Hi Moms! What is nursery water and is it different than regular bottled water? When do babies need to drink water and how much per day? Your advice is much appreciated!
I've never heard of it but know that in some other countries they recommend a few sips of water after breastfeeding?!
Kris
It sounds like a scam to charge you more for water. We used tap water that we ran through a Brita filter for mixing my son's formula (I breast fed but used formula in his cereal). Here in Germany, the tap water is drinkable and not nasty-tasting like San Diego tap water. We have seen various brands of "baby water" on the store shelves. The baby water cost between two and three times more than plain bottled water. There was no difference in the mineral content. My son had fluoride tablets because the water here is not fluoridated. The cost of tap water, or regular bottled water, and the fluoride tablets was still lower than buying special baby water. Read the price tags and the labels and you will probably find only very minor differences between baby water and regular water.
You might want to read up on Fluoride before you give it to your precious daughter.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm
Hello Courtney,
I have a son who is a little over two and I gave him nursery water when he was an infant but not untilhe was 6 months old. I read online that you should not give it to them until they hit 6 months of age because too much fluoride can affect their teeth. I would just ask your child's Dr. about it. You can find nursery water at Walmart for about $1.25. Here is a website I found about fluoride and infants http://life.familyeducation.com/safety/teeth/42017.html, you can also google it and type in babies and fluoride
oh and about giving your baby water, your child doesn't need any water if they are formula fed since you have to use water to mix the formula. You should also ask your child's Dr. about that too. I hope this has helped you. God bless you and your family.
Nursery water has flouride in it. If her Dr. prescribed flouride drops DO NOT give flouride water. Too much flouride makes white spots on the permanent teeth.
Nursery water is purified and contains fluoride. It's a good idea for areas that don't already put fluoride in the drinking water. We live in Nevada and there is a law against putting fluoride in water but California puts fluoride in their water; small amounts of fluoride are beneficial but large amounts are poison...now you are afraid. My husband grew up in California and his teeth are almost perfect and I grew up in Nevada and my teeth are weak and full of fillings even though I rarely had candy as a child and brushed religiously. So, if you city already has fluoride in the water and you use it don't use the nursery water or just use the nursery water. Best wishes.
babies aren't suppose to drink water until they are 1 year old. it's very toxic to them. sorry have no idea what nursery water is.
It's a gimic, just drink tap water. However, babies really only need your breast milk till almost a year old.
My husband and I used nursery water when our kids were babies, they're now 5 & 6 years old....and it basically has floride in it. We didn't want to use tap water and bottle water doesn't contain floride, like tap water. So we used nursery water until they were done with formula. I felt it was important for their new teeth to have.
Dear Courtney:
Babies don't need water until they're over a year old.
During the first year, your breastmilk or formula is needed to grow the child's brain and body. This is the time that they grow the fastest so they need optimal nutrition which plain water just doesn't provide.
Best wishes,
M.
PS: I also quit my job when my daughter was six months old! What a blessing! I'm so happy for you!
Keeping in mind that there is no agency which monitors or sets standards for the content of bottled water, I bought bottled water for about 3 months of my kids' lives, then switched to Brita, now we have a filter in our fridge, that we change when we are supposed to. Honestly, I was a little afraid of their things being too sterile. Freeze the water, if the cubes are clear, it's probably ok. Also, you can find out the water make up in your area by contacting the city, usually on their website.
If your daughter is 6 months...I recall using Nursing water to be...kind of like (The stores sell infant water) steril water because of the age. Or you can boil the water and cool it. Then you bottle it and give it to your baby. I don't know why the doctor doesn't tell mothers to give babies water but if they don't drink it at baby age, sometimes they don't like it later. As long as baby is eating the formula regularly, stick some water inbetween. I'd rotate between feedings with water preferably than juice. Juice gave my baby rotten teeth but she loved it so much she wouldn't take the water.
Courtney,
Save your money! Your child will not need flouride until they start seeing a dentist (typically at age 3). And then your dentist should prescribe a yummy, chewable tablet that your child can chew just before bedtime. Best of all, these tablets are nowhere near as expensive as the nursery water.
Your daughter is very lucky to have such a concerned mother and your are very wise to ask for advice. You're doing great! Keep it up.
You can give your six month old water each day. I would start now instead of later. I have learned that children need to learn to acquire the taste of water by the age of 2 or they will not care for water or drink it as much later in life. I would only start out with a few ounces a day but by the time they are about a year old your child should be drinking about 18 oz of milk and the rest of her daily hydrations can be in water. Good Luck!
