What Kind of Water Are You Feeding Your 7 Month Old?

Good old tap water. The floride in tap water is very important even before they get teeth. It is much less expensive than the bottle water!

Sometimes I give tap water, sometimes I give bottled water, and sometimes my mom gives them flavored bottled water.

I buy the distilled water at Walmart. My Ped told me that the water was filtered and still contained the floride needed for healthy teeth.

We have always given our son Aquafina or Dasani. That's what we used to mix his formula and everything. We had read that they are actually healthier than spring water. Our tap water is just disgusting and horrible or we would give him that!

The rice cereal is pretty blah... you might want to mix it with breast milk to sweeten it up a bit

My pedi said that town water is fine. It provides the flouride they need for their teeth when they come in. If you have well water, he suggested buying the baby water with flouride in it. Hope that helps!

If you are exclusively breastfeeding, unless your child is sweating heavily on a very hot day, they don't need any other fluids. That said, tap water is fine. Tap water has better quality control than bottled, which also has the whole issue of plasticizing agents (bisphenol A, etc.) being possible mutagens or pseudohormones. The special water for babies is a ripoff if you have fluoridated tap water at home. If you want to be extra safe about it, you can boil and cool your water to sterilize it, which is what used to be recommended (although is no longer considered necessary for babies with healthy immune systems).

Both of my kids always got tap water, but that is because we have a UV AND reverse osmosis filtration system for our water. Otherwise, I would not give them tap water without having it tested first. BTW, if you have your water tested & you can find a place that will do it w/o charging you a fortune, you might consider asking them to test two or three other "bottled" waters that you think you might be considering, just to find out what's really in them as well.

H.,
I think the whole issue about water is that some towns add flouride and come don't. Your son should most likely have water with flouride. If your tap water has itadded, then your tap water is fine. (call your municipal center) You might find it hand to buy the small bottles of water that have flouride added to keep cool in your fridge. Don't stress.

I'm not sure about the well water comment, as many families in our area are raised on well water. It doesn't contain flouride, which to some is a major plus, and to others a major flaw.

We have well water with purifier and its quality far surpasses the tap (its tested annually).

We used Brita-filtered tap water from about 5 months old for my daughter - no issues! Good luck!

I used regular tap water. Our water is flouridated, so it was better for their developing teeth. I would think (although I'm no expert) that unless your ped tells you NOT to use tap water, it's safe (and cheaper) to use it.

Our pediatrician told us to use tap water as long as we weren't using well water. When using well water (especially the horrible well water in Florida!) we were told to use the bottled baby water that contains fluoride. We just used a Brita pitcher and mixed our formula with the filtered tap water.

The best water I have found is Penta water available at whole foods and Martindale's on Baltimore Pike(for the best price),
Arrowroot also has it. It is also the best water for you and your whole family. The very least, the water needs to be filtered home water filters like Nikken and EcoQuest are two of the best I know about.
J. Melsha DC

Hi H.,
Tap water is just fine. We have one of those Brita filter things in the fridge that we use sometimes, though that was too cold when our kids were younger so we just used tap water. I think the only thing you'd have to ask your ped. is maybe if you have well water. On the other hand, I grew up with well water and I'm (arguably! haha) fine.

M.

Tap water is perfectly fine for a baby.

Tap water frightens me....you never know what's in it unless you get it tested. I use the bottled water they sell especially for infants...I think it is called Nursery Water, and can be found in the baby section of your grocery store or where the bottled water is. It differs from regular bottled water, in that it has flouride in it.
J. W

We have well water and I didn't know anything about the flouride NOT being in it(nor did anyone care to tell me) so my first daughter had 8 cavities!! I felt HORRIBLE!
So now w/my 2nd daughter, I get the nursery water at walmart.

Ok whatever you do. DO NOT GIVE YOUR BABY WATER WITH FLOURIDE IN IT. Flouride is intended for your teeth not to be ingested. It is known to have very harmful affects on the brain. Studies have shown numerous cases of it. If you have tooth paste that contains flouride, why do you need it in your water?

