What Type of Water to Mix with Powdered Formula?

I raised my son on powered formula and mixed it bottled water. Everything was fine and he's now a happy, healthy six year old.

A little about me: Divorced mother of two wonderful sons - ages 23 and 6.

We used tap water, never heated a bottle so that we could feed anywhere and there would not be an expectation by baby to have warm milk. If you live in an older home run the water for a minute so sediment and if you have lead solder(sp?) on the pipes it is not in the water. Once you heat water for formula the baby gets used to it and expects it. All 3 of mine were okay with room temp.

Nursery H2O was what my ped told me. Babies need the extra flouride for tooth development. Plus I am a freak about teeth after hearing from my mother-in-law that she had to have my husbands teeth capped at aged 2 because she let hin go to bed with a milk bottle! My dad makes crowns and bridges for a living and also said nursery H2o with extra flouride is great for the baby teeth. Can't hurt. And, its like $1.30 for a gallon. I think it worth it for the kids first year of life! Has nothing to do with their development, it has to do with their teeth. AND Screw the breastfeeding comments- has NOTHING to do with your question at all. Best of luck to you!

As the other moms have said, any room or warm temperature bottle made from the same water you drink is fine. If you have to get bottle water, I would just by the cheap gallons of drinking water from the store. We powder formula fed my daughter and live in the city, so tap water was fine. The only thing I would remind you is to use a spoon to lightly stir the formula, don't shake the bottle to mix. The extra air bubbles can give the baby more gas.

BTW--Welcome to the world of motherhood and unwanted unsolicited advice! Kerry S-maybe noone asked why she was choosing to formula feed because it was none of their business! And the "gold standard" in acting like a mature adult is accepting that everyone has a right to their own choices and doesn't need to hear opinions to questions they didn't ask from pompous mothers like you.

When our child was formula feeding, we used water from the dispenser in our fridge, which is filtered. Our child did not suffer any adverse effects.

Don't worry about those people who have nothing better to do than put you down for not breastfeeding, despite the fact that they felt the need to give their unsolicited opinion for a question that has nothing to do with breastfeeding.

Whatever choice you make for your family will be just fine!

I won't repeat what has already been said, but I vote for the nursery water, which Babies R Us sells by the cases.I do advise using the bottle with a couple of days since stagnet water does grow germs. You will go through a bottle every 1-2 days while she is frequently eating so shouldn't be a problem, but you can always regrigerate the water, which slows the growth of germs.

I did want to give a tip for night time feedings. I fill up my baby bottles with the correct amount of water and put them on my nightstand before I go to sleep. I then meaure out my formula into my "formula wheel," which is a 3 compartment snack bowl with lid. The lip has a spout that only releases the components of the compartment that you dial it to (I'm making this sound more complicated then it really is, but when you see the snack bowls at Babies R Us, it is simple). Anyway, when my son wakes up, all I have to do is reach to my nightstand, grab my formula wheel, and pour out the contents of the compartment it is dialed to into, and shake. Takes 10 seconds to make a bottle, which helps at 3am.

Unfortunately, I only came up with this idea with Baby #2. Oh, the time I wasted and lost sleep going down to the kitchen w/ Baby #1!!

Congrats on your upcoming baby! Depending on where you live, tap water may be just fine too. Our pediatrician said it was ok in our area. I'd check to be on the safe side, but that's definitely easiest if you get the doctor's ok. We never had any problems. Ignore the posters who are trying to push you about breastfeeding and make your own decision. I don't know why people can't just answer the questions asked rather than try to push their own beliefs. Don't let it make you feel bad. Good luck!

Congratulations on expecting your daughter! I may be repeating a lot of earlier advice but I'd like to share a few things anyways.

First of all, there will always be know-it-all mothers out there who will condemn any decision you make, regardless of what it is (i.e. moms who insist on telling everyone they should be breastfeeding)! You know what is best for the baby and for you (because it is soooo important that you feel good in order to take the best care of your baby too), trust your instincts! That said, here are a few tips you are welcome to take or ignore. :)

For the first 4 months or so we used store-bought filtered water. I'm sure our filtered tap water would have been fine, but hey, we were new parents and wanted to take extra precautions. Not fluoride-enhanced water though, my ped. said not to use it. After 4 months we switched to refrigerated filtered water.

