sippy cup w/ water appropriate for ebf 4.5 mo? (x-posted life w/ babe)

[red and lulu]

my dd is 4.5 mo old and has never had a bottle, and i've never pumped. but i just got a manual pump and got her a little sippy cup, because there are a few days next month where i'll have to leave her with dad for an hour or two and i want to make sure she can eat if she needs to...

she's really cute with the cup, holds both the handles and puts it in her mouth. i put a little bit of filtered water in it so she can learn how to drink, but i'm wondering if that's ok... Am i going about this the right way?

[sunshynbaby]

I wouldn't want to fill DS's tummy up with anything but my nutrient rich breast milk at this age... Can you put pumped breast milk in the cup instead?

[EmilyG]

I'm sure she isn't getting much yet, and a little bit of water won't hurt, I wouldn't let her drink more than an ounce though, as she starts to get the hang of the sippy I'd switch over to expressed breastmilk.

[3girls1boy]

sounds like a good plan to me.

[Calidris]

If it's a tiny bit, and only very rarely it probably wouldn't be a problem. My DD drank lots of bathwater while she was otherwise EBF

Remember though that breastmilk is specifically designed to be an entire food, so too much water, in addition to having no nutritional value, could also mess up her solute levels.