so i always thought before 6mos a breastfed baby souldnt be given water? my peditrician hasnt told me bto.. i never gave my 1st child water except in her formula until like 5mos.. im bf this time and everywhere ive seen its never been said that she has to have water til 6mos.. my baby has been running a fever and we went bto doctor turns out she has a uti and so he gave me instructions on how to deal with the fever he never once said to give her water. well my grandma is a nurse and she says that i should be giving her 2 ounces of water everyday and especially when shes sick...? my mom said she also gave me and my sisters plain water.. then my grandma had the nerve to say basically she was right over my peditrician and my mother instincts should have kicked in by now!!! grr.. im 22 so we have come along wayb and learned more since then. fine yeahb we didnt die from it but i want whats right for my child.. so am i wrong? when is it ok?
Thank you ladies and mommies! You have made me feel even better about my decision.. it makes me mad when they try to push their opinions on me and tell me im being a bad mother! especially when shes my grandmother or my mother.....
BF babies don't need water - neither do formula fed babies for that matter. They are already on a liquid diet! I started to give mine water at 7 mo or so in a sippy cup just to get them used to a sippy cup. No need for juice either!!!!!
I'll try to say this in a nice way.......Sometimes older people are just wrong. Things have changed over the years!!!
My son never drank water, just breast milk. I don't know how he would have drank it anyway since he didn't know how to drink out of anything else besides a bewbie.
Except in extreme situations (as in, in a hospital on IV fluids.. In 120 degree heat with a dehydrated mum) infants shouldn't be given water on top of breast milk or formula. It upsets their electrolyte balance and can cause seizures, uncontrollabe fever & febrile seizures, and mess with their organs.
To know... There's a LOT of chemical communicatin between baby's mouth and mom's breast. When the chemicals are demanding higher mineral content, far content, sugar content, WATER content, our bodies adjust milk components. Part of Failure to Thrive CAN be a miscommunication between chemicals, so breast milk is not only not best, but often worst. HOWEVER most of the time, the communication between baby's body and mom's body is dead on. Adding things (like water or solids) makes the communication slow down get off a bit. Just like giving formula slows down moms supply increasing.
If you're exclusively breast feeding, and all is good, no reason to make things harder by throwing a wrench into a working system.
I'm confused as to why your doctor suggested that!! breastmilk is not just food, but also hydration. breastmilk DOES has a ton of water in it!! Here is some reference:
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/baby-water/
I never gave my bf babies water. There's no need for it since your breastmilk has everything that baby needs in it.
I think my doctor told me at 4 months he could have water. He didnt like it and didnt really drink it. I thought it ws wierd. SInce the baby nursed so much. Ive never really given any of my 3 children water before 6 months and that was to get used to a sippy cup.
HTH
Babies don't need water until they start eating solids. (Really eating, not just experimenting.)
Every generation has different ideas of what is "the right way". Heck, it seems like you see conflicting info in the media all the time!
Babies really don't need water. They quench their thirst with breastmilk or formula, they need all the calories and nutrients their little bodies can hold to achieve the amazing growth and development they go through in the first years of life. Water just takes up space in the tummy and gives their little body nothing.
M
We didn't start until 6 months. Your breastmilk provides baby everything she needs. :)
If they are not getting formula I don't think they need it. If they get formula they do cause the formula makes their bowl movements thicker and its supposed to help keep them regular. No when my kids ran a fever I usually would give them water to keep them hydrated cause sometime even breast milk will curtal in their tummys. And in the summers I would too because they would get dehydrated here in TX if they didn't get it if we were out in the sum much at all. Don't let her make you feel like you are not a good mother.
Keep your head up and God Bless!
While a baby can be exclusively breastfed for more than a year, once I introduced solids like cereal and she really made a meal out of it, I gave my DD just a few ounces of water with that meal, per the advise of of her pediatrician. Breastmilk is a clear liquid with a LOT more nutrition than water so I would focus on that, especially if she is sick. When DD had a stomach bug, the advice nurse said "Oh, great! Well, then just nurse her if she'll keep it down."
I breasted my baby until she was 17 months old...my pediatrician said to never give her water.. I had given her some while we were at a racetrack for an event down I. homestead, it was hot as all get put down there and I just felt like it would have been awful for her to only have milk, and be so up close and personal when it was so hot and sticky out. The pediatrician told me that up until 1 year..they can't process it and they will get too much water on the brain..very dangerous. I can't remember if he said up to 1 year or not, but I know at 6 months he definatly said no water! When I did start to I traduced juice, he said white grape is easier for them to digest than apple juice.
Your grandma also would put Babies to sleep on their tummy, with blankets and feed food after one month. She probably used cloth diapers. Her kids were probably potty trained at a year.
You are the mom. Things have changed. Your milk has the water she needs. You can start a sippy cup if you want. Myself id wait just so you don't cave.
We started giving water at 6 months when we also started feeding solids. No water for babies that are exclusively breastfed - at least that's what my ped said.
2- 3 oz a day of water should be given when your baby starts eating solids in order to help avoid constipation.
Your mommy instincts are fine. Babies do not need water. Breastmilk is healthiest, and if your baby is thirsty, the best thing to do is nurse. And if your baby needs more liquids, then nurse more.
I started giving my babies water when they were old enough to start trying to use a sippy cup - so that was around 9 months old. But they didn't NEED the water even then. It was just so they could learn to use the cup.
