Water is necessary for a person for normal life, without it it is impossible to imagine life on Earth. But, with regards to newborn children, the question of supplementing with water is very acute and there is no definite answer. Is it possible and necessary to give a newborn water, in particular boiled water?

Before dotting the I, it is necessary to understand that the need to supplement with water directly depends on the type of nutrition of the baby, on the state of his health and the climatic conditions of the environment.

Back in 1989, the World Health Organization came to the conclusion that a child who is purely breastfed () does not need to be supplemented with water until 6 months (before complementary feeding). This is easily explained by the chemical composition of human milk (the figures are approximate, since the composition of milk is different for each woman):

• water 87%;
• lactose (milk sugar) 6.5%;
• fat 4%;
• protein 1%;
• vitamins and minerals 1.5%.

As you can see, water is the main ingredient in milk. Nature is arranged in such a way that not a single mammal takes its newborn child to a watering place, because by default the cub receives everything it needs and needs with its mother's milk. Yes, someone will say that we are people, not monkeys, cows, etc. But the essence does not change from this, we have evolved just like other mammals as a result of a long process of evolution.

Human milk is divided into front and back milk. The foremilk is thinner, sweeter, and leaner. It is white, but with a bluish tinge. It is his baby who drinks first, satisfying his drinking needs. Then, fatty and nutritious hindmilk begins to flow into the baby's stomach, satisfying the need for nutrition. Hind milk is yellowish, more concentrated.

By adding water to the baby before feeding, you run the risk of not giving the baby hind milk, as it will fill the stomach with water and fore milk, which is practically devoid of nutrients that the child needs for growth and development.

If you are really afraid to seem greedy, you are gnawing at the conscience and views of mothers and grandmothers from the fact that you do not give your baby water, drink from a spoon and after the main breastfeeding.

An infant needs to be given water on 3 occasions

In general, there are situations when supplementation with water while breastfeeding is necessary:

1. Outside or indoors, the temperature and humidity conditions are far from optimal (hot, stuffy, dry air, which means low humidity). In such conditions, the child sweats, the body intensively loses moisture and salt, the mucous membranes dry out, and the process of dehydration slowly begins, which is deadly for the child. The child pees noticeably less often (less than 10-12 times a day). If it is not possible to apply the baby to the breast more often, add a little bit of clean, unboiled water (you can even dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 liter of water, the saline solution will replenish the body's loss of salts).
2. Illness of a child, accompanied by a high fever, vomiting and diarrhea (for example, a rotavirus infection). The child's body is rapidly dehydrated, so you can't get rid of breast milk here. It is necessary to connect rehydrating agents (for example, Rehydron) or the most affordable rehydration solution at home (3 g of table salt + 18 g of sugar + 1 L of clean water at room temperature).
3. A breastfed baby suffers from constipation or colic. Water with prunes or raisin water will help with constipation, and drinking dill water improves the situation with colic.

Can a bottle-fed newborn drink water?

An artificial baby or one who is on mixed feeding is not given water what is possible, but even necessary. The adapted infant formula contains much more protein compounds than human milk, therefore, the baby needs more liquid to break it down and remove waste products. Very often, bottle-fed children suffer from constipation, this is the main sign of a lack of water in the body. You need to add some water to the child before feeding with the mixture.

Boiled water is by no means the most useful thing that can be offered to a newborn child as a supplement. During boiling in water, only part of the bacteria is destroyed, but the boiled water is saturated with chloride compounds (including chloroform), which are very harmful for young children. Boiled water is dead, it does not contain the necessary minerals and salts. Of course, there will be no visible reasons and a sharp deterioration in the child's condition, but you got food for thought!

High-quality and healthy water for children's nutrition must be purified at the molecular level. As a rule, such water is produced by drinking water factories, and bottles with children's drinking water should be marked and information that the product has been tested in the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences). Bottled drinking water for children differs from bottled water for adults in its mineral content. It must be consumed raw, no need to boil it.

