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Original poster

Tap water or bottled water for kids??

44 replies

Spongebob · 03/04/2006 11:18

Which do you think is safest? I give DS Evian water and mixed his bottle with this too. Our tap water here does not contain fluoride....but still thought it best to drink bottled. Whar are your views on the subject?

OP posts:
moondog · 03/04/2006 11:27

Tap
Plastic leaches chemicals into water
Also very dodgy environmentally speaking
Waste of dosh too

NomDePlume · 03/04/2006 11:29

Boiled tap water for bottles.

All my kids drink squash etc made up with bottled water, maily because they dislike the taste/smell of our tapwater (DH and I are the same)

zippitippitoes · 03/04/2006 11:29

also variable levels of minerals in bottled waters, can be too high

SoupDragon · 03/04/2006 11:30

tap. get a water filter.

CarolinaMooncup · 03/04/2006 11:32

tap water - why pay extra? We are lucky that ours tastes ok straight from the tap. I used to filter it when we lived in London because it tasted rank.

Bottled mineral water can be v salty.

DominiConnor · 03/04/2006 11:52

We use a water filter.
Moondog is right about the leaching, but also the concentration of metals in mineral water is higher than I'd be happy with as the main watr input.

ruty · 03/04/2006 11:58

we use bottled water for us all because we hate the taste of tap water. Also because having lived in europe got into the habit of drinking bottled water. not sure about the amount of oestrogen in tap water because of the contraceptive pills residue, but sure I'll be told its a tiny amount. volvic/evian do not use bisphenol A in their plastic, the main culprit, but not sure if there are other problematic chemicals.

ruty · 03/04/2006 11:59

didn't know that DC. Why is the concentration of metals high in something like volvic/evian?

hulababy · 03/04/2006 12:01

Our tap water is okay but not great tasting, so I tend to give DD (nearly 4yo) filtered water at home. When out she has bottled water or tap water, depending on where we are and availability.

Enid · 03/04/2006 12:03

deffo tap

why waste the money

zippitippitoes · 03/04/2006 12:03

I think vittel is one of the better ones for mineral content

ruty · 03/04/2006 12:06

DC go on tell me!

ruty · 03/04/2006 12:17

[goes off and sulks.]

ruty · 03/04/2006 12:47

sorry zippititoes, does that mean vittel is also better in terms of heavy metals concentration?

zippitippitoes · 03/04/2006 12:54

the trouble with bottled water is that it is not tested to the same stringent rules as tap water, so even what is on the bottle label does not necessarily reflect what is in the bottle which may be contaminated. But comparing bottle labels declarations I thought vittel was less high in minerals and sodium..no help reallyGrin

you are not going to find contamination in your daily tap water but your bottled water may be contaminated

ruty · 03/04/2006 12:59

oh dear. interesting. i was under the impression that certain bottled water companies had to test stringently - but i may be wrong.

bluejelly · 03/04/2006 13:19

Tap, if you live in a country where it's safe. Bottled water a complete con, no health benefits and think of all those plastic bottles going into the landfill!
Our grandchildren won't forgive us for wasting the world's limited resources if we carry on the way we do with plastic..

ruty · 03/04/2006 13:29

agree with the plastic issue -but in my defence we recycle all our plastic - unfortunately it is probably shipped to china or something...

bluejelly · 03/04/2006 13:36

It still has to be made in the first place, shipped to the shops, taken away by the dustmen, then shipped to china (or wherever)
Not saying i never use plastic ( impossible not to) but if there's a choice...

koolkat · 03/04/2006 13:50

I read somewhere that plastic containers are no good for mineral water also high concentration of all sorts of things in mineral waters (can't remember what !).

I was giving DS mineral water (glass bottled ones not plastic) up until a few months ago and then read that it isn't very good for infants. Also although our local water doesn't have much fluoride, it has some whereas the bottled water I was buying had none. Fluoride in drinking water is good for preventing tooth decay.

Original poster
Spongebob · 03/04/2006 22:23

Im swaying towards giving him tap water.....one thing that worries me though is the old lead pipes that most of our water runs through...Also my cousin, who lives in France, says that most mums tend to give thier children Evian water, which is supposed to be the lightest in mineral content, even though the tap water is deemed safe to drink. Hard choice....there are so many for's and against's with both.

OP posts:
LilacBump · 03/04/2006 22:29

evian. i hate the taste of tap water.

but then for 22 years i lived in a house that wasn't connected to the water supply and got water straight out of the ground with a pump. it was full of heavy metals and not suitable for drinking/preparing food. so we always used bottled or filtered water and tap water just tastes of chemicals to me.

millie99 · 03/04/2006 22:37

Can't believs people buy mineral water for their children-is this the ultimate in Western consumerism!

ruty · 04/04/2006 09:07

with lead pipes i think you should give him bottled water definitely.

edam · 04/04/2006 09:09

Tested bottled water once in my former job. On a blind taste test, so people didn't know what they were drinking, Thames tap water came out equal top. And for safety - tighter controls on tap water.