If you're not sure what to think google "harmful afftects of flouride". I was weary at first too. But See for yourself. But to put it as simple as possible, lets put it this way. The next time you go to a store that carries rat poison, glance at the ingredients. SODIUM FLOURIDE. Why would you let your baby drink something that contains an additive in rat poison?
p.s. i'm sorry i hope you don't think i'm attacking you, i'm just very serious about this topic.

So to answer your question I would just stick with bottled spring or distilled water.

Hi H.,

We have a filter on our water, so I give my son filtered tap water. He started drinking it from a sippy cup when he was 6 months old. He only got breastmilk or water until after he was 1 year old. Sometimes I give him bottled water, but usually he gets filtered tap water. As long as your water isn't too hard, it should be fine.

J.

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I gave both of mine filtered water and still do.

Hi, while my daughter was younger and breastfed, I would substitute a bottle of formula periodically. I would use Nursery water from walmart. It had floride added to it to help with her teeth. Now that she is almost 2 I buy her the smaller bottles of water or the pod bottles of water b/c they are easier for her little hands to handle and also b/c then there is less waste. If your pediatrician recommends a brand then go with that otherwise try a couple and go with what works for your child.

D.

It all depends on what type of water you have. I know that we have public water and are pipes are newer then my moms. My mom has public water but her water you can sometimes smell the chemicals in it. So we don't drink the water there. I also don't drink Pottstown water. For every time that i have gotten water out of there pipes it always had an odor or a funky taste. That could be from the older pipes. If you feel comfatble of drinking your own water then go for it. Some bottle water is not much cleaner then the water that you get out of the tap. I think that it is pepis that use the water that they use to clean out the taps from the soda. They just re run the water threw a filter. There are also those jug containers that have the filters that u can put in your fridge. Use your judgement.

My son has always had tap water, even in his formula bottles. (I wish I could have gotten him to breastfeed but after a 6 week nursing strike, I gave up.) If you do use bottled water, you want the type that has fluoride in it (or so I've been told). They need the fluoride for their growing teeth (even if they don't have any budding yet).

Anyhow, hope this helps. Good luck with your little guy.

H., At that age I gave my son tap water that I let sit out and get to room temperature. I recycled an empty spring water bottle. Now that he is teething and 9 months old he loves cold water, so I put an ice cube in his sippie cup. Good luck!

There should really be no reason for an infant to have water. Your breastmilk should provide enough nutrition AND hydration for him at this point. It is not necessary and can be unsafe. See attached for more information. If you do choose to give your baby a little water with meals, use your tap water as long as it isn't from a well.
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/baby-water.html

Hi-
Consider asking about bottled water with floride. They sell it in the baby aisle.

I was feeding my daughter stage one or two foods. I started with vegetables, then fruits. I tried each different one for at least three to four days before switching to another in order to note any allergic reactions.

I didn't do the meat baby foods because the smell kinda grossed me out. Take that back -- we did do a lot of chicken and apples. It seemed to mostly smell like apples, although it did contain protein.

I honestly forget when we introduced Cheerios and small finger foods. However, I remember my daughter having an early pincer grasp so I believe it was earlier than when one would typically serve these types of foods.

But about the water -- I've always heard to use tap because it contains flouride which is necessary for one's teeth. Just find out if your water has flouride in it. (For example, I know a girlfriend or two who lives in Elkton, MD and she does NOT have flouride in her water. Same MIGHT be true with people who have well water. In those cases, the people had to add flouride to their water supply. Sounds complicated, but they say it's no big deal at all.)

Good luck!

T. :)

I just came across this thread.

My jaw dropped in reading the replies. PLEASE DO SOME HOMEWORK Folks, don't believe me. There are many additional informational pieces of documentation in addition to this small collection used to get your attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLgKeHOgneQ

http://www.battery-rechargeable-charger.com/water-filter-...

http://www.mercola.com/Downloads/bonus/truth-about-water-...

My son is almost 2 and I have been giving him bottled water since I can remember. (No particular brand or type) And I must also tell you that during most of that time, we didn't drink our tap water either. I checked with his pediatrician when he was pretty young regarding the whole fluoride (spelling) issue... and they gave me a prescription for fluoride drops to give him daily.