Sorry...another newbie FF question! I have no idea, I BF'd DS till he was 18 months so this is very new to me!
I am still BFing my 2 month old DD but she is now on 3 FFs a day and it is inevitable that she will be fulltime FF before long. Am I supposed to offer her drinks of water too? On a regular basis, or only if it's hot? How much?
She wont need water at this age, she will be getting more than enough fluids from both the BF and the FF. If it is particularly hot then you could give her a tiny bit or another milk feed, but at her age she really doesn't need it as it will fill her up too much and she will cut back on milk feeds.
I started both of my kids with cooled boiled water when they started solids (at 5 months). Otherwise i dont think they really need it unless its a super hot day and they have been sweating a bit.
Re how much.. i just fill a sippy cup up for DD and let her sip at her own pace throughout the day. She doesnt always drink the lot.. sometimes only has a small amount.
My MCHN told me to add 15 - 30 mls to each bottle of formular or give some boiled water out of a bottle if she will take it.
Bella will some times drink the water between feeds if she will not then I add the extra water to her bottles.
HTH
Kate
your bub will be getting everything he needs from your breastmilk. Once he is Fully FF then yes, its good to offer them some cool boiled water in between feeds to keep them well hydrayted. Its a pity formula doesnt have 2 sections like the Breast milk.
Mia has more water on a hot day. I rather give her this than more formula coz it upsets her tummy.
This thread has certainly gone off on a tangent! It does say on my tin of formula not to change the proportions except under medical advice. So to my mind that says that there can be valid reasons for changing the mix and that MCHNs and paeds who do advise this aren't necessarily talking rubbish as most people on this thread seem to think.
I have no plans for adding more water to DD's formula and never did - I was wondering about separate drinks of water.
It just worries me that there are people on this thread who HAVE been advised to mix the formula differently by a MCHN or paed and that they may not continue to do that based on the suggestions of people in this thread. This is why I said that I felt that if anyone had doubts about the advice they had received after reading comments on this thread, they should go back to the source of the advice and question them further before discontinuing.
I say this with love, truly, I always post suggestions genuinely wanting to help the OP - but I would not disregard instructions from a paed or MCHN based on advice I received in a forum. Not without checking first. I'm a cautious girl at heart.
Last edited by Curly; January 6th, 2009 at 12:23 PM.
I couldn't get my bub to drink plain water until she was around five months old. She was formula fed and she would throw a massive tantrum if I offered her water instead of formula... it really had me panicked because the weather here gets really, really hot and humid in summer and we didn't have air-con so I was concerned that she could get dehydrated. My GP also suggested watering down her feeds but she could tell the difference and refused them, too, so I just kept giving her formula and offering her water and then one day, as if by magic, she just decided she wanted water and now she is happy to drink it all the time.
Just offer water in a sippy cup, although sometimes older bubs will want to have it in a 'grown-up' cup and will only take it if you let them share your glass of water. It's messy, but it's only water so if that's what they're into, let them backwash everywhere
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Do FF babies need to drink water?
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