maybe a stupid question, sorry! but my MIL just asked me why I am not giving DS water ever. At first I thought, well thats ridiculous, why would I give him water? No nutritional value, dont want him to fill up on just water (hes FF by the way). But thats kind of all I could respond with. Both she and my mother said that all of their kids had water from very early on, and they were both suprised that I wasnt giving him any. are there rules about this? any thoughts, or advice is appreciated!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend
Re: water??
My LC had advised me that I could give DD small amounts of water (like 1ml no more than 3 times a day) back in the very hot summer days and ONLY if I found DD was sweating a lot. She is a very warm baby and on some days she would be totally naked and still pouring sweat. She said young babies can become very dehydrated if they sweat a lot and sometimes will try to eat a lot to compensate, but end up eating to the point of making themselves sick. Instead, giving them a small amount of water can help rehydrate them without that risk but the small amount of water does not fill them up at the cost of nutrition.
Water is not necessary this early in normal conditions, it can just help in instances. Depending what climate you live in, it may not be necessary any more at this time of year. I haven't given DD water in almost a month now.
giving water to infants who haven't started solids can lead to water intoxication. https://www.babycenter.com/408_when-can-my-baby-drink-water_1368488.bc
we breastfeed so the general rule is on hot days, they'll eat more often to stay hydrated, but I don't know the rules for FF babies.
glad someone asked, I was going to... my grandma keeps asking me why Im not giving water... and I don't really have an answer for her... well, now I have a few things to bring to the plate for this topic!
We started solids about 3 weeks ago, and we haven't been constipated at all... actually, he is better with his stools now that we do puree right before bedtime...
I'd ask your pediatrician as every baby is different. At my son's 4 month check up I asked about solids and was surprised when she told me I could start him on solids now (I questioned her about it like 6 times because I already had the 6-month date marked on my calendar). My son is in the 97th percentile for height and weight, and has good head control (the nurse and doc were surprised at how strong he was). He's clearly getting all the nutrition he needs and isn't having trouble gaining weight. She also told me he could have water but not too much. I've only given it to him once so far to see how he would handle the taste (just an ounce) and he chugged it down fine. He hadn't pooped in days so I thought it might help get things moving (just my idea, doc didn't say anything about that). I gave him distilled water because I was concerned about flouride and minerals in the bottled water and tap water.