Here's a tip, keep one jug of water in your bedroom or bathroom, keep one in the kitchen along with bottles and formula cans at each "station". That way when you're up in the middle of the night you don't have to run from room to room to make bottles. Also, the water will be at room temperature so you won't have to warm it. My babies never had warmed milk and I imagine it's much easier. Later on we pre-filled bottles with proper ounces of water and stored them with cans of powder in our bathroom so all we had to do was dump in powder and shake. So easy!

Buy a lot of bottles (or as registry items). We had 6 per baby of each size. You go through so many in the beginning you'll want extras so you're not constantly washing bottles. We used Sassy brand MAM bottles because they have an extra air ring to help reduce bubbles and the resulting gas.

Money saving tips: Go to craigslist, mamasource, any local e-mail chains, etc. to find coupons and formula checks people are selling or even giving away. Sign up at Enfamil, Similac, etc. websites and you will get a lot of free formula, formula checks and coupons (we got a whole case of premade cans that I traded with someone for powder).

Hope this helps! Best wishes!

i just use store brand distiled water it is cheper than the baby water and it is fine. your just want water that is not straight from the tap you want something that is fillted/ distiled. hope this help and congrates on the little one. girls are a lot or fun my little one just truned 1year

Well the safest water is deionized water, second to that is purified water, and basically the same as that in many respects is filtered water.

I have used tap water run through a brita filter more times than I can remember, and the babies never seemed to have an increased instance of colic or anything like that. If your fridge filter is reliable, I don't see any reason you shouldn't use the water from it.

The only thing about fridge water, is that it will be cold and if you want to practice the new trend in bottle feeding that is the room-temp bottle, the refrigerated water could complicate that. However, if you are planning on using a bottle warmer anyway, the fridge water should be fine.

Let me know how it goes, and if you need any other advice or tips, don't hesitate to drop me a line.
-N.

I use nursery water .hat is what our doc recommended! Good luck!!

You're right on the money, no nursery water! My nutritionist was horrified that the ped recommended nursery water. Babies shouldn't be consuming this much floride ... not even a little. We used our brita water and it worked perfectly. Also, don't get into the habit of warming the bottle ... it'll only make it more difficult for you on the go. CONGRATS!

as long as your tap water is safe for you, it's safe for the baby too. Get a report from your city on the water - if they have any warnings about high whatevers then yes, use bottled for the baby.

You should use infant water or water that has flouride added to it. The baby does need that.

Hi C.,

I have 5 children, ages 20 - 2. I have always used tap water for all 5 of my kids and they are healthy and great. I understand some people may feel different but that is what I did. It sure put less hassle and cost into everything. Every morning I made up all the bottles for that day and through the night that way they were already to go in the middle of the night. (thankfully my kids only woke to eat once through the night anyway). Breastfeeding was just not for me so I bottle fed and my children are healthy and great,
Good luck,
J. J.

I would personally use the filtered water out of your fridge, or tap water. I have read too much about bottled water and how it meets fewer standards than regular municipal water. You just don't know what's in there really. Plus you're sending all that plastic to the landfill. I'm sure other moms have more info on this, but I don't think nursery water has too much flouride. Congrats!!

you can mix formula with tap water, but you must run to cold water like running a cold glass at your house, this will rinse the tap, you don't have to boil it, but it's a good ideal to do so, only let the water come to a boil that 212 degrees F, the steile point don't boil over 5 minutes. Mix 2 oz water with 1 scoop powder, measure water then add powder.
Are you on the WIC Program? Will you also Breastfeed? I'm a Nutritionist for the WIC Program. You Can Call Me ###-###-#### Bethel New Life WIC Program

I just use regular tap water. Unless you have a well or something and you wouldn't drink it yourself, our tap water is just as good as any bottled water - most of the time it's even better. You are correct about the fluoride water. Don't use it, it's a gimmick. Any dentist will tell you that babies shouldn't get any extra fluoride.

