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Original poster

Cooled boiled water for 7wk old premmie?

20 replies

treewithtriplets · 03/04/2015 23:15

Hi all,

I've got beautiful 7wk old triplets, born 33wks. Formula fed now. Smallest of the 3 has a rough old time with wind - she struggles to get it up and seems to have a lot of it too, so she spends about 30 mins after each feed grunting and moaning with it. She does want to eat though, but with the wind she's prone to throwing up so I tend to stop her while she's still hungry (about 70ml) to try to keep it down - being full for 30secs then half empty having thrown up doesn't seem worthwhile for her!

Anyway I thought about giving her a bit of cool boiled water to fill her up a bit between feeds and see if it helps the wind. I wanted to have a bottle ready prepared so I can give it between night feeds. Does cooled boiled water in a sterilised bottle need to be kept in the fridge do you think? Or is room temp better? And how much is ok to give at this age?

I just have her a little bit which was fridge-cold and she seemed surprised ('bloody hell that's plain and cold') but didn't hate it...

Thought anyone?

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DragonsCanHop · 03/04/2015 23:18

I would give her a small amount of cooled boiled room temp water in between feeds.

My MW and nana advised this with my LO, many years ago and it helped a treat with wind.

Congratulations BTW. Triplets makes you a hero in my book

AnythingNotEverything · 03/04/2015 23:25

I wouldn't give a newborn water at all. It could fill them up and reduce milk intake, which they really need. There must be a solution to the wind ones. Have you tried infacol/colief type stuff?

Have you posted in the infant Feeding topic? It's under "feed the world". I'm sure there'll be people there with good tips

Congratulations on your triplets. Bet they're delicious

Pooka · 03/04/2015 23:30

Some babies are more windy and sicky than others. My youngest threw up some of every feed he had for a year! He was breastfed. I just carried on as usual, still fed on demand and so on - was advised that while it looked like a lot of posset, actually he was still gaining weight and probably looked worse than it was.

Have you seen a doctor to assess whether could be reflux? Infant gaviscon can work well. My eldest had colic and was a frenzied feeder at same time, and I did introduce a dummy when she was about 2.5 months old to settle between feeds. I also used infacol with her and it seemed to help. Youngest wasn't terribly windy, but did tend to throw up a lot.

I suppose my concern is that the cooled boiled water won't really do much other than fill her tummy, when you say she is the smallest., and feeding on demand in conjunction with really good winding, stomach massage or colic medicine might help better and still get her taking in a good amount of milk. If she's getting windy from drinking formula, then why would a drink of water by same method of feeding not introduce air or unsettle her stomach in the same way? I know other people swore by Dr Browns bottles. We actually tried them, with expressed milk, because as first timers we were convinced that dd was taking in loads of air when she was breastfeeding and we were a bit desperate. Didn't make much difference. She was the smallest of my three, and I think her stomach was just more colicky and easily unsettled.

Good luck! It might be worth maybe making a bit of a note of her gripiness after feeds, and her general trouble periods, vomiting and so on and running it by the GP in case of reflux, and medicine might help (no expertise on this, just going on what other people have said - dd didn't have reflux, but was just colicky for the first maybe 3 months).

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Original poster

treewithtriplets · 04/04/2015 02:01

Thank you for the replies everyone! Really useful views. She's actually a pretty good feeder when she's not windy, the problem is the wind often has her doubled over and writhing and sobbing so that gets in the way of her feeding! So it is an issue of dealing with the wind really.

So just to clarify, do we think it's ok to pour boiled water into a sterilised bottle and leave it out if the fridge, with the teat on and a lid on, so it's ready at room temp for when we need it?

OP posts:

piazilla · 04/04/2015 02:17

I would be inclined to say no water at all - not before 4-6 months. This was the advice of my doc.
If you are still having issues with wind - maybe a chiropractor can help with cranial sacrum therapy. It has worked well for my now 4 month old who was massively windy for the first few weeks/months!

passthewineplz · 04/04/2015 02:33

I also recommend not giving her water. I'd speak to your GP as it sounds she might have reflux and the Dr can prescribe anti reflux meds and special formula milk if needed

TynesideBlonde · 04/04/2015 06:58

I wouldn't give water at that age. She's technically only just term. Talk to HV or GP. Congratulations on your babies though!

