Help! 6 day old baby drank water. Should we go to the hospital?

[TheFace]

Hi everyone. On some bad advice we gave our 6 day old DS some boiled water as we were told this would help between feeds. After giving him about 2 ounces we googled and found out this is quiet dangerous. Can anyone help? Any warnings to look out for or should we go straight to a&e?
Thanks

4 hours advice probably means at least every 4 hours (this is what we were advised for premature DD) - but I agree you should double check with the doctors/midwives in case in this case it really means 4 hours.

Water once won't hurt.

My experience of SCBU (twins) was that after the first day or so, they weighed the baby, worked out how much formula they needed, divided it by 6 and stuffed it into them at 4 hourly intervals (easy with mine as tube fed, but it used to come up again sometimes).

When they came home, they were on 3hrly or less as they were breastfed and fed when they wanted. I nearly wasn't allowed to take them home until they took a 'whole feed'.

I would feed as the baby wants, and note down the times and amount taken. If it adds up to approximately the desired amount over 24 hours, it is probably fine.

Does your baby have ongoing kidney problems? Are they on any medicine? Have you been told you will have an appointment to see a consultant?
If the answer is no, I would interpret the advice to feed 4hrly as, don't leave longer than 4 hours between feeds.
I have worked on SCBU for many years and never seen a baby at home on restricted fluids.

I agree to what people have said about feeding on demand. My prem twins were on a very strict 3hrly feeding schedule due to twin to twin. The only way I've heard 4hrly mentioned is that they shouldn't go longer than that for many reasons, if your baby is hungry feed it. I wouldnt be worried about the water I'd be more worried about the fact your mw hasn't been round yet. They should come on day 1 of you being home no matter how many days you spent in hospital. You need to phone her incase she hasn't been told you're home

Wtf??!!

Well this thread has taken a strange turn, lol.

I'll sell you an arse cheek for £10.99?

OP I hope you and your new baby are alright and you've managed to seek advice from professionals.

Well that wasn't what I expected.

Her baby will be 3 years old now

@Biscusting The new baby's now 3 years old 😁

Minipie is correct. It is AT LEAST every four hours for a newborn.

My son slept the first six weeks of his life. Seriously. Hardly.awake. Didn't cry. No colic. Nothing. My Midwife and Doctor said to wake him at least every four hours to get food in him.

ZOMBIE ALERT.

Oh yes. I just saw the date

Congrats on your new DS.

Another one here really surprised the hospital said 4 hourly feeds for a newborn. From memory (it's a while ago) even the packaging on formula tubs/cartons suggests 3 hours for an average (i.e. not low birthweight) new born. Certainly when I was in hospital with DS after he was born (low birthweight so they kept us in for a bit) feeds were three hourly.

Although you should mimic feeding on demand as much as you can (which includes being prepared to pour half a bottle away if your DS isn't feeling hungry that particular feed), my experience was you can't go much closer together than three-hourly with formula, as it is much less digestible than breast milk, and I found with DS if I let him feed too soon after the previous feed, it just came straight back up.

Bugger - what happened to the bright red "zombie thread" warning?

Gah, why won't MNHQ introduce a system which locks threads a certain amount of time after the last post?

Given that he has a kidney problem, I would ring your midwife to discuss the water and the frequency of feeds.

He is now around 3 becotide.

I agree, you definitely need to feed him milk if he's hungry. He needs the calories at 6 days old x

Whoah just saw the zombie alert!

Maybe we could have the song Zombie instead of the visual warning. Maybe both.

Oops wtf is going on!?