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Is it Necessary to Offer Your Baby Water? When to Give a Baby Water
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Does your baby need water during the hot months of summer? Do babies need to drink water anytime?
According to Dr. Sears:
"Breastfeeding babies do not need extra water, though formula-fed babies often do. Your breast milk contains enough water for your baby, even in hot, dry climates. Formula contains higher concentrations of salts and minerals than breast milk does, so that extra water is often necessary for the kidneys to excrete the extra salt. Also, because of less efficient metabolism, formula-fed infants lose more water. "
While breast milk is approximately 88% water, formula is not and thus many pediatricians will recommend that formula fed babies be given sips of water from 6 months of age or when solid foods are introduced. The offering of water is a recommendation only. It is not intended to be taken as an absolute must that you offer your baby water.
Should you decide to offer your baby water, please limit the intake to 2-4 ounces a day. You do not want the water to displace the intake of breast milk and/or formula. Take the opportunity to offer water from a sippy cup also. This will accomplish 2 things:
1) A breast fed baby will not be subject to possible nipple confusion
2) Water in a sippy cup is the perfect liquid to use when introducing the sippy cup. Add some ice cubes to give the cup a more interesting flair.
Please use extreme caution when offering infants water. Infants who drink too much water may come down with Water Intoxication
For children under 1 year old - and especially during the first nine months of life - drinking too much water can be dangerous.
In fact, according to pediatricians like James P. Keating, MD, medical director of the St. Louis Children's Hospital Diagnostic Center, "too much water dilutes a baby's normal sodium levels and can lead to seizures, coma, brain damage and death.
Breast milk or formula provides all the fluid healthy babies need. If a mother feels her baby needs to take additional water, it should be limited to two to three ounces at a time and should be offered only after the baby has satisfied his hunger with breast feeding or formula"
For those parents who are having their infants under the age of 12 months old take swimming lessons, please be cautious of the amount of water that baby may inadvertently swallow. Water intoxication may also occur due to a baby swallowing too much water when swimming.
Learn More:
Anne Smith IBCLC on Water and the Breastfed Infant
Supplemental Water for Breastfed Infants
Water Intoxication in Infants
Water Babies & Safety
Signs of dehydration
Quick Links
Transitioning to Sippy Cups
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page updated 04 April 2009
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