What water to use for baby formula

Mama07

Im exclusively breastfeeding for 2 months now but my baby was big and hungry from the start so decided to try 1 formula bottle during the day as he is not getting enough sleep..and im not either:)

My problem is that we dont drink the tap water because of fluoride chlorine and whatnot and since we dont drink it ourselves, even in tea, are not going to expect baby to drink it.

So im wondering is there any brand of bottled water that is considered safe for infants. ( around 2 months old, roughly 13 / 14 lbs)

Carter P Fly

Boiled, britta filtered Tap water is just fine. Boil the kettle and pour into the sterilised bottles and place lids on and let cool.

Its absolutely hilarious that people actually think bottled water of any make is better in some way then boiled tap water.

zef

As far as I am aware, Ashbeck from Tescos (5ltr = 1.44e) has the lowest crap content and a ph of 6.3
When finding out about fluoride I read that about Ashbeck it being the best for babys bottles- so maybe Google it.
Not able to afford a RO unit atm, saving...

Found source of info : - http://www.bfsweb.org/water%20fluoridation%20and%20infant%20formula.htm

Moonbeam

We bought ready made formula when we had tap water issues. Evian is safe too.

pwurple

It is tricky to find bottled water in Ireland that has a low enough mineral content for babies.

We used tap water boiled unless there was a fault. There was a time when we had brown tap water... We found it very hard to find something to make bottles with, all the water we found had Not Suitable for Babies printed on them. We ended up getting tap water from friends.

We collect rainwater for gardening. That isn't drinkable either unless you can collect in sterile containers that don't let light in.

Could you express some for the extra night feeds?

Lisha

you can use any bottled water that has a sodium content (called Na on the label ) of less than 20mg/L. This is the official guide line we were given by vhi helpline and hospital

WE could not use our tap water as it is well water that is salt treated. For my first baby I used evian or volvic. For my second I realised that the lidl bottled water has less than 20mg/L

I also used a different kettle so there would not be any contaminants from well water in bottle, might be over kill but I was happier.ou are stuck

You could also fill bottles from a different person s tap who's water is ok if you like

http://www.infantfeeding.info/water.htm

liliq

I don't mean to drag this OT, but I've heard about people doing this a bit, giving formula and am a bit baffled... what is the logic behind it?

No idea on bottled water, I would have thought that the tap water boiled would be ok, unless there was a specific contaminant.

Hannibal Smith

liliq wrote: »

I don't mean to drag this OT, but I've heard about people doing this a bit, giving formula and am a bit baffled... what is the logic behind it?

No idea on bottled water, I would have thought that the tap water boiled would be ok, unless there was a specific contaminant.

Sometimes the local water can be contaminated or not fit for human consumption. There was a huge problem in galway and meath not so long ago.

If I was going somewhere and not sure of the local water i'd get bottled. Tis no big issue, just a precaution

jma

Mama07 wrote:

So im wondering is there any brand of bottled water that is considered safe for infants. ( around 2 months old, roughly 13 / 14 lbs)

I also heard that Evian was supposed to be safe for baby formula.

Carter P Fly wrote: »

Its absolutely hilarious that people actually think bottled water of any make is better in some way then boiled tap water.

I don't see how it's so hilarious, to be honest! Do you know exactly what they put into our tap water?

For starters, the chemicals are mixed into our tap water at local level. It's known, in parts, that the prescribed dosages aren't always followed - for example, if the designated person responsible is away for a week or two, they used to "double up" before they left. Not sure is this still practised. Secondly, our water is NOT routinely tested for certain contaminants. Policies for dealing with lead contamination and contamination through leakage from septic tanks and wastewater systems is only being dealt with now, with compliance deadlines in 2013. In the last house I lived in, the water was always green, and it smelled like a swimming pool every time the taps were opened. During that time, I also developed a skin condition. I had the water analysed, and was told the chlorine levels were too high for drinking water.

