Water is one of the vital compounds for humans, so every adult drinks it every day and consumes foods with its high content. But when it comes to babies, there are always questions about whether such small children need water and what kind of water it should be. It is also important for young mothers to know if raw water is dangerous for babies and what to do if the baby sips it while bathing.
At what age to give
Babies need water from birth, but there is a constant debate about the drinking of babies. It will not work to say unequivocally whether it is required by newborns.
To do this, you should first take into account the type of feeding:
- If a baby receives breast milk, it is not only food for the baby, but also a drink. For this reason, a nursing baby may not be drunk until 4-5 months of age. Moreover, if you give extra water to a newborn baby while breastfeeding, this can adversely affect lactation and even provoke a refusal to breastfeed. It is advised to start giving it to healthy nursing babies together with the beginning of complementary feeding, when the baby is six months old.
- An infant under 6 months of age who is fed human milk may require additional milk in some situations. Many pediatricians, including Dr. Komarovsky, insist on the need to drink infants with frequent regurgitation, vomiting, diarrhea or high fever, as well as when staying in a dry and warm room. Such situations can lead to rapid dehydration, so additional liquid for the crumbs is very important.
- A bottle-fed infant should be given water immediately after birth, offering it warm after formula feedings. The volume for a specific baby should be checked with the pediatrician. On average, for a child in the first months of life, it is 100-200 ml per day.
Requirements
Any child should receive only clean water. For this reason, its use in its raw form, in which there are chlorine compounds, harmful bacteria and other dangerous components, is not recommended for infants and children over a year old. Even if it is passed through a cleaning filter, it is suitable for adults, but should not be used for baby food.
Give children water:
- Special for children (bottled).
- From artesian sources.
- Boiled.
- Mineral.
Avoid giving babies water:
- From the well.
- Sweet.
- From an open reservoir.
- Carbonated.
If a child accidentally drank unboiled water, for example, swallowed a little from the bath when bathing, in most cases this does not pose a danger to him. Carefully monitor the condition of the crumbs and, in case of alarming symptoms, contact your pediatrician.
For information on whether you can drink tap water, see the next video.
Find out if your child's weight is normal using the following calculator.
