Should I Give My 4 Month Old Baby Water?

Breastmilk is nearly 90% water. Not only does your baby not need water, it can actually interfere with growth and development--it can fill baby (their stomach is only about the size of their fist) with water, rather than nutrient rich milk! In extreme cases, LARGER amounts of water can make babies very ill by causing an imbalance of electrolytes.

Nursing on demand (or not too long schedule) will keep your baby hydrated and healthy. While extroardinarily uncomfortable, the short period of heat exposure is not dangerous. Babies don't have developed sweat glands, so they mostly sweat from their heads. Keep your little one protected from too much direct sun, but don't be OVERLY concerned about the heat.

I didn't site all the references that give the reasons for water not being NECESSARY while breastfeeding. But, I DID want to add that I have never had a problem with getting my daughter to accept water (at the appropriate age)...and I never even had to add sugar. The time to add water to a breastfed diet is when you add solid foods.

http://www.todaysparent.com/baby/foodnutrition/article.js...

Unless you are specifically outside for long periods of time, I wouldn't give a baby that age water. Just nurse him more often if you feel like he needs extra fluids. Breastmilk is the best thing for him! Good luck and stay cool!

At 4 months, your child's kidneys are not able to filter water out of its system, causing sodium levels in the blood to be diluted. (What is a large quantity of water to an infant...? Well, keep in mind that its stomach is the size of its fist....)

Here are some articles on infant water intoxication:

From:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/931669/infant_wa...

"Giving an infant under the age of one water to drink can cause infant water intoxication, which is the leading cause of healthy infant seizures. Babies do need extra fluids in hot weather, just like adults do, but plain water is not something that you want to give an infant. Babies get enough water from breast milk or formula, giving an infant additional water to drink causes infant water intoxication by diluting the sodium in babies blood and flushing it out of babies body. That reduces the electrolytes in the babies body, altering brain activity, causing seizures to occur in the otherwise healthy infant."

Here are some more...
http://www.healthmad.com/Children/Diluting-Baby-Formula-C...
"Diluting baby formula with too much water causes the baby to ingest more water than a baby's body can handle."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_1991_Sept/...
"The most common victim of water intoxication is an infant three to six months old who is brought to the emergency room either seizing or not breathing."

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Much-Water-For-Baby?&id...
(for this link to work, make sure the address includes &id=32915 )

There's nothing wrong with giving you're baby a little bit of water. I would suggest putting a little sugar or karo syrup with it so that he'll actually drink it. Straight water tends to cramp up little bellys. One or two ounces should suffice. With water there can be too much of a good thing, but that does take quite a lot of doing.

Breastmilk is certainly all he needs. Check out Karen N's websites.

I am going to disagree with the previous two posters and agree with the first one.

4 months is a good time to start introducing small amounts of water into your son's day. Yes, breast milk offers a lot more nutrients and has quite a bit of water in it... But water on it's own is also good for your son in small amounts...1 - 4 ounces spread out over the entire day (do not give all at once!) should not interfere with his current "eating habits" and will begin building in him the desire to drink water when he gets older and water is often given to drink between meals.

Good Luck... ;-)

I started giving my daughter now 14 months- natural spring water at 3 months just a little at a time like 2 oz here and there especially with the hiccups and now she LOVES, loves water she sucks it down like candy... if you dont introduce it slowly she may be a water hater as she gets older... think about it all the formula you give a baby organic or not you mix it with water right ? good luck :) hope this helps a bit

Well I don't think a little water would hurt him at all but good luck getting him to take it!! We tried our 4 month old exclusively breastfed baby out on some water and he looked at us like we had absolutely lost our minds! We still get a laugh when we think about how crazy he looked at us and he is two years old! So needless to say we didn't try him out on water again for awhile:) But if you want to try him I would just give him a little and see what he does, you might end up getting a laugh out of it as well!