Do You Boil Water Before Making Powdered Formula?

We used nursery water, availalble at the grocery store.

Just go buy a gallon of water from the store, that's easier. You dont have to buy the infant water, with fluoride, until he has teeth. Just use distilled.

My pediatrician told me to use nursery water not to boil or use filtered (I think because of the flouride), so check with them and if cost is a factor be honest.

I'd buy close to a dozen at Target or Walmart for $1 - $1.25 a gallon when I needed/sale. I'd leave an open container on the counter and whip up a bottle when needed so it was room temperature and trained the kids to take that way without warming when they were older. Babies typically take 32 oz. or less each day if I remember correctly, so you are talking around $4/week.

I was glad I did as even if I boiled, cooled & stored tap water... I'd have to factor in my time to do this, space to store, time to cool, a sterile container(s) to cool in plus the cost of energy to boil the water and then the cost of water itself (I have town), so I don't know that I would have saved much. And the convenience made DH much more willing to whip up a bottle too.

In a pinch, I'd use bottle water or even tap water as the kids were older if we were not home though.

We never boiled water or used Nursery Water. We used water from the water dispenser on our side-by-side refrigerator.

His teeth are healthy, his illnesses were minimal, and he didn't grow a third head. We were satisfied.

I'm sure you will have many differing responses to this, so do what you feel is best. I used straight tap water with my girls. I drink our tap water myself and it tastes fine to me. Now that they are older, they drink straight tap water all the time. I've read that most of the bottled water is really just tap water in a plastic container. I've also read that the nursery water that comes with fluoride is bad for babies - that they shouldn't get fluoride. I've also read somewhere that if you are using tap water, you shouldn't use the hot side because that adds something to the water (not sure what though?) So I would generally just use cold -- sometimes I would let it sit for a while (without the formula in it) so it wasn't so cold, but sometimes I wouldn't. So all in all, I think it would depend on where you live, where your tap water comes from, and whether you drink it yourself. Obviously if it smells funny or is discolored, I wouldn't think about it. You can also look up the water tests for your area to see what is in the water if you are at all concerned. And also ask the pediatrician if they are in your town about the tap water. Mine said ours was fine. I honestly don't know anyone who boiled their tap water.. most of my friends used straight tap water also, a few did use bottled water but I didn't see the point of wasting all that plastic. You can also look into using the brita pitcher (expensive filters) or there are some attachments that you can put on your faucet to make your water more pure if you are concerned -- unsure about the cost of those either. Some of those more expensive filters (I don't think Brita will) will eliminate the fluoride from your tap water too. Boiling the water doesn't eliminate the fluoride if you were concerned about that. Tap water is more regulated than bottled water, but does have some fluoride and chlorine in it (so does most bottled water.. and the ones that add extra are the worst). The best water is the reverse osmosis water that gets rid of the fluoride but like I said, I just used the tap and we're all fine. There's way too much to worry about out there and you can't worry about everything!

I'm not sure about nursery water, but some bottled waters have tested poorly compared to tap water or filtered water from your home. So I would just stay away from bottled water in general. I never used boiled water and I have a 20-year-old and a 10-year-old and they both survived!

We had nasty water with child number one so we had water home delivery service, Hinkly Springs I believe. We just used that and got flouride drops from our ped to cover the lack of floride in the water. After that I never went back to tap water. I still drink bottle water.

It is totally your preferrence. I did with my first one, but I found than it was harder when I had to transition her to colder things like milk and juice. With my second two I just used room temperature water and they both transitioned very smoothly. Congrats, on your new bundle!

Even with water that is "safe" there is lots of chemicals and stuff in it. I have filters on all of our water sources in our house and you would not believe the taste difference. Some people say their water tastes "fine" but until they compare, it is hard to make that justification. I tried nursery water and it constipated my kids. I am not big into giving them extra anything unless they really need it! I bought an inexpensive eletric tea kettle. I would put tap water in it and plug it in. It also helped disolve the formula so it wasn't so chunky. If you have a coffee pot that you only use for water, that would work, too! Good luck!

