giving baby water..how much?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

now that DS (5.5 mo) has been eating solids for a few weeks now (1tbs rice cereal mixed with breastmilk twice a day) i am wondering about giving him water. not sure though about how much i should be giving him. i guess my concern is that he will drink too much water and be less hungry for breastmilk and thus not get as much nutrition as he needs. also worry about how it will affect my supply. but on the other hand,it seems like with eating solids he should be having some water as well. also it is REALLY hot here (triple digits pretty much every day) and my son does sweat a decent amount, so i'm worried about him getting dehydrated.

thoughts or suggestions much appreciated. i got the Nuby no-spill cup (with soft spout) and yesterday while we were out he was fussing after getting in the car (it was really hot, i can't blame him!) and i gave him the cup with some water in it. he was able to drink some and he calmed down after that.

[Andi98989]

Around 6 months we started giving DS a sippy with a couple of ounces of water in it with his meals; he usually will drink about 2 ounces while he eats. This weekend I had some extra milk after making up some bottles, so he got some milk in his cup instead.

[sunshine873]

At that adjusted age, our Dr said DD really didn't need any additional water, they should be getting all necessary fluids from breast milk/formula. Even now (at 17 months) she said 4 oz a day is plenty. I do give her a little extra if we're spending a lot of time outside (90+ degree days)

[brittone2]

I'd use just an ounce or so for practice 1-2x a day. Kellymom has info on this.

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/baby-water.html

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thx everyone for the replies. i'v been giving DS a couple ounces a day in his sippy cup. he really likes drinking from his sippy cup now, which freaks me out a little bit (i hope after all that he will still take a bottle).

[annavn]

You should really ask your DR. My daughter was small so we were told not to give more then 6oz a day at that stage. As time went on, she could drink more and now she can have as much water as she wants at 15m. Especially, if it's hot where you are, you might need to give more to avoid dehydration.

[brittone2]

You should really ask your DR. My daughter was small so we were told not to give more then 6oz a day at that stage. As time went on, she could drink more and now she can have as much water as she wants at 15m. Especially, if it's hot where you are, you might need to give more to avoid dehydration.

The Kellymom link addresses the fact that breastmilk is absolutely fine to prevent dehydration. The water is for practice, but not needed for hydration if mom is nursing baby.