According to the Irish Statue Book, the water supply in Galway should contain 1 ppm of Fluoride, roughly about 1 mg/l. According to the EC Public Health website, the estimated tolerable limit for children under 1-6 years old is exceeded at 1.5 litres of water containing 0.8 mg/l of Fluoride per day, or probably not applicable in this case, at only 1 litre per day in combination with normal usage of regular fluoridated toothpaste.

And last, Fluoride has a much, much higher boiling point than water. This means that if you boil the tap water, the Fluoride concentration is automatically increased.

liliq wrote:

I don't mean to drag this OT, but I've heard about people doing this a bit, giving formula and am a bit baffled... what is the logic behind it?

Well, apart from the above, it could be a case where a bigger baby is so hungry that the feeding mother cannot produce enough milk. Also, as the OP has noted, her baby is obviously so hungry that it doesn't feel satisfied enough to get the proper amount of sleep. Babies sleep in 20 minute cycles (REM - NREM sleep). During the cycles, if a baby feels discomfort (hungry, too noisy, lack of noise, wet nappy, etc), it will often wake up. If you add regular growth spurts on top of that, it can be extremely difficult to keep up. It will feel like you the only thing you're doing all day is feeding.

Mama07

Thank You all for your info and suggestions. I think I will go with the evian water. It seems to be the safest option.

It would be great and cheaper if I could use the lidl water but even though the Na content is really low, its irish water. Unfortunetly, like all irish water, there is no indication if fluoride is present or not on the label.

Great idea with the using a second kettle. I will definetly use this idea.

JMA is correct about not having enough milk. My Baby is very hungry every 2 hours. My milk supply was great up until last few weeks. Now it feels that he may need 1 formula bottle as a top up.

bulmersgal

Mama07 wrote: »

Thank You all for your info and suggestions. I think I will go with the evian water. It seems to be the safest option.

It would be great and cheaper if I could use the lidl water but even though the Na content is really low, its irish water. Unfortunetly, like all irish water, there is no indication if fluoride is present or not on the label.

Great idea with the using a second kettle. I will definetly use this idea.

JMA is correct about not having enough milk. My Baby is very hungry every 2 hours. My milk supply was great up until last few weeks. Now it feels that he may need 1 formula bottle as a top up.

If you are only giving one bottle a day, I'd go with cartons of ready mixed formula. As i would be worried about formula being open too long as it will take you a while to use all with only one bottle a day.

cbyrd

You can buy gallon bottles of distilled water in the pharmacy.. i htink they're about €5 or €6 ..it's used for very windy babies... the chemist use it for mixing the liquid anti-biotics.. i used it with my 3rd boy..

Mink

We don't like drinking our tap water, tastes rank with all the chemicals added. Actually you don't notice it when water is cold out of the tap, but once it's room temperature it's horrible We got a Britta water filter - way cheaper than drinking bottled water. Plus you don't get any of the added minerals thats in bottled. I even put filtered water in the cat's water dishes.

We boil the filtered water for our baby bottles. Obviously the filter doesn't sterilise it, it just takes out the crap like metals and chemicals. Still have to boil it after of course.

liliq

Mama07 wrote: »

JMA is correct about not having enough milk. My Baby is very hungry every 2 hours. My milk supply was great up until last few weeks. Now it feels that he may need 1 formula bottle as a top up.

I'm not suggesting that you don't give a bottle of formula, if this is what you want to do.
If you're purely worried that you're not producing enough milk though, you more than likely are. Babies grow through growth spurts where they will nurse more often in order to get mums body to produce more milk to meet their demand. it often lasts a week and then settles down again. It's totally normal for an 8 week old baby to wake every 2,3 or 4 hours to feed, and at this stage your supply will be starting to settle, so you won't physically feel as though your breasts are full, but there is plenty there.

Again, I'm not saying you shouldn't give a bottle if you want to, just trying to reassure you that more than likely there is more than enough milk there for bubs!

Hope you get some sleep