Parenting Forums

Posted: 20 October 2006 at 6:23pm | IP Logged

Hi as most of you will have seen on my other post 'interfering MIL' I keep being told to give my LO top ups with water. The reason why I should give him water seems to change each time I speak to the MIL but some of her reasons include:

1. Cleans out LO mouth
2. Stops LO throat getting clogged up with milk
3. Because he's thirsty and LO doesnt get his thirst quenched by breast milk
4. It helps to get rid of colic/wind
5. It helps to get rid of milk spots
6. Babies need to taste something other than breastmilk

I'm sure she has said loads of other reasons as well but I tend to turn off when she goes on about it cause everything I have read on this subject seems to go against this idea. My MIL was a nurse and a MW before she retired and I feel awful when we dont take her advice but my instincts tell me Nathaniel doesnt need anything other than what my body has produced for him, especially as he is so young (5wks)...

Does anyone else have any suggestions, feelings or comments on this subject? I would be really interested to know if any of you have introduced water to your lo diets and at what age did you start...

Posted: 20 October 2006 at 6:41pm | IP Logged

oooo my own mum came up with some of those ones.  She said about the clean out mouth one, erm and the thirsty top up ones.

I have to admit I didnt do any of it with Tasja and had a mare getting her to drink anything when it came round to it.  With Isla though I think (cos it was ages ago) I waited til she was over a month old, and then gave it a bash.  It was a lot easier as Isla got older to get her to drink other stuff...than having to fight tooth and nail like I had to with Tasja. 

The lass who used to live over the road gave her lo water from day dot..as well as being on the bottles and all was fine. 

End of the day its your choice.

Posted: 20 October 2006 at 6:50pm | IP Logged

erm..I'd go with your instincts - I didn't give Ellie anything other than breastmilk until she was at least a few months old and then I did give her water in a bottle sometimes as she was only feeding about every 4 hours and I didn't want her to have loads of bfs a day when she wasn't hungry if you see what I mean..

Babies don't need anything more than breastmilk - your milk provides both a drink and then a meal...so if you're happy to go with a bf whenever your baby wants it, I'd not bother with the water just yet...

I did give Ellie expressed breastmilk a couple of times a week tho from her being about 2 weeks old because I didn't want to have a problem getting her onto a bottle - she was fine with it...

I've never heard of the reasons above being good reasons to give a baby water, quite honestly they sound a bit silly to me - what did women do before bottles were invented?!  The mw in the hospital did tell me that warmed water would get rid of wind but I don't know if this is true...

stick to your guns - she had her chance with her own babies, it's your turn now! good luck!

Posted: 20 October 2006 at 8:32pm | IP Logged

I never gave Fran or Ollie water or any other fluid until I started to wean them, babies don't need water if they are exclusively breastfed, breastmilk is all they need.  Even in hot countries mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies and don't give them water.  Breastmilk doesn't coat a babies mouth like formula milk so they don't need their mouth washing, their throats don't get clogged up, it won't get rid of milk spots because milk spots aren't really caused by milk anyway in fact they would probably get more of a rash from the inpurities in water and they don't need to taste anything other than breastmilk as their taste buds haven't developed yet they are still very basic at this age.

Do what you feel is right and stick to your guns.  When mil suggests something just thank her politely and do your own thing she'll never know there is no point in getting into an argument about it.  Good luck.

Posted: 20 October 2006 at 8:32pm | IP Logged

OOooo this is a good one!  If you are breast feeding you do NOT need to give your baby extra fluids etc for any reason unless told to do so by a doctor ie during a heatwave!  Your body produces exactly what the baby needs, the 'foremilk' is watery and basically quenches baby's thirst, and the hind milk is the food which will add the weight and calories your baby needs.  I learnt all that after I gave up!  If I had known why the baby wasn't putting the weight on, I'd have expressed some of my foremilk and given him 'the good stuff'.

You know your baby better than she does, and even the mw's won't presume to tell you that they know more than you, as you are the one that has the baby round the clock! HTH

But if it was my mil, I'd put the phone down next time she started hassling you! lol

Posted: 21 April 2007 at 10:04pm | IP Logged

breast fed babies don't need extra water did your MIL breast or bottle feed cos mine bottlr fed and she goes on about giving water

why should you everneed to give extra water

Posted: 21 April 2007 at 10:25pm | IP Logged

Hi Rachel, welcome to the site

If you are breast feeding your baby and he/she is under 6 months of age, then you don't ever need to give extra water. Advice has changed an awful lot in the last even 10 years, never mind since we were all babies, so often the things we know now run in opposition to the things our mums and mums-in-law were told. By breastfeeding your baby you are giving them absolutely the best of everything they need, so smile at your MIL and just keep up the good work you're doing!

If you get any more questions about anything, just give us all a shout - look forward to seeing you about.