Given that water can help babies quench their thirst, cure constipation and clean their mouth after feeding, many mothers have a habit of giving babies water every day. However, according to experts, giving children too much water or at the wrong time can lead to poisoning, leaving consequences for the baby's health.
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Harmful when children drink water too soon
When should babies drink water?
Raising children according to the experience of their predecessors, most mothers think water is an essential part of the nutritional menu for babies . However, experts recommend that children under 6 months of age should not be given water. At this stage, the baby's kidneys are still weak so they cannot be eliminated in time. Excess water will accumulate in the body and in the blood causing low sodium levels affect the brain. Therefore, when giving infants water to drink, special attention should be paid to mother!
Infants who drink a lot of water can be poisoned, leaving consequences related to their health
Nutrition for babies under 1 year old: 9 taboo dishes 6-month-old babies can start weaning and explore the world of diverse foods besides breastmilk or formula. When making a nutritional menu for your baby, you should avoid the following 9 dishes to help your baby develop the healthiest and most comprehensive.
1 / Children are stunted, malnourished when drinking too much water
Drinking lots of water for babies under 6 months old can interfere with the ability to absorb nutrients from breast milk or formula, causing babies to become stunted, poorly suckled, and grow slowly. Because the baby's stomach is small, giving the baby more water will fill the stomach and make the baby full and refuse to breastfeed.
For babies who are formula fed, many mothers dilute the milk to avoid constipation or save milk, which is also the reason why babies are slow to grow. One part baby will receive less nutrients than the body needs, a part drinking diluted milk makes the baby's water absorb more.
2 / Drinking lots of water causes poisoning for children
Children drink a lot of water to dilute the amount of sodium in the body, this sodium will flow out of the water because the baby's kidneys are not yet perfect. Accordingly, the child will be sodium deficiency leading to water poisoning with the first manifestations such as: The baby feels uncomfortable, sleepy and other signs of mental change.
3 / Children get sick easily when the water source is not guaranteed
Because the immune system of young children is still weak, it is very easy to get diseases related to the gastrointestinal tract when using unsafe and clean water. A baby's risk of diarrhea is two to three times higher than that of exclusively breastfed infants. Therefore, to ensure the safety of the baby, mothers should not let babies under 6 months old drink lots of filtered water as well as other types of water.
Mixing the wrong milk, the baby grows slowly There are many causes of slow growth, slow weight gain. And one of the reasons is that the mother is not mixing formula properly
Drinking a lot of water is not good for babies, but with some of the following cases, mothers can give your baby a little water:
- When the baby has a fever, the body becomes dehydrated quickly, so the mother needs to supplement the baby with water and breastfeed more.
- In the summer when the temperature is hotter than 37 degrees Celsius, babies play a lot of sweat, making the amount of water in the body lose quickly. At this time, the baby's water is essential.
- Diarrhea is one of the causes of severe dehydration in the body. In order to avoid possible complications from dehydration, mothers need to breastfeed more and stay hydrated.
- In breast milk, 88% of the ingredient is water, but formula milk is somewhat thicker. Therefore, exclusively breastfed babies for the first 6 months do not need additional water. However, with formula-fed babies, to avoid indigestion and constipation, the baby needs to drink more water. According to pediatric experts, the amount of water for babies to drink is no more than 30ml / day.
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