Michael

That is about the same as what I said. The percentage increases since the water is boiled away.

SultanOfSwing

It sounded like you meant that the physical amounts increased, rather than just the percentage per volume, otherwise yes, this is exactly what you said ...

McZaki

Sorry for being daft , is our method of boiling the bottled water safe for the kid? Or should we filter the bottled water and then boil it?

SultanOfSwing

A filter might be better, unless you can get your hands on distilled water, which should be easy enough in SF (though your post said Dubai). Like I said, we bought the stuff called 'Nursery Water' which is just a 1-gal bottle of distilled water.

GeoffM

Just to emphasise - mineral water is not good for little babies. The concentrations of minerals in the water may be unsafe for their bodies. Not all mineral waters, not all brands, but I'm not going to sit there and read labels to try to work it out for myself! As has already been said, regular filtered water is fine - as is tap water IMHO.

We've used Enfamil, Pediasure (might be for older babies/toddlers I think, and unfortunately high in sugar), and one other one I can't remember. DD is rather fussy when it comes to milk and prefers mummy but mummy is now back at work and drying up.

Michael

Boiling is primarily used to kill bacteria and possibly eliminate chlorine. Minerals in the water are normally needed by the body but some filters can get rid of excess minerals. So I would think that boiling is safe but filters may possibly also add a bit of protection.

McZaki

Many thanks for the information, and apologies for the confusion, we are currently in Dubai and moving to SF next week. I’ll buy the 'Nursery water' once there, presumably it's widely available.

Michael

Or you can probably go to any auto parts store and many supermarkets and get the same thing (maybe not as sterile) but personally I feel that the average amount of minerals in most water is good for the body. So if you use distilled water, you may have to add mineral supplements to the babies diet.

McZaki

Bugger, no wonder the kid is a bit unsettled since moving from Edinburgh. She has been feeding ok but cries without any apparent reason, and I said to the missus that it seems it is due to colic/ bloating. Took her to the doc and she said nothing wrong with her just stop complaining and put up with it!

Many thanks Michael.

Weeze

There is a list of mineral water for babies and I believe Evian was one of the not too bad ones. I thoight it was the salt concentration that made it bad for babies. As to baby water, it's everywhere, supermarkets, babies r us.... We use it for the humidifier.

Michael

When I had my first child in Switzerland, the doctor said the same thing and we put up with it. When we had the second child in the US and had the same problem, the doctor changed formulas first starting with soy milk (made it worse) and then to a pork extract and immediately he calmed down. The problem started to reoccur when he started eating solids. A babies stomach is very underdeveloped.

There are different formulas made from different plants or animals and usually the doctor starts with the cheapest to the most expensive. The most expensive can be about 20x as much as the cheapest. Each react differently with the stomach and can be digested differently possibly causing cramps.

I doubt the water would be causing the problem.

SultanOfSwing

Any kind of distilled water should do the job.

Maybe those minerals are in the formula that you use it for.

Michael

Do you need to use a special formula when using distilled water? If you don't, I doubt that excess minerals would be added to standard formulas since there may possibly be too much minerals when using tap water.

SultanOfSwing

I don't know if it really makes a difference in real terms. We just used the nursery water stuff because that's what my wife used with her first child.

I was fed on formula, in 1979/80/whenever the hell it was I was switched to normal milk and I guarantee my mum was using the tap to mix it with. It's probably the sodium fluoride that needs to be avoided and perhaps the small amount chlorine (which we already established is eliminated by boiling).

Michael

Although there is some controversy about sodium fluoride added in the small amounts to water in many cities, there is no proven evidence that it is harmful to the body and is likely more helpful than harmful.

Of course if you are a John Bircher, then adding sodium fluoride to city water is a communist plot.