Giving water

[abbiebunn]

My son is three weeks old and my health visitor advised giving him cooled boiled water in between feeds. But when I've looked online I've seen alot of people saying you shouldn't do this. Very confused.

I thought you didn't add in water until you start weaning. Unless it's really hot weather. I gave a sippy cup with water from 6 months once weaning.

I wouldn't. Unless you think LO is dehydrated they don't need water between feeds. You will have diarrhoea to contend with!

What made your HV say that? Is your DS constipated or anything? Or did the HV just say give water between feeds? My HV told me not to give anything but formula including water.

He should be getting enough fluid from either formula or breastmilk so shouldn't need any extra water (unless he had a medical condition or something?). I think that's bad advice.

Your HV sounds like an idiot. The current weaning guidelines say nothing besides breastmilk or formula for the first six months, even in hot weather, when you can give extra milk if the baby is thirsty.

Goodness me, I wish HV would follow current guidelines when advising new (and confused!) parents.

My son has no health issues. And not constipated etc. It was a general comments as if it was usual. I wasn't convinced as was worried it would take away from his feeds so looked it up online.
Thank you for the replies

Oh and this is my second child.

Your HV is an idiot. I'd actually complain about this as a HV shouldn't be so clueless about current guidelines. Breastmilk or formula is all that your baby needs for the first 6 months

I have never heard of this.

DS is nearly 2 and expecting DC2. Was specifically told no water (presumably unless under doctor's orders in specific situations) until around 6 months.

Can I give my 4 week old water between feeds??

He's on comfort formula to help with colic & constipation but still not helping.

He'd settle so much better if he went regularly.

That's absurd. Babies don't need water until the weaning process, although they do say giving a small amount if they are constipated can help. Even during weaning and beyond milk is still their main source of nutrition and most water ends up down their front (7.5 month old DS loves it, mainly for spitting it out )

Are you bf or Ff? Either way I think this is bad advice unless there's a specific reason. I can only assume that they are trying to get baby to sleep through the night but they're still very young for that.

He's ff. I couldn't understand it either lol. If this was my first baby I probably would have done it.

Did you DS move up a percentile by any chance? When my DD moved from the 75th to the 91th+ percentile around week 2 or 3, my HV wondered whether the baby was feeding too much and suggested that we offered her water. I chose not to follow her advice and stuck to milk. My baby has been consistently following the new weight curve (between 91st and 98th percentiles) since then. We give her water if she is constipated but this does not happen often.

She didn't do his weight. So u don't know. He had put on weight when we had seen the mw the week before

My HV also told me to offer cooked boiled water between feeds :( I haven't done it as I read that babies don't need water before 6 months. However I have just found out that my partners mother gave my DS an ounce of water this afternoon after he was sick as she thinks he has a temp (I think he has a cold as he was snotty this morning) should I be worried? X