them from 2 months. yes, that is NOT recomended, but recommendations are not law, mothers need to experiment and find what works for them and meets theirs and their babies needs.

MOst of the arguments about juice are regarding bottles left for long periods in babies' mouths, who have teeth, and the sugars causing decay. OR juice being too acidic or full of sugar. so, show me the research that proves 20-5o mls of a little healthy juice does a baby harm. It's just a top up on a HOT day!

" baby should get what they need in 20 mins to half and hour."

that isvery oldfashioned advice. you feed when the baby wants it &stop when they're done.

I appreciate your advice Jamosie.

You're right to say that recommendations are not law and good job too I say.

I didn't ever need to think about this with my first DD as she was a winter baby and was always happy with just milk. DD2 is a different beast altogether food-wise!

Thanks again everyone!

Jamosie - not only is your advice old fashioned and misguided, but potentially harmful!

Breastmilk has roughly the same composition regardless of what you eat, which is why women from 3rd world countries manage to feed their babies despite having little in the way of what we westerners call a "healthy" diet.

What could you have done instead of premature weaning? Fed your baby more!

OP: if you're worried that she's dehydrating, I'd persevere with offering water. Try a cup instead of a bottle, perhaps?

Oh dear, I hate it when these things turn into a 'heated debate'.

Feeding is such an emotive issue, isn't it?

As IHeartPagwatch said, that is very old fashioned advice. 2 months is also a growth spurt time, when babies may feed almost constantly to up your supply. My DD was feeding almost constantly for the first 4 months of her life, and she's turned out fine...

Also, how do you know there was not a high fat content? Was your breast milk analysed or something?
Oh and giving a child under 6 months anything but milk can actually deprive baby of essential nutrients that are found in milk. Juice/solid food will make a baby full, and therefore not take the milk that they need.

IME (34 months of bfing) babies do bf more in hot weather, and your milk will change consistency to allow for the need for more fluids (your breasts will probably feel fuller too!)

If baby won't take water, watery milk is probably the way to go- juice is far too harsh on a young stomach.

every time I feed in frony of her MIL says "they get all they need in the first 2 minutes, don't they?"
First time, I corrected her. I can't really say anything again

crossword geek, um, yes, did you know if you express and let the milk sit, you can see yourself the fat content cause the fat will settle on the top in a white layer. This changes through out the BF cycle and even through out the day. So when my milk was supposed to be high in fat, it wasn't. I was given the advice from a highly resepcted dietician/BF specialist. And this worked for me. I was able to change my diet which i did make a change in the Breastmilk which changed how my baby fed and settled.
OH, and... havn't you read about the pros and cons about formula? for crying out loud, a little bit of food or juice will not harm your baby, keep it in perspective.

jemjabella...who said anything about premature weaning? ALL I SAID WAS, she was obviously hungry so i offered her food and she ate it with no probs from earlier than recommened. She is now 13 months and i still BF her, she eats and drinks as well and is not malnourised or anything. GEES! and are you a BF consultant? cause thats the advice we are given in australia from BF consultants 20mins-30mins should be satisfactory. 2 hours is not normal, and can put you at high risk of mastitis, ESP in those early months.

gees, some people are rude. all i did was share my EXPERIENCE, i wasn't telling the poor girl to swtich to juice or anything. no one jumped down the throats of the ppl who said give ice lollies which a full of sugar and artifical sweetners, flavours and colors and way more harmful.

No but you said you should only feed for 20 minutes at a time, you shouldn't be feeding for hours and hours. That advice could be upsetting or damaging.

jamosie - I am sure your baby's fine and it's not nice to share experience and have people pull it to bits I don't think they meant to be rude.

But.

Fat content does differ in breastmilk throughout the day, but not at predictable times, and this is unrelated to the mother's diet. I can well believe someone qualified told you something different, because sadly, people who should know better often don't

Babies differ in the amount of time they spend on the breast, and for many perfectly fine and healthy babies and mothers, 20-30 mins may not be enough. Lengthy feeds don't increase the risk of mastitis.

That's not me being rude, by the way - I am an NCT breastfeeding counsellor, and I know people come onto mumsnet for info, and it's better to try and make sure it's correct. None of this is to undermine your own experience, but you have to differentiate that from advice that would not be right for everyone. Hope you won't be cross with me!

stealth, no, i said in response to 'if your baby is hungry feed him more' that baby should get what they need in 20-30 mins and if you read, you shouldnt be sat on the couch for 2-3 hours feeding solidly. i never said anything that was upsetting or damaging, all i did was share my experience of one of my children and some ppl have taken what i said out of context. I STILL STAND BY MY ORIGINAL POST and that mums should do what they WANT TO, so in sharing MY EXPERIENCE, the original poster of this thread can read and take from it what they want. my original post was neither upsetting nor damaging. don't be so rude.

but the 20min thing is rubbish & you can be sat feeding for an hour or 2!

upsetting if a woman feels she's doing it wrong, damaging if she decides it's evidence of poor milk and stops or tops up

Experience = this happened to me and I did this

Advice = this happened to me and I did this and you should too