When to introduce drinking water to LO?

[Blessed_Mom]

Hi,

When did you introduce drinking water (and how much) to your LO? It would be helpful if you can state your location too (for example my sister in Texas was asked to feed some water to her LO at 4 months itself...in tiny amounts of course).

So far my DD's ped has not mentioned it but I am planning to ask him at her 6 mo WBV (in a week).

We switched to larger diapers some time back. But somehow I feel like her wet diapers have decreased a bit (recently she has started teething and feeding less but this was observed before when her weight gain was just fine too.)

Actually another Q: Did your LOs produce 5-6 wet diapers until 1st year? Mine produces 4 (sometimes 5). I am not counting her poo diapers as wet diapers.

[shelbean91]

Mine are older, but from what I remember I started water around the time they started solid foods 6-9 mos or so. Or, if we were out in summer- I'd give them a sip here and there between nursings. We live in AZ.

[Mal85]

DD got constipated pretty bad around 5 months, so I gave her some water then. I just continued to offer it here and there after that. It took her a couple of months to be able to actually drink from the cup on her own, so the amount of water she was getting was pretty limited. Now, she's quite a pro. I use a sippy w/out a leak guard. Oh and I'm in Missouri.

[jewelsJZ]

Originally Posted by shelbean91

Mine are older, but from what I remember I started water around the time they started solid foods 6-9 mos or so. Or, if we were out in summer- I'd give them a sip here and there between nursings. We live in AZ.

Yes, that. Sippy cup of water when eating solids and on hot days when outside. It's only hot in summer and early fall where we live.
I didn't count wet dipes with any of mine except as newborns.

[mamazee]

Not until they start getting a few solids. When they start having solids, I start giving them a few sips of water here and there, but really just sips here and there.

[boobs4milk]

breast milk is 88% water. i wouldn't think that a baby would ned anything else?
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyneedwater.htm

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/t023000.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fit6.asp

[Phridae]

DS was 8 months when we bought his first learner cup.
Even now at almost 10 months he doesn't drink much from it though, so I'm not sure it was even worth it at this point.

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

My daughter's 5 months old and I've been giving her the occasional sip of water from a straw for a few weeks. It entertains her when we're eating out.

[fruitfulmomma]

Somewhere between 4 and 6 months, depending on whether or not it is very hot outside. We are in Colorado and the weather really varies here a lot. But as pp said BM is mostly water so if you are nursing on demand throughout the day I would not be at all concerned about it.

[JordanKX]

curious.... take away the NEED for water, since clearly BM and formula fed babies shouldn't NEED additional water.

But would it be wrong to give them water earlier? Is it bad for babies?

[JBaxter]

I always gave them a sippy cup of water to practice with when we started solids so between 4 and 6 months. My oldest is 18 and recommendations were different then. I would also give them sips from my glass about that time

[fruitfulmomma]

But would it be wrong to give them water earlier? Is it bad for babies?

Babies can become intoxicated if they are given too much water - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication. Small sips are probably okay, but then anything you are filling their tummy with is taking away from their ability to take in breast milk which is far superior.

[GreenGranolaMama]

I started giving DS his sippy to play with w/o any water in it around 6mo. He's almost 7mo and I have started filling it up just a little (although the cup has no leak guard so most of it ends up on his pants ) and I give him little sips of my water now and then.
We live in Maine.

[Critty]

We started giving sips from a cup at 5 months and DD LOVES water. We only give her a tiny amount, but she never thinks it is enough. I assume it is cool on her gums. I am in Ontario, Canada and we have a water softner, so we give her bottled water (luckily a bottle last's a long time!). She is now (6 months) starting to lift the cup to her mouth, of course she spills most of down the front of herself, but she is having fun. We may give her 1-2 tbsp a day. Whenever she sees our glasses of water, she lunges at them.

[Blessed_Mom]

Thanks for all the responses. We live near Seattle - I forgot to mention.I gave her water in a sippy cup twice to get her introduced to the cup. She loved water - but I didn't let her drink more than a few sips each time.

Trying to highlight my other question.

Did your LOs produce 4-6 wet diapers throughout their first year? Somehow I feel like - either my DD's wet diapers have reduced to 4 a day OR that she is spacing out her pees more. For example - some times in the night she may not go for hours together (like 6 hours ) but maybe her next diaper after she wakes up is heavier (i don't know...maybe)

[D_McG]

I start about 6 mos and don't limit it. Both of mine manage it just fine themselves. At 6 mos they barely drink at all. By a year DS drank quite a bit. I never felt like it interfered with bf'ing.

[Amandala]

I always let my baby boy have sips of water before, but now that he's 9 months old and for the past month has been dropping back a jar of Stage 3 like it's nothing, I'll give him a bottle of water just to have. If it has a little bit of juice in it (we make it about 1/3 or less of First Juice unsweetened organic baby juice), he'll do the whole thing like a shot.

I think the main reason why I want him to do this is because he's always constipated... surely keeping him hydrated must help. But I wouldn't let him drink bottles of water if it in any way seemed to lessen the amount of boob juice he takes in. But in his case, it doesn't - nothing does - HE'S A HOOVER.

I kept thinking I shouldn't give him too much baby food or Mum-Mums or water/juice because he'd eat that instead of breast milk and it's less nutritious. But when I gave him that stuff I realized he'll suck it all down and then demand to nurse on top of it. Bottomless!

[newmomrose]

To answer your question, my 9 m.o. wets about 8-9 times/day at least. She only wears cloth diapers though so it is really easy to tell. I have heard that disposables can be so absorbent it is hard to tell if they've wet, but don't know that from first-hand experience.

We live in Oregon and were recommended to give very small amounts of water once she starts eating solids. Up to about a month ago I would just hold up a cup to her and she would drink a few teaspoons, after eating. Then at 8 months I got her a water bottle thingy and let her do it herself. She mostly playing with it but drinks some.

If you are breastfeeding on demand, she isn't constipated, and isn't fussy, then I think you don't have anything to worry about.

[Beene]

Originally Posted by Blessed_Mom

Hi,

When did you introduce drinking water (and how much) to your LO? It would be helpful if you can state your location too (for example my sister in Texas was asked to feed some water to her LO at 4 months itself...in tiny amounts of course).

So far my DD's ped has not mentioned it but I am planning to ask him at her 6 mo WBV (in a week).

We switched to larger diapers some time back. But somehow I feel like her wet diapers have decreased a bit (recently she has started teething and feeding less but this was observed before when her weight gain was just fine too.)

Actually another Q: Did your LOs produce 5-6 wet diapers until 1st year? Mine produces 4 (sometimes 5). I am not counting her poo diapers as wet diapers.

I didn't think I would start water until DS was into solids, but it was very hot this summer and one day I noticed his soft spot was receding just a tad. That was the day I started giving him about 2 oz. a day. Always after BFing, so he doesn't fill up. And spaced throughout the day, not at once. We started with the sippy right away, as he never took a bottle, and now at 8 months he drinks as much as he wants from the sippy that is available to him. hth.

[Teenytoona]

Here's my comical answer: when she's nearing 6 months old and screams at you because you didn't let her have it because you're concerned about displacing breastmilk.

But my answer is when s/he seems ready. DD was ready to try other tastes, and she quite literally screamed at me when I didn't let her have water one day. I decided I could give myself some breathing room and let her have water occassionally.