Newborn water drinking

When Is It Safe to Give Water to Infants?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on November 27, 2021

How Infants Stay Hydrated

As an adult, water is the most hydrating thing you can drink. It quenches your thirst and helps all of your systems stay balanced.

But children under a year old don’t need water like adults do. It can actually be dangerous for them. Babies get all their hydration from breast milk or formula.

When Babies Can Start Drinking Water

A baby should drink only breast milk or formula until they’re six months old. It has all the hydration and nutrition they need in the early months.

Even when you start giving them purees or table food at around 6 months of age, breast milk and formula are still more important than water. But you can begin to introduce it.

When babies are between 6 and 12 months of age, breast milk or formula continues to be a priority over water. But if you offer breast milk or formula first, you can then offer water, 2-3 ounces at a time. At this age, 4-8 ounces a day of water is enough. More than that may lead to water intoxication.

Making Sure Water Is Baby-Safe

Before using water to mix baby formula or offering a baby water for the first time, consider testing your tap water. While tap water may have fluoride that helps prevent tooth decay, it could also contain levels of lead that are unsafe for babies.

Most tap water in the U.S. is safe, with a few exceptions:

If you have untested well water.
If your water source has recently been contaminated.
If your baby has low immunity‌.

If you’re worried about lead exposure and traces of chemicals in your water, install a filtration system or use distilled water instead which can be easily purchased.

Considerations for mixing formula with water. If you use tap water to mix formula, mix only one bottle at a time. Don’t use tap water to mix formula in bulk amounts.

A similar rule applies to water that you’ve boiled. Refrigerate boiled water within an hour, and throw it away if you don’t use it within 24 hours. Always allow the water to cool completely before mixing the formula. Hot water can burn your baby.

When you purchase formula, carefully follow the instructions on the container for mixing it with water. Instructions vary by brand. This will ensure your baby gets the right amount of nutrients and hydration.

Mixing in too much formula may lead to constipation or dehydration. Mixing in too little formula may lead to malnutrition or water intoxication.

Risks of Water for Infants

Drinking too much water at a young age is very dangerous. Water causes an imbalance in sodium levels that may lead to:

Seizures
Brain damage
Coma‌
Death

Water intoxication leads to changes in behavior such as:

Confusion
Drowsiness
Muscle cramps and twitching
Nausea and vomiting
Difficulty breathing‌
Weakness

Watch for signs of water intoxication and call your doctor immediately if you have any concerns.

Water as Your Baby Grows

Between the ages of 1 and 3, your toddler needs 4 cups of liquid per day. This is a transitional period that should include both water and breastmilk or formula. The older your child gets, the more water they need. There are several ways you can encourage your older child to drink enough water.

Flavor water with fresh fruit. Water is healthier than juice since many children’s juices are full of sugar. If your child prefers the taste of juice, use fresh fruit to flavor their water. Lemon, berries, mint, and cucumber are great additions.

Offer more fruits and vegetables. Encourage your child to eat more fruits and vegetables with high water content. These help them stay hydrated without forcing them to drink more water than they want. Hydrating vegetables include cucumber, tomato, zucchini, celery, and iceberg lettuce. Hydrating fruits include strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, cantaloupe, and grapefruit.

Make creative ice cubes and popsicles. Puree your fruit of choice with water and freeze it into ice cubes or popsicle molds.

Provide special drinkware. Use a fancy cup with favorite colors or characters. When you find ways to make water fun, your child is more likely to enjoy drinking it.

When Is It Safe to Give Water to Infants?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on November 27, 2021

How Infants Stay Hydrated

As an adult, water is the most hydrating thing you can drink. It quenches your thirst and helps all of your systems stay balanced.

But children under a year old don’t need water like adults do. It can actually be dangerous for them. Babies get all their hydration from breast milk or formula.

When Babies Can Start Drinking Water

A baby should drink only breast milk or formula until they’re six months old. It has all the hydration and nutrition they need in the early months.

Even when you start giving them purees or table food at around 6 months of age, breast milk and formula are still more important than water. But you can begin to introduce it.

Making Sure Water Is Baby-Safe

Most tap water in the U.S. is safe, with a few exceptions:

If you have untested well water.
If your water source has recently been contaminated.
If your baby has low immunity‌.

If you’re worried about lead exposure and traces of chemicals in your water, install a filtration system or use distilled water instead which can be easily purchased.

Considerations for mixing formula with water. If you use tap water to mix formula, mix only one bottle at a time. Don’t use tap water to mix formula in bulk amounts.