Hi L.,

Most of the places have safe tap water and are good for consumption. There are some areas where they should not be used straight from tap. Things like bore water and some others.Your ped, might have information regarding your area,

My area was in safe area so I used tap water. But whenever I travelled, I bought nursery water. I never boiled the water and then cooled to suit baby's need. MY baby was fine no cold nothing at ll till she started hoing to day care around 6 months. Also it will depend on hw receptive your baby is.

All the best!!

I always just bought infant drinking water to make my formula with, it is relatively cheap, about $1 a gallon. I never boiled tap water to make bottles for either child.

I always preferred using bottled water or nursery water. If you are using tap water i would consider boiling it depending on where you live and what the city adds to the water.

I only used nursery water that comes in the gallon.

I never used tap water because I am not fully aware of all that is in our tap water. I always bought infant water at the store and I never heated it. I didn't want my son to get used to heated bottles and then have us out somewhere and need to either bring heated water in a thermos or have a microwave handy. So, I just kept the infant water on the counter so it would be room temperature. If I was to give my son tap water, I would boil it and then give it to him once it reached room temperature.

Well, I don't necessarily think there is anything in the tap water that will hurt your baby if your concerned your best bet may be to just buy nursery water at the store. When my daughter was an infant that's what I did. I just gallon bottles of it at the store, they're inexpensive, and left them at room temperature.

You don't have to boil water anymore for fomula. You can use nursery formula or distilled water until they get their first tooth. The nursery water has flouride in it to help with their teeth so it's really not needed until they get them.

Hello L.!

I am sure you have had many responses by now, just in case.....if using tap water, be sure to boil and then let stand to cool before mixing and serving or for an easier method, buy baby water.

Good luck!

Hi L.. I used store-bought nursery water (with fluoride) because we have our own well and it does not contain fluoride. However, we had been told at the hospital that, if our home tap water was safe enough for us to drink, then the baby will be fine with it and that there was no need to boil it.

When our son was first on formula I boiled the water & put it in a pictcher to let cool to room temperature. As he got older, I got a little more relaxed & it was tap water. The only exception was if we were in an environment where I didn't "know" the water...then it was bottled water. The nursery water is a little pricy so we never went that route. My tap water baby is healthy & happy!

I always used bottled water... originally the nursery water and once she stopped formula I use just regular bottled water. Our Dr told us to use the nursery water because tap water could cause diarrhea and other GI issues. Of course that could be because we are out here in the sticks! lol

We decided this when I was pregnant though and read in the paper that there was a possibility of arsenic in our communites water. That was enough to scare me, even if it was not considered toxic amounts. My hubby always made fun of me for buying bottled water since he said it was the same as tap water just in a bottle! Well, after he read that he no longer drinks it either- and we had a filter on our water.... know what your filter does or does not filter out of your water! Arsenic does not get filtered out!

Like another poster said, check your communites water test results. Also, if you have a water softner on your water you might want to use bottled anyhow since you do not want to add those "chemicals" to your boys bottles either.

With that being said- I did give my son straight tap water 19 years ago when he was a baby and there was no problems with it! Of course it was city water where I lived then and not a community well- so maybe that is why no issues! Who knows!

Well, I hope you come up with a decision that you are comfortable with!
Many blessings to you and your baby boy!

Tap water is safe to use. I personally boil water and pour it into gallon jugs for use. I would go through a lot of water if I bought it! I have twins! I know a lot of twin mamas boil their water.

I would just buy some gallons of Nursery water (super inexpensive!)...leave them on the countertop (not in the fridge) and then your baby will always have room temp formula that is safe to drink and you can have no worries!

It is up to you...I was anal with the first one...the second I did not do this at all (she will be 15 mos. and has NEVER been sick!)

We used bottled nursery water until my daughter was about 4 months old, then we started using the filtered tap water from the dispenser in my fridge. we live in the city, though, so i know we have good water. i still used bottled at both of our parents' homes, though.