The nursery water has fluoride in it. I give it to my little boy in his bottle before bed (he is on formula now). The baby doesn't really need much water beyond their milk. When we went to AZ when he was about 5mo, my baby had 2 bottles of water and 1-2 extra bottles of formula because of the dry heat I suspect.
Every day is different and your baby will tell you when she needs more of something.
Nursery water is distilled and purified water with added flouride, marketed to parents of infants and toddlers.
Infants and toddlers do NOT benefit from added flouride; in fact, dentists generally instruct parents to have their kids brush their teeth with flouride-free toothpaste until they're old enough to spit it out properly. Moreover, it can potentially harm your child. There are petitions online, for example, asking Wal-Mart not to sell "nursery water."
Heidi (responder below) is wrong, however, when she says that plain water is "very toxic" to babies. Clean, pure water is certainly not toxic -- it's just not good to give babies in place of breast milk or formula, because babies need to get the most nutrition out of every ounce that goes into their tummies.
Hi Courtney:
Nursery water has floride in it as I'm sure you've learned since reading the other responses. I live in California and my grandson's pediatrician recommended the nursey water once his teeth started coming in. He currently has 2 on the bottom and 2 more coming in on top. My daughter mixes it with his Formula. He is 9 months old now. He has been doing great on it with no ill affects. His teeth appear to be very strong. We can usually find nursery water for about $1 a gallon at Albertsons. Babies R Us carries it, but its a little more expensive. I believe all the major supermarkets carry it, but it all depends on whether its on sale or not what you will pay, but I havent seen it for more then $2 a gallon. Anyway, ask your pediatrician and she will let you know if your child needs it.
V.
Babies do not need to drink water, since their food is mostly water. When you breastfeed your baby gets lots of water. Even baby food has a lot of water in it, and at 6 months old she shoudl not be having solid table food. I never gave my kids water until they were older, usually when I started to wean, but when in doubt, ask your pediatrician.
Hi Courtney, the nursery water is just pure water, and I believe babies need water as newborns, especially during the hot weather, When I was pregnant with my fist baby I bought a nurseing set it had formula bottles one juice bottle and one water bottle, I stateted my newborns on at least 2 ounces twice a day, and I encreased it as they got older, every living breathing thing needs water. J.
I've seen nursery water on the shelves but never really looked too hard at it - it mainly looked like a money-making scam to me. I don't trust our tap water, and I prefer the taste of reverse osmosis water so that is what we drink at our house.
I remember our pediatrician saying something about babies' kidneys not being able to process too much water at a young age, but I don't remember what the ages of concern are. When your baby is nursing or taking formula consistently, at least for the first year, I don't think you need to supplement with water. The only time we were concerned about water intake during the first year was if the baby's stool was too hard. When that happened, we would just add a little extra water to the bottle with formula and that took care of it.
Toward the end of my babies' first years, I would always keep a sippy cup with cold water handy for them. I always keep a cup of cold water nearby when I am at home, and a bottle when I go out, so my boys were naturally interested in it because they saw me drinking water all the time. They love drinking water now (they are 3 and 2 years old), and that's pretty much all they drink - water and milk, with a special "treat" of watered-down juice once a day.
No more than 4 oz /day in a sippy cup. Give w/ solids/meals or in hot weather. Nursery water is just expensive water. Don't buy it. Use tap water if your local water is fluoridated, otherwise, just regular filtered drinking water is fine. No need to sweeten or add juice, just plain good fresh water. My daughter (7 months) likes her sippy cup cold. Nuby (at Babies-r-us) makes a nice soft spout sippy as does Nuk(at Walmart). Good luck!
I haven't read all the responses people gave you, but from what I saw everyone is pretty negative against it. Nursery water is like bottled water, but it had fluoride in it. My parents had me drinking it when I was little and I never had any cavaties until I was on my own. The only reason I don't give it to my kids is because their doctor has them all on fluoride. It's not necessarily a waist of money, it just depends on whether or not there is fluoride already in your water system. No.Nv doesn't, but I think Ca does. I'm not sure where you are. Check with your ped. They should know.
Nursery water has fluoride added to it as well as being filtered. I use it for making formula when I am not at home where we have filtered and fluronated water.
As for giving water...if you feed your baby food or cereal it is ok to feed your baby some water. Water is a supplement and not meant to be given in large quantities. If you are unsure ask your doc. the info above is what was given to me by my kids ped. So I know there are lots of purists out there who say not till 1year but my doc says it isnt bad to give it to them. It isnt toxic to babies over the age of 2 months so dont get scared off... K good luck to you and bottom line..Ask your pediatrician if you are unsure..you and your pediatrician will make the best decision for your baby.
