How Long Should I Use Nursery Water?

FYI...an interesting article

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/beautyeats/22317/tap-vs-bottle...

I want to add -

Sara D
Be sensitive when you say something like 'Doing good for your child - breasfeed'
You NEVER know womeone's circumstances and you could offend people who COULD NOT.
I thought that comment was completely out of line.
M

Another scam to make you pay for what is free! I would never use that stuff.

Keep in mind that bottled water is not regulated so you have NO idea what is in there. Whereas public water sources are watched for contaminates.

Chicago tap water is amongst the best in the country. If you want to filter-- Brita is a good plan and will filter out some of the larger particulates.

I would not feed my child fluoride in that level. Very contraversial.

I am not sure about how long to cont the flouride water, but do not use distilled water! It can cause serious electrolyte imbalances

Stop flouidated water!!!! It causes discoloration of the permanent teeth that cannot be fixed! Notice that children's toothpaste doesn't contain flouride - in addition to tje discoloration of the teeth, it is not safe for ingestion by small children.

Good luck!

L. Freeman

I would ask your doctor. We also use Nursery water because we have well water. My sister is a dental hygentist and she was telling me that you would be surprised as to where you get flouride from and to not be too conserned. I am going to ask my doctor as well at our next visit. Good luck!

WHY IS FLUORIDE SO CONTROVERSIAL: ADA WARNING
"… the American Dental Association released an email alert to its members warning that, in order to prevent tooth damage, fluoridated water should not be mixed into formula or foods intended for babies aged 1 and younger.

"Currently, two-thirds of the U.S. public water supply has fluoride chemicals added, a move centered on a now-disproved theory that fluoride ingestion prevents cavities. Research by the Centers for Disease Control has shown that fluoride absorbs into tooth enamel topically, but ingestion of the chemical can cause adverse reactions.

How about just getting a water filtration device, either for your sink or a pitcher that you can use in the fridge. You must spend tons on bottled water! This way you get better tasting water, it's cheaper, and it has the fluoride in it, which is good for you too.

I only used Nursery water for the first 12 months. I ALSO have a 17 month old and am expecting our second May 7th! Funny. I am not too clear on the benefits/needs for Nursery Water, so I'll learn from these responses, too. We give our 17 month old filtered water.

Hi H.,

I see you have lots of responses but wanted to add my two cents. I'm not sure where you live, but our ped. always told us Chicago (and surroundings areas) has the 'best' tap water containing enough flouride and no need to use nursery water. We've always used tap water since we switched our daughter to formula (5 months). She's now 15 months.

Stay with the nursey water and my dentist told me to use it until my daughter is 11 since we don't like out tap water either.

DO NOT USE DISTILLED WATER! My niece was raised on distilled water and had extreme dental problems because she did not get the floride her teeth needed! If you are concerned with water, use purified water with minerals. When water is distilled, it looses all minerals.

For those telling you that flouride is bad, there is flouride in all tap water across the country. I grew up in Colorado, which has the most flouride content in their water, and which most dentists can tell a Colorado native by the lack of cavities and dental problems such as gingevitis periodontis etc... I've had one cavity and it happened in college after I moved away. The only thing I would say to your request is If you only drink bottled water, then it is now safe to use the same with your son. I used Nursery water for the first 12 months, and then switched to tap, because I like it, and it is cheaper. There are other ways to get flouride through proper diet. The only reason really necessary to switch is cost. All of these other studies change so often that if you listen to every one of them, you might as well dig a hole and hide because nothing is safe anymore.

I must say I used it with my last daughter to the age of 2 1/2. Do you plan on using tap? If not you may want to stay on the nursey water do to the fact that it has floride in it. We had well water so until our dentist provide us with floride in a pill form we stayed on the nursery water. It was recommended by both doctor and dentist. I think it would be best that you check with them.

Chicago has some of the best tap water in the country....we have Lake Michigan! I've never used nursery or bottled water with my one year old.

I would do some research online, because I have been reading a lot about giving babies non flouride water. New research shows that if you take proper precautions, babies don't need it and it could be harmful. I don't remember where i read this, but I am sure it is "out there" somewhere. Maybe someone else will respond with similiar info.

Good Luck.

My daughter is three and I still use the fluoridated water. I had used the nursery water, but now I use Ice Mountain for Kids with Fluoride. Not sure if there is a difference, but like you I don't like to drink tap water and I know there is no fluoride in bottled water.

