When do they need water

[human bean]

Do you find she wants to BF any less? I guess you wont see untill she starts taking in water..I just got a sippy cup then, the thing is emtpy and already DD has it to her mouth lol,she loves it ,thinks its her new toy

Nope not feeding any less, she's actually picked up a few feeds over the last week or so, not sure if it's because it's been hotter here lately, a growth spurt, or simply just because And yep I guess I won't be able to tell if it affects her BF until she's properly drinking the water, but then it could be eating more solids that does it too......

And yep sippy cup = great new toy!

[onthefly]

Nah, I don't think DS had much water at all till he started cutting back bfs. It's more of a toy at first. She'll take what she needs

[helle]

Ds has water with meals... And then it sorta hangs around during the day and he has a few sips here and there? But he definitely knows when he wants water and when he wants boob!! I've been encouraging water too because his poops are a little hard at times.
And what's this? We don't need to boil water now??

[CinderToriella]

And what's this? We don't need to boil water now??

Yeah i though we had to boil as well, when do we not boil?

[toomanyshoes]

I always used boiled water for both kids

[onthefly]

I thought you didn't need to worry about that sort of thing after 6 months. If they're eating adn drinking (and putting who knows what else in their mouths) then there's not really any point in boiling/sterilising...

[meow]

I agree with Marcellus- no need to boil. Once children are shoving food in their mouths, and especially once they are mobile enough to be putting toys etc in their mouths then there is no point. I gave my son water filtered with a brita jug, because that's what we drink and I prefer less chemicals.

[Alan]

The need to boil water would depend on the quality of your water. In most cases there is no need to boil when your baby reaches 6 months but a few years ago in Sydney they had things swimming in the tap water.

[Heaven]

I started offering water in a sippy cup when we started solids. DD actually loves water and drank quite a lot! But it didn't stop her BF at all. She probably drank 4 sippy cups of water a day at 1 yr and also had around 10 breastfeeds, and 3 solids meals and snacks! This was in the middle of Qld summer though.