I'm trying to figure out when I should start giving my son water and or juice, how to do it and where to fit it in to his normal eating schedule. Currently, he goes through about 4 8 oz. bottles a day of formula (one at breakfast, 1/2 at lunch, 1 at snack time, 1/2 at dinner, and 1 at bed). I want to make sure that he still gets all the formula he needs but have been hearing and seeing different things about when I can introduce other drinks and where to place it throughout his day. Any suggestions?
ADDED:
My son will be 7 months on September 12th
I started giving DD water at 6 months during the serving of her baby food. I do not give juice and probably won't for several years. I just dont see it is necessary and it has o much sugar. My Dr did suggest at 7 months or so to start changing the method of delivery for fomula/water. I.E. start giving formula in sippys and water in bottles occasionally to set the expectation that formaula doesn't always come in a bottle. Good luck
Unless you live in the desert, or your child has one of a few rare disorders, it's not recommended to give a baby water until after they're 1yo or older. Juice (fruit) is just sugar water (I have nothing against juice, personally, but there's no nurtrional value to it *except* for the sugar)
Their nutritional needs are too high as infants to be diluting the nutrition you are giving them. That's also why you're supposed to mix cereal (if you start solids under 1yo) with breastmilk or formula. Tablefood has something like 1/100th of the nutrition breastmilk and forumla does. When you start solids young, you need to keep their milk or formula consumption the same.
You could add juice at snack time and water before bed.
I gave all my girls sippy cups with water when we started solids, around 6-7 months, just to kinda help 'wash down' their food. Water isn't *needed* until baby stops the bottle or breast, typically around a yeat.
You may want to hold the juice back as long as you can, because for a lot of kids once they taste the sweetness of juice, it's tough to get them to drink water again.
How old is your child? I didn't start water until about 6 months. It's not recommended when they are still tiny although I hadn't heard one year...that seems extreme to me actually. We used it when it was time to introduce the sippy cup, which was 6 months for both my kids. I put water in it and let them play with it and drink some. Also, at this age both my kids were really fascinated with drinking water from my cup so we practiced that too. I held off on juice for as long as possible which was about a year or so with both kids. I don't see the point in it for little kids. I would also offer it after we were outside playing and things like that. About 10-12 months I also introduced the sport bottle of water to my kids. My son was really into it b/c big sis used one, and although it was messy, he was really into it! My kids are now almost 4 and almost 2 and they enjoy juice but rarely drink it. It's really nice b/c I see a lot of parents struggling with the juice issue.
i Started to give my son water at around 5 months, about the time we started rice cereal. I would just let him play with a sippy cup of water a few times a day while he sat on the floor and offered him sips with his solid meal times. As he got older, I incorporated water in to his day more and more. My mom was really shocked I waited this long even and was surprised this was closer to current recommendations. Trust me, he won't be guzzling enough water to begin to replace any of his formula anytime soon, so I suggest letting him try it! Water in smallish quantities won't be a problem at all. JUICE, on the other hand - hold out on it! It truly offers no benefit and you should really caution against getting him hooked. Once he's had juice, he will probably get a strong preference for it and then you have a problem. My son didn't have juice until he was a year old. Doc said it offered no benefits since he was eating fruits very well. It's best to wait. Good luck to yoU!
