Taking care of a baby or an infant is truly a daunting task. As a parent, you always have to consider your baby’s health and safety especially when feeding them. Though babies require breastfeeding, some mothers unluckily don’t have enough breast milk to feed their babies. Thus, they feed them with formula milk as an alternative. With this, parents must use water to make formula milk. Apparently, it is important to be wary of the type of water that you’re going to use. As your guide, follow these tips on how to use water safely for your baby.
Avoid Water with High Fluoride Content
One of the most harmful contaminants found in drinking water is fluoride. Basically, too much fluoride in your baby’s water can put them at risk for dental problems such as enamel fluorosis, a condition in which the teeth form in the gums. It may also lead to white spots on teeth. Though it may not be a serious disease, it is always best to consider your baby’s health and safety first before using any type of water.
Avoid Using Bottled Mineral Water
Giving your baby bottled mineral water is neither ideal nor advisable. This is due to its high content of sodium which is not good for your baby’s digestive system. Also, extra minerals in bottled mineral water are not safe for your baby. Giving your baby carbonated water can be dangerous as well since it can cause gas pains and other stomach problems.
Read Labels Carefully
It pays to read labels carefully when buying and using different stuff especially those for the baby. If you are going to buy bottled water in the market, you always have to check for the labels and read them carefully. Just because you see a picture of a mountain in the bottled water doesn’t really mean it is pure and safe to use especially for babies. You have to be careful when buying bottled water since many of the bottled water companies add a few chemicals to the water supply. Some content that you have to check on the labels include fluorosilicic acid, sodium silicofluoride, liquefied chlorine, calcium hydroxide and liquefied chlorine. Such chemicals added to the water are dangerous to your baby’s health so always make sure to get rid of them.
Test your Own Water
Since most types of water available in the market contain chemicals and contaminants that may cause danger to your baby, you may be thinking of some alternatives to bottled water. One of these is using tap water. However, using tap water can’t also guarantee safety since it may also have contaminants and chemicals. The water may also mix with rust which comes from pipes in which the water flows through.
Nonetheless, you’ll be able to know if your tap water is clean and safe by testing it. To do this, you may check with your local water utility to see how much chemicals are present in your water supply. You can also check the quality of your water supply by using TDS (Total Dissolve Solids) meter. Once you have tested your water supply and made sure there are no contaminants to hamper your baby’s health, you can simply boil the tap water or better yet, use water filters and do the filtration yourself