Do I have to give water to a newborn baby, and what kind?

To date, the question of whether a newborn should be given water is very relevant. The answer can not be unambiguous. After all, it all depends on whether the child is on artificial or natural feeding. In the first case, the answer is obvious: "Yes." The child can drink about 100 ml of water during the day. Such an amount is considered normal. You can not deprive a baby of water if he asks for it. After all, it is necessary for the body to function properly.

Importance of water

Today, those mothers who have adult children can confidently state that it is very dangerous for a baby to dehydrate the body. Therefore, the question of whether a newborn should be given water arises mainly from inexperienced parents. Our grandmothers say that it is necessary to give birth to a child, and modern doctors insist that they do not. Many simply do not know what water to give the newborn. Some believe that it is necessary to give boiled, and many simply believe that only specialized water is needed.

The latter are absolutely right. After boiled water is considered dead. It lacks all the necessary microorganisms and minerals. Therefore, it is better to give preference to bottled baby water, which was created specifically for toddlers. But this is what concerns children on artificial feeding. With babies, the question is This is different.

Many mothers who feed their babies with their breasts simply do not know if they need to give water to the newborn. In order to correctly answer this question, it is necessary to return a few years ago. Then there was no purified water, and the parents were afraid to harm the health of their baby. Therefore, they preferred to simply breastfeed. Dopaivat baby began only when he received "adult" food. The World Health Organization strongly recommends that children who have not reached the age of six months do not give water at all, since its reception is fraught with a number of dangers.

- Malnutrition. The children's stomach takes as much food as it can. Therefore, if the baby has drunk 50 g of water, then he will receive less than the same milk, which is so important for its development.

- Reduction of milk production. A child who has drunk water simply refuses to breastfeed. That's why a woman's milk comes much less. It is especially dangerous to water a child at night. It is at this time that lactation improves.

- Imbalance of the baby's digestive system. The newborn has a sterile intestine, and during the natural feeding it is sown only with a useful microflora. Water can worsen this balance, and the child will develop a dysbacteriosis.

- Breastfeeding. Usually mothers give children a bottle of pacifier. Many babies after that just refuse to take their mother's breasts.

Wrong opinions

However, there are specialists who, on the question of whether a newborn should be given water, unequivocally repeat what is needed. They have a number of arguments.

- Water helps fight infantile jaundice. In fact, this is not so. Jaundice causes bilirubin, and it is a fat-soluble substance, so it can be excreted only with milk.

- Milk is a food that must be washed down with water. This is not true. Almost 90% of milk consists of water. The newborn does not distinguish between "hunger" and "thirst", which is why there is a false saturation.

Now we see that to the question of whether it is necessary to give water to a newborn, there is an unequivocal answer: "No". Children are smarter than adults, and many even themselves refuse water and begin to drink it only closer to a year.