Mixing in too much formula may lead to constipation or dehydration. Mixing in too little formula may lead to malnutrition or water intoxication.

Risks of Water for Infants

Drinking too much water at a young age is very dangerous. Water causes an imbalance in sodium levels that may lead to:

Seizures
Brain damage
Coma‌
Death

Water intoxication leads to changes in behavior such as:

Confusion
Drowsiness
Muscle cramps and twitching
Nausea and vomiting
Difficulty breathing‌
Weakness

Watch for signs of water intoxication and call your doctor immediately if you have any concerns.

Water as Your Baby Grows

Make creative ice cubes and popsicles. Puree your fruit of choice with water and freeze it into ice cubes or popsicle molds.

Provide special drinkware. Use a fancy cup with favorite colors or characters. When you find ways to make water fun, your child is more likely to enjoy drinking it.

when, how much and what kind of water to give a newborn and children with breastfeeding and artificial?

Does a newborn baby need water? This question worries many young mothers, while the recommendations of doctors differ: some believe that the baby does not need any additional fluid, while others argue that the child needs water. Let's try to figure out how and when to give your baby water and how water for newborns differs from ordinary drinking water.

Breast milk is both food and drink for the baby, since it is 90% water and in the first weeks of life it is able to maintain the fluid balance at the required level. Mother's milk helps the process of digestion, as it contains all the enzymes necessary for this. Moreover, the mother's body is able to very accurately adapt to the needs of the child, adjusting the composition of milk depending on the situation. For example, if a baby needs more fluid, he will breastfeed more often and, as a result, receive more unsaturated foremilk, which quenches thirst and restores electrolyte balance.

It may seem that the child does not need water, but this is not so: there are situations when it is indispensable. Indeed, up to three months, babies should be given water only on the recommendation of a doctor. Babies older than four months can be fed quite calmly - contrary to popular belief, this does not lead to the child's refusal to breastfeed, and even more so to his exhaustion. If the baby drinks water with pleasure, there are no contraindications for this. But the lack of fluid for the baby is very dangerous - adults should not forget that the metabolic rate in newborns is very high and moisture loss is also significant.

However, parents need to know when and how much water should be given to newborns and how the type of feeding affects fluid requirements.

Water while breastfeeding

Newborns can drink water from four to five months. It is better to do this between feedings - if the baby feels thirsty, he drinks water with pleasure. How much water can you give a newborn? Here, as in adults, everything is individual. Usually, pediatricians advise giving a certain amount of liquid per day with a calculation of no more than 100 ml per kg of weight, but this also includes breast milk. So the water, in fact, remains 30-70 ml.

You can feed your newborn from a bottle with a nipple or even from a spoon – this will facilitate the introduction of complementary foods later, because the baby will already know how to use a spoon. But the most important rule is voluntariness: if the child is naughty and does not want to drink, you should not insist.

Water with formula or formula feeding

Formula feeding differs markedly from natural feeding - infant formula contains much more protein than mother's milk, so the baby needs additional fluids. Lack of water, especially when feeding too rich formula, can lead to constipation in children. The extra water will help empty the bowels and make your baby feel better.

With artificial or mixed feeding, water can be given earlier than with breastfeeding. Unlike formulas, which should be 36-37°C, the water can be slightly cooler: 26-30°C in the first one or two months of life, and at an older age - about 20°C.

All paediatricians agree that with the introduction of complementary foods, water becomes essential. Usually, babies who received only milk or formula before the introduction of complementary foods begin to drink solid food only after one to two months. And babies, accustomed to water, are not capricious and drink it with pleasure after each feeding.

When is water given to newborns?

Babies should be given water some time after meals and between feedings. Do not forget that the volume of the child's stomach is very small, which means that he simply cannot drink a large amount of water at once - a few teaspoons will suffice for a start.

In some situations, the need for fluid increases. Most often, overheating and very dry indoor air leads to a lack of moisture. Many parents are so afraid of colds in a child that they wrap him in clothes and do not observe the temperature regime in the children's room, which leads to a decrease in air humidity and dehydration of the baby's body. The optimal temperature for a nursery is 20 ° C, and humidity is 50–70%. Dry air leads to increased breathing, a decrease in the protective functions of the body, difficulty swallowing and colic. And in summer, in hot weather, overheating is added to all these problems, because of which the child sweats and loses precious moisture. It is easy to determine the first signs of dehydration: this is rare urination (normally - about 20 times a day), dryness of the mucous membranes, skin, tongue. In such a situation, water is simply necessary.

Many paediatricians recommend giving newborns water to drink even when they are sick - with fever or colic, which are easily recognized by tucked up legs, a tense tummy and restlessness of the child. A few sips of warm water can also help with hiccups.