Requirements for drinking water for children:

• the total content of minerals is not more than 200-300 mg / l;
• calcium not more than 60 mg / l;
• potassium not more than 20 mg / l;
• sodium not more than 20 mg / l;
• magnesium not more than 35 mg / l.

Therefore, when choosing drinking water for children, pay attention to the mineral content, so as not to purchase ordinary filtered water, which can be easily made at home. The water from the cooler is also bottled, but it is not intended for feeding children.

You cannot give a baby to drink tap water, despite the fact that it is called drinking water. It is undesirable for an adult to drink it without first passing it through a filter.

It is not necessary for the child to give water with sugar or even slightly sweeten it before starting vigorous activity (""). This will lead to tooth decay or contribute to the development of thrush in the mouth (""). But an active crawling or running child needs a lot of energy, the easy source of which is just sweet water, water with honey, compote.

You can not give infants mineral carbonated or non-carbonated water, as it contains a large amount of minerals that put an unnecessary burden on still weak kidneys.

You can not drink boiled water for newborn children, as it is saturated with chloride compounds harmful to the child's body.

The issue of introducing water into the diet of an infant will disappear with the introduction of complementary foods (""), and now enjoy infancy and observe the condition of the baby, which will be the starting point for understanding whether a small body needs water or not.

Boiling is one of the safest ways to process milk. Thermal disinfection frees the product from harmful bacteria and makes it safe to use. Raw (not store-bought) milk is boiled without fail. Only in this form can it be given to children. A controversial question remains whether it is necessary to boil pasteurized milk for a child and whether it makes sense to deprive the product of useful elements, subjecting it to repeated processing. Let's try to figure it out.

Boiling pasteurized milk for a baby - is it necessary?

During pasteurization, everything harmful is destroyed, but together with pathogenic bacteria, the product is deprived of useful elements.

Adults can drink an unboiled drink without fear, as for children, there is no need to rush. There are several strong arguments for reprocessing:

• Pasteurized milk is packaged in a sealed container that prevents the penetration of harmful microorganisms, but it is recommended to use the product immediately after opening. When buying a healthy drink, no one knows how well the heat treatment was made. If long-term storage is planned, it is better to boil and keep in the refrigerator.
• The end result of pasteurization is unpredictable. Much depends on how and in what conditions the product was stored prior to processing. Violations are noted very often, if you are not sure about the quality and freshness, it is better not to risk it.
• Not all animals are healthy, many carry infectious diseases. During pasteurization, disease-causing organisms are destroyed, but their spores remain alive. In a favorable environment, they begin to multiply again.

Milk is a mixture of healthy elements. It has everything that is needed for the development and growth of babies: vitamins, trace elements, fats, proteins and carbohydrates. As a complementary food for breastfeeding, the pasteurized product is safe, but it is better not to give it to children under 2 years old.

If for some reason the mother does not have the opportunity to breastfeed, the best nutritional option for up to 1 year is special adapted formulas. It is possible to supplement the first feeding of an infant with a pasteurized drink, but only after additional heat treatment and not earlier than 9-11 months. The new product is introduced gradually and must be boiled, since at this age the digestive system is very weak and vulnerable.

During home processing, do not boil for a long time or at high temperatures. Refrigerate milk immediately and do not leave in an open container. It is not recommended to heat several times.

Ultra-pasteurized milk in baby food

UHT foods do not need to be boiled. All necessary disinfecting processes include modern processing technology. Bacteria and their spores are completely destroyed, the beneficial properties are preserved. Raw materials of the highest grade are subjected to ultra-pasteurization, so there is no doubt about its quality. Choosing UHT milk for your baby don't waste time on additional processing. You can heat it, but it is not necessary to bring it to a boil. As for the age restrictions, they apply only to babies under 1 year old.

conclusions

Nothing has been invented better than breast milk; formula and store-bought dairy products cannot replace it. In cases where natural feeding is not possible and one must choose, pasteurized milk can be given. Boil the drink for children under 3 years old. UHT product does not require additional heat treatment.