Our ped says you can use plain old tap water...today's filtration standards allow it. But if you are not comfortable with that, any of the other water sources you listed are fine too...

Congrats on the new baby!!!

Well, mom to be ...So glad that you care so much! personally, i breast fed for the forst 6 months but to answer your question....After all the testing bottled water of any kind has been found to have germs and suffers from the bottling and stagnant transit delay....I would get a good Brita filter for your tap water or a Brita pitcher to filter the water...I do not even like the idea of frig water since it is piped thru the fridge and may be contaminated with germs that will not bother you but might be harmful to your tiny baby girl....Consider wirting a journal to her as she is born and your are celebrating your blessed event...then you could add to the journal periodically and during each birthday...Wish i had done that now that mine are grown and ready to marry...ENJOY!

I always used Nursery Water but I know a lot of people who just used tap water.

S.

Ask your pediatrician - some say tap or boiled tap is okay. I personally always used nursery water about $1/gallon and I have Lake Michigan water at home.

For my first i bought gallons of water, it was a bit of a hassle. For my second daughter I used our brita water filter pitcher. it was much easier. best of luck.

You can use the water out of your fridge or tap water, no need to buy water. Using tap water is a little easier, then you don't have to worry about the temp. With my first, I used nursery water and name brand formula. My doc kept on telling me that tap water was good enough, you use tap water to wash the bottles....makes sense. And we bought the "expensive" formula and my doc kept saying that the store brand formula is just the same.....we completely changed with the second child....tap water and store brand formula (Sams) it's half the price....and my second is healthier than ever.....good luck....do what you will be comfortable with!!!!!

We always used Nursery water, but our pediatrician said that plain old tap water would be just fine.

Hi,

Congratulations! I have been using regular tap water at room temperature. We keep a pitcher filled so it is ready when we need it. We only use bottled water (again at room temp), when we are going away somewhere. Sometimes, we just fill a bottle with tap water ahead of time. Our formula advises using tap water on label.

Good luck.

I have always used nursery water with both of my children. It does have flouride but not too much. You especially want the flouride when they start getting teeth. If you are worried about the flouride, I believe they do make it without it.

Actually, you really should to use water with fluoride like Nursery water. It does not have too much fluoride, pediatricians actually recommend it. However you only need to use Nursery water it if your water supply does not already contain fluoride. Otherwise you may end up having to give your child a flouride supplement like Flor-vi-sol available by prescription. You can use regular bottled water in a pinch, but I would check with your chosen pediatrician first.

I hope you don't get confuse with different thing that different people tell you ;)
We always use nursery water. I've told that the baby need the flouride and it is distilled water. No bottled water, since we never know where is the source of the water. Many times it is not better than tap. If there is no nursery water, use tap water, boiled it, then cool it to be in room temperature.
So far, my 3 kids (9,6,1) are fine.

When my first was born, we used water from the fridge. When my second was a few months old, the doctor told me to switch to distilled until she was 6 months (I believe) because the city water had flouride in it...not sure what the deal is now, but they are both very healthy! Congrats on the baby!

For the two months or so, you may want to use nursery water if you are not breastfeeding as the child won't have so much immunity, especially if you are not breastfeeding. After that regular filtered water eg. brita filtered is fine. The filters remove traces of lead or copper etc that may be in pipes delivering the water.

I used nursey water, it is the best for the newborn. i think the other water my be harsh on her stomach

If your water in the community isn't fluorinated, use the nursery water. Otherwise tap or bottled water is fine. I always boiled tap-water first anyway - it mixes better.

Read the labels...nursery water is usually steam distilled water with added flouride. If you don't want the flouride (but I would talk to your ped first - mine was always willing to answer questions even before I had my baby) then look for steam distilled water. (There is another distillation process - so read the labels! I'm honestly not sure how the two processes compare! :-)