HomefromHome1 · 04/04/2015 07:19

I don't see the harm in trying a small amount of water- you didn't say what the weight is? You can keep an eye on the amount they are feeding and stop the water if needed- if it helps she may feed more anyway. This is old fashion advice (with a bit of added brown sugar!) but as we are living longer than ever before don't think it caused any harm. I would also keep the water as you have suggested.

lougle · 04/04/2015 07:20

Water is not going to help her. If you think through the rationale of giving her water, you can see it:

-Baby is sick after feeds
-It takes a lot of effort to suck and swallow the milk
-It seems a waste of her time & effort to suck down milk only to vomit it up again
-If she has less it might stay down
-But she'll be hungry, so I'll fill her up with water

The trouble I have with this plan, is that water has 0 calories. So she'll expend the same amount of energy for 0 calories. At least if it's milk she'll expend the energy and get some energy back.

WottaMess · 04/04/2015 08:18

I am no expert but having had a baby where weight gain was a struggle resulting in lots of feeding support would absolutely agree no water at this stage. Trying different bottles and teats, perhaps smaller but more importantly more frequent feeds, different winding positions - on knee, bent forward, over thigh, tiger in tree, leg bicycling, tummy circles etc - yes. Different types of formula, possibly. Ready made aptimil in the cartons/bottles worked for us. Speak to your gp or as they were prem try for a referral to your infant feeding coordinator.

dementedpixie · 04/04/2015 08:37

I would avoid water at this age. too much water can be dangerous for babies. Have you tried dentinox, infacol, etc or get her checked out for reflux

eurochick · 04/04/2015 08:40

I wouldn't give water. She needs the calories from milk. Your Dr can help with meds for reflux (if that is the problem). It is very common in premmies.

Hakluyt · 04/04/2015 08:45

I really don't think you should give a newborn water- particularly if she's little. You don't want anything to get in the way of milk at this stage..........

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/04/2015 10:56

The advice for full term babies is no water before 6 months, if she wants something, that something has to be milk.

However things can often be different for premmies. I'd try asking on the Premature Birth section .

As for wind, have you tried things like a different formula, denting in her bottle, colief, the tiger in the tree hold and massaging her tummy?

VivaLeBeaver · 04/04/2015 10:58

I wouldn't use water at all, especially not for a premmie. Look at different teats instead.

seaoflove · 04/04/2015 11:02

I can't see how water is going to help with wind anyway, so I really wouldn't do it. Previous posters have also given some good reasons why it's bad idea.

Some babies suffer so much with wind. Have you tried something like Infacol? Or considered whether it's not wind but reflux/silent reflux?

eurochick · 04/04/2015 13:14

My baby was prem too and the scbu nurses suggested nuk or mam bottles. We went with the latter and they were so much better than others we tried for minimising wind.

TheGirlAtTheRockShow · 04/04/2015 13:51

My baby was prem and growth restricted. I was told no water, only milk. Why would you want to fill her up with something that isn't going to give any nutritional value?
Try I facial before every feed - worked for my DD.
Different bottles, I know people have had success with Dr Browns
Lots of burping
Tummy massage, Google baby massage for this
Smaller, frequent feeds.
I know it must be relentless with 3 newborns, but there isn't a quick fix I'm afraid! She will outgrow it.

TheGirlAtTheRockShow · 04/04/2015 13:52

Blooming predictive text! Infacol, not I facial!

GlitterTwinkleToes · 04/04/2015 14:07

What milk do you use? Aptamil do a comfort range for colicky babies, pretty sure other brands have something similar. It might be worthwhile switching her over and seeing how she is on that one?
You are a legend in my eyes with triplets!

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