Is It Ok To Give Water To My 3 Month Old?

by Amanda
(Iowa)

My three month old wants to suck on a bottle about every hour. I know he is not hungry so I was wondering if he can have a small amount of water? Can it be harmful in anyway?

Baby Help Line Response:

Water To Infant - Yes Or No

Yes, you can give some water to your 3 month old as long as it doesn't make him eat too little and it is just a little bit of water.

Giving him a small amount of water instead of the breast or formula if he wants to suck that often might be an efficient way to teach him to settle without the sucking (doesn't taste as good). You may also want to try a pacifier.

However, if the frequent feeding is something he has been doing only for a short while, it might be that he is in a growth spurt and is working hard to increase your supply of milk (or formula). In such case, offering him water instead of the breast will be counter productive. Your supply will not increase and he will continue to want to suck often, simply because he is hungry.

So if you do think it can be a growth spurt, wait for a few days with the water if you do breast feed and maybe combine with giving him some more formula if he is only bottle fed.

Also remember to give him clean water and only in small amounts (like a table spoon). Depending on the quality of your tap water, if you plan to use it, ask a health care provider in your area if you should boil it.

The reason you should not give your baby large amounts of water, is that it can result in water intoxication - i.e. that the sodium balance of your baby becomes affected. This happens more easily before a baby starts with solid foods, since the only sodium available to the baby is through the breast milk or formula. (Read more about water intoxication among the comments below)

Hope this helps!

Paula

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Is It Ok To Give Water To My 3 Month Old?

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Sep 10, 2011

PAULA!!
by: Anonymous

Is it possible to give a 9 week old baby too much water... I started with just a lil an then realized he really likes water and he drinks like 5 or 6 ounces a day... There are no signs of any harm but I just wanted to ask if that was too much water.. Side note: I live in Arizona and I'm always scared of dehydration, which is why I started water.

Sep 11, 2011

Water to a 9 week old
by: Paula (Baby Help Line)

Hi,

Actually, I wouldn't give that much water to a nine week old for two very specific reasons;

1) They still are in a very rapid growth period for at least one more month, and hence need all the nutrition they can get. So if he drinks that much water, he may drink that much less milk.

2) Water can actually be dangerous in large amounts for young babies; it can give them water intoxication. What may happen is that when the baby pees, the urine contains some salt in addition to the water. If the baby then drinks water instead of breast milk or formula, no sodium is added back into the infant's body. This can then lead to intoxication with some nasty effects, such as seizures amongst others.

So long story short, do not offer more than very small amounts of water to your baby before starting with solid foods. The components of breast milk are perfect for hydrating your baby and formula is a good substitute.

I don't mean to scare you, but in just a couple of months, your baby's body and diet will be much more suited for water. It is great in the long run, of course, that he likes water, and you can always give him a teaspoon now and then to make sure he continues to like it.

You can find a detailed article on why not to give water to babies in New York Times here. (Opens in new window).

I hope this helps,

Paula

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