What kind of water should I give my baby?

Boiled water and water from open sources

Many parents believe that children should drink boiled water, but this is a misconception. Boiling leads to the destruction of only part of the bacteria, in addition, such water contains in excess chloride compounds that are very harmful to young children. Water from open sources is also dangerous - it may contain a high content of nitrates and bacteria from the soil and other harmful impurities. And, of course, babies should not be given healing mineral or sparkling water.

In addition, water from ordinary filter jugs designed to purify water for adults is not suitable for infants.

Bottled water

Baby water is sold in pharmacies and supermarkets. As a rule, on the bottle it has a special marking and information that this product has been tested by the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. Water for a baby is different from the usual "adult" drinking water. In particular, other requirements for the content of minerals are imposed on it:

total minerals less than 200–300 mg/l;
calcium - less than 60 mg/l;
potassium less than 5–20 mg/l;
sodium less than 20 mg/l;
magnesium - less than 10-35 mg/l.

Boiling such water is not required, but it can be stored only for a day from the moment of opening and always in the refrigerator. The best container for bottled baby water is a glass bottle or polycarbonate container (bottles made of this material are marked with the number seven on the bottom).

Specially filtered water

Regardless of the brand of bottled baby water and price, it is impossible to be completely sure of its quality. Alas, there are also unscrupulous manufacturers, in addition, product quality may suffer during improper transportation or poor storage conditions.

Many parents, striving to give their children the best from the first days of their lives, “prepare” children's water on their own. Purifying water with quality home filters allows them to be sure that the filtered water does not contain harmful chemicals and bacteria. Moreover, advanced filters enrich the water with the necessary microelements that a growing child's body needs so much. Using water purification systems, parents themselves control its quality - this gives them the opportunity not to doubt the result. Filtering water at home is somewhat similar to making fresh juice: in both cases, the consumer can follow the process and get a natural and fresh drink. Meanwhile, it is impossible to control the technological process in large-scale production, and it is not known exactly how useful such a product is.

Another benefit of using home filters is their cost-effectiveness. Water obtained by home filtration is ten times cheaper, although it is not inferior in quality to water from a supermarket, and often even surpasses it. It is suitable both for feeding the baby, and for preparing milk mixtures and cereals for him. For its natural taste and crystal purity, older children will also love it, for whom water filtered according to all the rules will also be very useful.

Water should be included in a child's diet from birth. It is vital that it undergoes thorough mechanical and biological purification and has a balanced composition of useful substances. When using bottled water, it is useful to carefully read the information on the label. As with any other product, it is advisable to take a bottle with a fresh production date. When using filtered water, keep an eye on the expiration date of the filter, clean or replace the elements of the device in a timely manner.

Baby water

January 16, 2020

The birth of a baby is a long-awaited event. A tiny little man brings joy, troubles, fears, experiences into the life of parents. One concern has to do with nutrition. In particular, mothers are concerned about the issue of drinking. Can a newborn be given water? Which one is suitable for breastfeeding?

Photo 1 - The birth of a baby = pleasant chores

Is it okay to give water to newborns?
Until the age of 6 months, the baby is fed with breast milk. Pediatricians, medical articles and TV shows talk about it. Experts unanimously say that babies should not be given juices, mashed potatoes, grated apple or carrots, sweet compotes and chamomile teas should not be made. You do not need to buy jars for the first feeding, even if they indicate the age of "from 1 month". You should not do all this if there is enough breast milk, and the mother herself eats fully. Some disagreement among doctors remains about food for formula-fed babies. What are your views on water?

Photo 2 - Consult pediatricians about the diet of children

1. Up to 6 months, under normal conditions, breast milk replaces both water and food.
2. If breast milk is too thick, fatty, then water will only benefit the baby.

3. On hot days, water is needed to maintain good health for both adults and children.
4. With viral infections, indigestion, constipation, infant jaundice, it is important to drink clean water for children.

Photo 3 - There are cases when water is needed as a medicine

The conclusion is simple: you can give water to newborns from the first days of life. The need for water up to 6 months and the amount of fluid should be consulted with a pediatrician.
What kind of water to give newborns
Having decided that the baby needs water, the young mother begins to think about which one is safe to give to the newborn. It is easy to find reviews on the Internet that the right choice is boiled. Is it so?

Photo 4 - Boiled water - dead

An important plus of boiled water is the absence of pathogenic microbes and viruses that die at high temperatures. By giving the child only boiled water, problems with intestinal disorders can be eliminated.