tap water or boiled water

Maria - posted on 01/19/2011

I breast fed to and now when i make her bottles i just use tap. i mean its warm but its straight from the faucet. havent had any complications thus far. I didnt kno that they sold baby water or that some boil the water until after i had been doing it but i figured if i drink it then i would give it to my baby i would never give my baby something i would not myself take in. i kno not a very convincing argument and some will say thats not good. But ive been making her bottles that way and like i said havent had any problems

Jenny - posted on 01/19/2011

I boiled for about 6 weeks and then switched to Brita filtered and bottled for camping. We have a very high quality of water here and I never felt I was exposing them to any adverse risks.

Melissa - posted on 01/19/2011

I understand about people being wary. Every mum should do what is right for them. I used to just boil the kettle in the morning then use that water til it ran low

Jodi - posted on 01/19/2011

And just for the record, there ARE bacteria that are immune to the chemicals they put in your water, AND immune to filters.

Jodi - posted on 01/19/2011

I guess I am just wary because during drought here in Australia, boiling water is the norm in some places, even for adults. My in-laws live in a town where they had to boil water due to the potential bacteria during our drought, and although this is now over, it is a bit of a second nature. Our water here is pretty good, but it also got a little low, and some of our dams had some bacterial issues too. It really isn't that much effort to keep jugs of boiled water in our fridge, so I still do it.

Melissa - posted on 01/19/2011

thankyou for all the helpful information. I do prefer filtered water myself and when I give her a drink of plain water on a hot day I do use the filtered water

Jenn - posted on 01/19/2011

I didn't use formula, but I would have probably used tap water. We have a well but have the water tested regularly.

Amanda - posted on 01/19/2011

I have never made a bottle in my life, but I can tell you, my family does not drink tap water at all. Unfor tap water in many areas are full of lead (even if your house is new or pipes have been replaced, the water lines past your land are not). Boiling water does not remove the heavy metals in the water. So if I did have to make a bottle, I would boil it, then filter the water, and still worry it wasnt enough.



*The problem having a father and husband both in water treatment you learn real fast your tap water isnt as safe as your government would like you to think*

Nikki - posted on 01/19/2011

My kids are 2 and 1 and they still only drink filtered water. Personally, our water here does not taste that great so we use filtered water for everything unless we are cooking with it then it is boiled first.

Rosie - posted on 01/19/2011

TAP. there is absolutely no need to boil water unless you have a well. http://www.healthychildren.org/English/a...

i've never boiled water with any of my kids, it's an exhausting tiresome, definitely unnecessary step since i don't have well water.

that website is from the american academy of pediatrics.:)

Krista - posted on 01/19/2011

I boiled Sam's water until he was about 6 months old. After that, I put his water through the Brita. We're on a well, and get it tested every year. Other than a bit of extra iron, the water is pretty good.

Louise - posted on 01/19/2011

I always boiled the water until my child was 12 months old. I also sterilised all the bottles as well until 12 months. This was the guidlines in England.

Dawn - posted on 01/18/2011

I live in the country and we only have well water. It isn't filtered or softened and I don't boil it. I do breastfeed mostly, but for the occasional formula feeding, we use straight from the tap. I talked to my dad about it a little, the need for boiling water and sterilizing everything, and he said he remembered his mom doing it because at the time there weren't regulations as far as sewer lines and water lines and the distances between them, so there was a lot of concern about water supplies truly being contaminated, not so much so that an adult might not be able to handle it, but that it could really be dangerous to an infant. That said, we've rarely had an illness with our girls. The worst was a cold and mild fever in our 2 year old this past November. Never anything stomach related that could be attributed to soiled water. I wouldn't worry about tap water, unless you're area uses fluoride additives which can be detrimental to your chlid's health. I don't know that boliling would fix that anyway, so you might go the bottled water route. HTH

Meghan - posted on 01/18/2011

I boiled water and kept it in the fridge until he was 8 months, then we moved in with my mom and she had a water cooler so I started using that. I don't let him drink tap water here cause we always have boil water advisories and they don't seem to let us know until our water has been infected for a bout 4-5 days...plus it usually tastes like a swimming pool. *cringe*

Joanna - posted on 01/18/2011

I never got any advice on it, I just used tap water. And my girl didn't get sick once in her whole year of tap-water-formula.

Charlie - posted on 01/18/2011

All of our midwives advised only using boiled water until a year old this is what I have always done as well as sterilizing the kids bottles .

Water can still carry Giardia and other bacteria even in countries like Australia , America , Canada and the UK .

My sisters boyfriend got Giardia and it was fucking horrible I would never risk that with my kids .

I now use a filter too so we are all protected from disease and heavy metal content in tap water .

Sarah - posted on 01/18/2011

I always boiled the water when I made my son's bottles. I did the same thing that Jodi did- I boiled a pot of water & then put it in a large jug in the fridge so I had it ready to go. We got one of those Ozarka filtered water things, so I occasionally used that to make my son's bottles if I didn't have any water boiled. I've gotten spoiled on that Ozarka water, and I won't drink tap water anymore lol. My son only drinks whole milk & filtered water now (he's 16 months).

Nicole - posted on 01/18/2011

I have a Brita filter and I use that water for preparing her bottles



She gets one bottle every few months, and is mostly breastfed and only got breastmilk for the first 6 months or rice cereal mixed with breastmilk

Jodi - posted on 01/18/2011

Mandy, no matter how good your water is, it still has bacteria in it, so you should boil it for them while they are infants. I'll be honest, I can't remember how old they were when I stopped boiling it. Maybe around the same time they started picking things up off the floor and putting them in their mouths, LOL.

Bonnie - posted on 01/18/2011

I boiled my water. I still do even just for watering down juice for my kids and they are now 2.5 and 4. It just makes me feel better that it is boiled and I can't stand the taste of tap water.

Julianne - posted on 01/18/2011

Pretty sure on the formula the directions are to boil the water. Personally i would boil spring water, i don't like tap water, too many additives.



http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/h...

Melissa - posted on 01/18/2011

Jodi - I heard that because the water was good here it was fine to just use tap water. With baby #1 we read 6 months on the net and switched then. Now #2 is 6 months and mostly on tap water for bottles but still breast feeds most of the time

Jodi - posted on 01/18/2011

I always boiled mine - I always kept a jug of boiled water in the fridge. That was the advice when my son was a baby, and I just did it automatically for my daughter. Boiling water is the only way to truly get rid of bacteria if there is any being carried in your water system or your pipes.