Check out our parenting tips section for a lot of this information.

Usually, breastfeeding consultants advise mothers not to add water to their baby until 9-12 months, but to feed them only with breast milk. There are also opponents of this point of view with their own weighty arguments. But we will not argue on this topic, since we are directly involved in the production of water. We only note that if you decide to add water to your child, then pediatricians advise you to do this after feeding, when he is full. Since we have been producing water for 12 years, we know a lot about its quality and we know how water quality affects health. Imagine a situation where a mother gets milk only on the third day. In this case, of course, the mother will give the baby some water. And also she herself will drink water. Everything that enters her body goes to the baby. Good quality water, in addition to breaking down nutrients, carries oxygen to cells, will activate metabolic processes in the body, give energy to cells due to its macro and microelements. The fact is that the structure of quality water is similar to that in blood plasma, lymph, and intracellular fluid. And when the body receives such water, cells do not need to spend additional efforts to "absorb" it. That is why such water is fully absorbed by the body and provides energy by itself.

Even for milk to form, you need to drink enough good water. After all, it is known that if a mother is poisoned with food, she can eat practically nothing for several days, but it is imperative that you need to drink a lot of water so that milk does not disappear, this time, and, secondly, so that the water removes harmful substances from the body, this is also a function water! In addition, water helps relieve constipation. And this is very important for mothers after childbirth. To do this, you need to drink a glass of water immediately after waking up, a glass before each meal and half an hour before taking. Water improves intestinal peristalsis, helps the stomach to absorb food. And also the sewerage system of the body of our body requires a lot of water to remove all the "slags".

Bottle-fed babies will also need water to dilute the formula and to supplement the water. And water, of course, needs good quality, not from the tap. Many people boil water and give it to children. Of course, the child will not die from this. However, it is not known how the use of such water will affect your child.

Cons of boiled water:

1.The quality of tap water in Moscow is quite good, BUT, due to chlorine and its derivative, sodium hypochlorite, this water is not suitable for a child. Chlorine itself is very harmful even for an adult. Many scientists abroad (Dr. Palin, Dr. Robin, Dr. Mayer) have come to the conclusion that the consumption of chlorinated water leads to cancer. Our scientists and doctors also talk about this (Irina Kolyadina, doctor of the Research Institute of Clinical Oncology, Olga Butakova, general practitioner, Mikhailova R.I., head of the drinking water supply laboratory at the Sysin Institute, etc.)

2. Tap water is water from a river with millions of maximum permissible concentrations of substances in water (MPC), among which are: benzene, acids, phenols, metals, radioactive elements, cyanides. According to Gost (San-Pin for tap water No. 2.1.4.1074-01), this is the kind of water we use in our apartments. And you cannot remove all the variety of substances with any home filters. But chlorine is able to interact with them, forming dioxins, known to all. This destroys our own bacteria that produce interferon (inhibits the multiplication of viruses in the cell). In addition, chlorine does not kill some substances: cysts, amoebas, protozoa.

All this is very harmful for the delicate stomach of the child, for his microflora. And his health is only being laid now. Indeed, even one of the reasons for colic in a child is a lack of enzymes for digesting food. The child is just forming a normal bacterial flora.

3. During boiling, the structure of water is destroyed and such water is useless. Good water contains many macro- and microelements, from which our cells build and repair themselves. When boiled, the quantity and quality of these elements is disturbed.

4. If you boil water for a baby in a teapot, salts in the form of scale and lime are deposited on its walls when the water evaporates and enter the body when drinking water. Salts accumulate, which leads to various diseases.

But you can boil bottled children's water. There is no chlorine in it. However, the structure will still collapse. Therefore, it is not at all necessary to bring it to a boil (100 degrees). Enough 95 degrees as in the cooler. Or even less, because special baby water can be drunk by children from birth. For example, our water "Divo". You can see the certificate of the A.N. Sysina for baby water on our website, and we can also send it to you by e-mail. We will certainly send a certificate when ordering water for a sample along with analyzes at your request. You can read about how children's water differs from adult water in the materials of our website.

