? for parents that bottle feed?

[Kimberle]

No, I did not.

I had a preemie, too. My neonatolagists told me plain water was fine.

Even the babies in our NICU were fed w/ plain water.

 

[~Sparkly~Zoe]

My pediatrician had me put a small cup or bowl of water in the microwave with the bottle when Iheated it up to help prevent those hto spots. Seemed to work pretty good!

I'd just take bottled water with me rather than use Orlando water. Why boil it?

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by Nette
By the time your baby can get his/her hands in his/her mouth, what is the point of boiling/sterilizing anything?

LOL...how true!! I caught DD trying to eat a dead moth a few days ago! EEEWWWW!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by BevS97
I have heard that about microwaves, SueM in MN, but figured if I heat the water in a microwave and then add the powder and shake, there shouldn't be any hot spots, do you think that is ok?
PLEASE, if you are going to use a cup of boiling water to heat a bottle at your restaurant table, be very very careful. I see this so often, and it always scares me. We saw a little baby knock over the cup last weekend at IKEA, and his mum had to rush off to the bathroom to stick his hands under the tap. I hope he was ok. Personally, I think it takes SO long to get the bottle warm enough this way, that it's just not worth the effort.

Bev

Heating water in the microwave to mix with your formula should not be a problem as long as you are mixing it well and waiting a few minutes (which it will be by the time you have mixed it all up) for the water to stop heating up. Just mixing it sort of disrupts that process. The main problem with microwaves is that they get food hotter than people think and continue cooking for a few minutes. So, if you test in one part of the food/formula and don't mix it well, the temperature may actually be hotter by the time the baby starts eating.
That boiling water story is pretty scary! Actually, all you need to do to the bottle is take the chill off, not get it really warm. Most hospitals use small bottles of ready to feed formula at room temperature for babies who are being bottle fed. So, unless you have a special situation with your baby, most babies will do just fine with room temperature feedings.

quote: Originally posted by Nette
By the time your baby can get his/her hands in his/her mouth, what is the point of boiling/sterilizing anything?
quote: Originally posted by jcemom:
LOL...how true!! I caught DD trying to eat a dead moth a few days ago! EEEWWWW!!!

There's actually a theory called the "Cleanliness Hypothesis" that theorizes that we are seeing more allergies and autoimmune diseases because our homes are too sanitized and kids don't have enough exposure to germs. The idea is that the exposures kids have to germs in their early life gives their immune system a work out. When their are no germs to work on, the immune system is out "looking for stuff to attack" and ends up attacking the body instead. When the theory was first published, it was ridiculed a lot, but now it's getting more serious looks.

 

[kylie&haley'smom]

SueM in MN-I heard about that on the news. My dd pedi told me the best thing you can do is put your kids in day care when they are little,befire they start school. She said there are so many rhinovirus' and the more they get before they start school the better. Then,they do not have to miss so much school from getting sick all the time.

 

[swilphil]

My pediatrician told me to boil the water when we were out of town, even though we didn't at home. The tap water is different at different places. And Disney water is nasty, even for me. We used bottled water on our last trip with 12 month old. We made sure it was a national brand of bottled water and not florida bottled water. Nothing personal, Floridians.

 

[jcemom]

swilphil -- I think I would choose bottled water while on vacation as well. No point in taking the chance of baby getting an upset tummy when bottled water is so easy to come by!

 

[Scarlett & Rhett]

I think bottled water has all the inpurities out of it already and should be safe to use.

 

[DavidOH]

The debate over boiling water, using tap water and using tap water is interesting.

All municipal water systems and bottled water companies must meet the same federal and state regulations. Private wells don't. Many bottled water companies use the same tap water that we drink every day.

Boiling water can have 2 primary effects. The first is to kill bacteria. Municipal water suppliers are responsible to deliver bacteria free water. Water is treated with chlorine (and possibly other chemicals) at the source before it enters the delivery system. It has been shown that most contamination comes from bacteria grwong on the faucet which the water is drawn from.

The second effect of boiling water is to remove volatile chemicals such as Residual Chlorine and Trihalomethanes(byproducts of chlorination). The level of both of these chemicals is again regulated by the government.

As for bottled water they must meet the same requirements as tap water. Some bottled water is right from the ground but most is treated in some form to meet these regulations.

 

[ahutton]

For DDs bottles I would - when packing up in the hotel room - pack our travel bottles with very warm water. Usually I would warm it in the microwave. I would then just pack the warm water in the insulated diaper bag with no formula powder mixed in. When she was ready for a bottle I would mix the warm water (never have been there when it was cool enough that the water cooled off to the point she wanted it warmer!) with her formula powder and shake and serve. I have 2 DDs and we've survived a total of 5 trips with this method. Hooray - they both drink real milk and no more bottles now!!

 

[LKS]

I do totally agree with the idea that babies need to be exposed to some germs to start building immunities. My husband and I always said, "they've got to join the real world with the rest of us." I used to work FT and all three of mine attended daycare for some years. They caught everything, I'm sure. Now, that they are all in public school, they are almost never sick and generally have perfect attendance every year.

Along the same lines, we even try not to buy those antibacterial hand soaps, though it's getting harder and harder to do. I prefer a good washing with regular soap and they say it is just as effective. I also used to stress to the pediatrician that I was not one of those parents who feels cheated if I leave the office with no prescription, so don't give us one unless there is a true bacterial infection going on.

All that being said, the day you leave on your Disney trip is NOT the day to stop sterilizing things, switch water or whatever. If you are going to do this, I'd do it at least a month before the trip, just in case.

 

[mcnuss]

I never boiled anything! I did use those Playtex nursers. so the part the formula touched got thrown away, but the nipples, etc.. just went into the dishwasher. Our water then was from a municipal supply, but most of my friends have wells and did not boil either. A few used bottled H2O bc they were worried. Our pedi is young and that's what she advised. I wonder if some of the older pedi's are still advising boiling bc that's what they learned?

I am fascinated by this statement and frankly don't understand it:

Especially if you store an open container of water in the cupboard. That could easily become contaminated.

I store lots of opened things in my cupboard, how are they getting "contaminated" if they are sealed, especially "easily"? I have ketchup, syrup, jelly, honey and nobody has ever gotten sick yet. Why would the water get contaminated and by what?