H. - Couple of points to add -
NO - NOT all water in this area is treated - NOR does it HAVE fluoride IN the water. MOST towns OUTSIDE of
Chicago do NOT. We moved here and found out that most towns don’t even know if they DO or DON’T have it in the treatment process/or added. As some others stated it also depends on where you live/the age of the pipes <lead> in the home, as well as age of the child. We have our water tested by “Culligan” – they will come out and test your water or you can take samples to THEM. YES, you have to deal with a pushy sales rep. and his/her job is to SELL you something but they do an EXCELLENT job at telling and showing you what is / isn’t in your water and how to fix it. If you stand tough you will get away without purchasing anything – and they will let you ‘think about it’. ALSO – as your pediatrician AND dentist. They will give you THEIR opinions of what they believe you should do, but as always, it is up to you to make the final decision. Good Luck.

Fluoride is rat poison!!!

Chicago tap water is actually very good, unless you live in a home that still has lead pipes. Plus tap water has extra minerals in it that are good for you. I definitely wouldn't switch to distilled water and I would check with your doctor about the nursery water. Are doctor strongly recommended against the nursery water, ever. I only use bottled water when we are travelling because it is more convenient. A lot of bottled water, I think Dasani has been in the news a lot lately, is simply tap water in a bottle.

D.

Actually, I've never used nursery water with my trio and I live in the Cook Co. area - just immediately West of Chicago. Both the doctors & nurses at NICU and the Pediatrician's office told us it was never necessary. The only thing we did to enhance our tap water was install a brita filter. I guess depending on where you live and what kind of water you have would determine what kind you use.

To mix with my childrens juice I use tap water. One time I accidently grabbed a jug of the Nursery water out of my fridge and took a sip and it is the NASTIEST stuff I have ever tasted. After that, I only used that water with their formula.

I stop giving my children Nursery water at a year old, when they began drinking whole milk.

My daughters are 14 months old and we stopped using Nursery water a few months ago. Now we're using regular tap water, which is great in Chicago. Also, bottled water is really bad for the environment, so we try to stay away from it, unless we really need to (when we're travelling, etc.).

It's not that flouride is bad, it that flouride-fortified things like toothpaste have too much for little systems to handle which is why you don't need toothpaste at all or should get special pastes (like Oral B) for babies and toddlers.
As for tap water, I just wanted you to know that almost ALL bottled water is from the tap (even when it says it's spring water) so you are kidding yourself if you think you're getting something better by paying too much for it. You are much better off just getting a Britta Filter pitcher or the kind that goes on the faucet.
There is no reason to use distilled water except in your clothes iron. You can look up the studies on it, Nursary water is no better for your baby than tap or filtered.
I won't argue that many times bottled, filtered, or distilled tastes better, our water is so hard, it tastes like you are drinking out of a hose :( We have a filter pitcher. But I just wanted to make sure you know that it's no better for you, it just tastes better.

Long answer short? Don't continue to over-pay for things like Nursery Water and skip it for this next one. Want to do the best for your baby? Breastfeed. Want to do the next best? Get a filtered pitcher and save yourself at least the cost of water if you are going to pay so much for formula. You can check with your pediatrician, ours agreed, Nursery water is a scam.

It's been some time for me, but I think I asked the Pediatrician when I could take the kids off the nursery water, as the flouride is very important.

Hope this helps,
M.

Get your tap water checked out (some towns are better than others) and also consider a home filter system - everything from a Brita pitcher to a "whole house filter" are available out there.

I would avoid "distilled" water unless there's a need for it to be THAT clear. Distilled water has NO minerals at all, and tastes like absolutely nothing. Even bottled drinking water is purified tap water, with extra minerals added back in for taste. If you want to get the pre-bottled stuff, consider the stuff sold as "drinking water".

Quick tip - most drinking water sold in 16-32 ounce bottles in stores is actually city tap water. Read the labels completely and note the use of the word "municipal" or something similar.

Children can use flouridated water until the age of 8 years old, to strengthen the enamel of their developing teeth. Yes, too much flouride can cause discoloration and mottling of enamel, but not in the amounts regulated in the water. Tap water is fine, or any carbon filter, such as Brita. A super duper, reverse osmosis filter will give you almost the equivalent of distilled water, taking out lead and chlorine, but taking out the flouride as well. And yes, kids do need flouride. Dental decay is the single most common disease kids suffer from, and it's entirely preventable.

V. DiMario DDS
DiMario Dental Services, LLC

I think nursery water is a complete waste of money. If you don't want to use tap because it's bad in your area then just give him normal bottle water.

Personally, we never use bottle water. It's a waste of money. The water in our city is tested and is fine to use - as it is in the majority of US cities/towns. Besides, most of the bottled water on the market today is just tap water from another city! Yes... even the "mountain stream" ones because that just means the city tap water in that city came from a mountain stream nearby. It's all a big scam!

Also stop the floride. It became common knowledge a few years ago that too much floride is bad for children.