In boiled water (100 degrees) there are almost no macro and microelements, it is practically dead water. You can heat water on the stove without boiling or purchase a cooler. The water does not boil in the cooler. We have excellent models that take up little space: desktop coolers from 1600 to 2700 rubles. The desktop cooler will also be convenient because the child will not be able to reach and break it for a long time. We only sell new coolers. For any cooler, you need to sanitize at least twice every six months. The more good water you use, the less often you need to disinfect. It is noticed that the cooler is processed with our water once every six months - a year. A bottle of 19 liters is stored for 3-6 months. Just don't put it in the sun, otherwise your water will bloom and the cooler will fail faster. When you put the bottle on the cooler, be sure to tear off the round film from the neck. If you do not do this, then the remains of the paper will fall into the cooler and get stuck there.

You can also order water on our website. By the way, when you buy a desktop cooler, we give you 3 bottles of our Divo water, 19.8 liters each!

What kind of water to dilute the infant formula?

This question worries many mothers. We'll figure out whether it is worth buying water in the store, or you can get by with the one that flows from the tap, and also whether it requires boiling.

Whether to boil baby water for formula

The answer to this question is unambiguous - water for infant formula without fail requires boiling, if this water is from the tap. Boiling tap water allows you to solve the following tasks:

• • kill bacteria

• • reduce the concentration of chlorine,

• reduce water hardness.

It is recommended to boil water for the complete destruction of bacteria for about 10 minutes, but in practice, mothers rarely boil for more than two to three minutes.

Important information! If boiled water stands for a long time, bacteria will reappear in it. Also, boiling does not kill botulism bacillus and hepatitis A virus.

Boiled water has a drawback - some useful substances die in it, so many mothers prefer to buy special bottled water for children.

Manufacturers assure that it is not necessary to boil it, it is enough to heat it to a temperature of 37C and dilute the mixture. But as a result of numerous checks, violations were repeatedly revealed - the quality left much to be desired.

What kind of water to dilute the infant formula - tap or purchased

If you decide to buy baby water, it is still worth boiling it. This will eliminate any dangers that such a product might contain. Roskontrol specialists checked popular brands of baby water and revealed a number of violations.

1. Frutonyanya - in this water, as a result of analysis, an excess of mercury indicators was found by 3 times. An unpleasant odor was also detected at a temperature of 60C. No violations were found for the rest of the indicators.

The cost is about 85 rubles for 5 liters.

2.Hipp - Experts have found low levels of potassium and fluoride, as well as high concentrations of nitrates, yet within the normal range. Despite the high cost, the quality of this product is questioned.

The cost is about 86 rubles for 1.5 liters.

3. Baby - a minimum of violations was found in this water, namely, a slight excess of calcium and a lower amount of fluorine in comparison with the declared indicators. In general, the product meets safety requirements, does not have toxic and opportunistic substances.

The cost is about 115 rubles for 5 liters.

4. Agusha - in the water of a well-known Russian manufacturer of fluorine 3.3 times less than the norm. Also, buyers note the rigidity - after boiling, a sediment remains. On other indicators - smell, taste, composition, the experts had no complaints.

The cost is about 90 rubles for 5 liters.

Thus, we can conclude that even water bought in a store is not always safe for a baby. And the question, what water to cook baby formula, for many mums, it is still decided in favor of tap but boiled water.

• • Do not prepare a mixture from boiling water - the water must be cooled to 37C or diluted with cool pre-boiled water.

• • If you live outside the city and use water from a well or well, then it is better to use purchased water for preparing baby food.

• • A good alternative is to purchase a filter jug \u200b\u200bfor water purification, for example, from the company "Barrier". The company produces children's filters that allow you to get a liquid that is optimal in composition for a child.

• Water bought in a store can be stored after opening the package for no more than a day and only in the refrigerator. Buy liquid in glass or polycarbonate packaging (there is a number 7 at the bottom of such a container).