Baby and water

bigbear

Two questions/comments

A - I bought a kiddie pool for DD last weekend and she LOVED it. I think I'll take her to a public pool next time and see how she does... Have you done this yet? How long were you out with your LO? It was brutaly hot this past weekend so I waited until after 4 pm and was out there with her for only an hour under the umbrella and she was also wearing sunscreen and a hat...

B - are you giving your LO water to drink? If yes, do you just do the bottle and just make sure it's room temp? How much do you give her/him at once?

I called the nurse line over the weekend asking about the water, sun exposure etc since my pedi didn't say anything about it and I forgot to ask.

The nurse said, I can just giver DD more formula to keep her hydrated, but that seems odd to me. I don't need to feed her more, it's about getting the water and hydration, not necessarily eating more... Also, she told me not to have DD out for more than 20 minutes which is ridiculous. I think if you use common sense you can do lots of things with your LO. Or how would moms who live in places like Arizona for instance do it? lol

So I just wanted to hear your input and opinion on this. TIA!

jasieandry

My family loves the water so lo has been swimming about 7 times already. The family always stays in the water for awhile but lo can only handle a few minutes at a time - 20 mins tops - then she gets out and hangs out with me or her grandma. We got this awesome floatie thing at target that has a sun shade attached and she wears a hat and a swim diaper. Flame away but I don't believe in sunscreen this young. 

As for water I ebf and lo turns up her nose at the bottle so I couldn't give her water if I tried lol. But as far as I know babies don't need any pure water until they're eating mostly solids.  

kali55

I feel that mom knows best!  They put precautions out there for the lowest common denominator, but every child is different and no one knows your child better than you.

We have been giving DS a sippy cup with water which he is only mildly interested in.  I fill it up with room temperature water and he just seems to want to chew the end.  I've read that when introducing water you want to make sure that they don't fill up on water and miss out on milk/formula but that hasn't been even remotely an issue with us.

And as for being outside for only 20 minutes, that wouldn't work for us.  I go running outside with DS for longer than that.  I think as long as they are comfortable and hydrated you should be fine! 

namara5532

What I've heard is the same PPs have said.  Until LO is eating solids regularly, they don't need extra water outside their breastmilk/formula.  With that said, there probably isn't any harm in giving them an ounce or two, but I probably wouldn't give any more unless they are eating more solids.

As for being outside, my plan with DS is to keep him covered and guage how he's doing.  If he's really sweating, I'll probably take him indoors.  Otherwise, I'd probably let him be outside for half an hour to an hour at a time before taking an air conditioning break.  I'll probably let him splash around in a pool with a floatie on him (and someone with him at all times) but not exceed an hour at a time.  He's still too young to enjoy the outdoors much or to even be outside for too long.

dizzycooks

My LO is EBF so we don't do anything else.  I just make sure to nurse her more if we are outside a lot.  As for staying out only 20 minutes, that is ridiculous IMHO.  We spent 4 hours outside at the zoo on Sunday and she was awake for most of it.   We kept her in her stroller and pulled the shade over her while it was sunny and took her out for a while while we ate lunch and sat in some shady areas.  She was FINE.  We also do not do sunscreen.

fyrefairie

https://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/giving-water-to-baby.html

 

Water too young can indeed be harmful  It can block nutrient absorption and won't replace electrolytes if baby is in danger of dehydration.