Should I offer a drink?

[Caitycat]

Dd is 7 months and doing well with a mixture of purees and finger foods. She is bf and I tend to bf about an hour before she eats but I haven't been offering anything to drink alongside the actual meal. Looking in my Annabel Karmel book she suggests offering water with some meals, should I? If so should it be in a bottle or in a sippy cup and does it need to be boiled and cooled or can it just be tap water? Sorry if the answer to. This is really obvious but I just don't know!

[ilovepowerhoop]

yes I would offer a small amount of tap water in a sippy cup alongside the meals. There is no need to boil drinking water when they are over 6 months and it is best to get them used to a cup.

[Caitycat]

Thanks, can't believe it didn't occur to me that I should be until I read AK's book! I must be a shocking mother!

[mrswoz]

Not shocking at all :) your baby will be getting all the fluid she needs if you are still bf on demand, I think?

You know sometimes they just want a little drink rather than a full feed, have you noticed her doing that since you started weaning? My DD has been doing this and we are 2 weeks into weaning. I do offer about 100ml of cold boiled water in a sipsy cup with her solids, and she seems to enjoy having a little drink of it, and likes trying to hold it herself. My main reason for doing this though is to get her used to a cup, rather than to ensure extra fluids. Then hopefully in a few weeks my DD might take some milk from the sipsy cup! ;)

[whatsoever]

Pretty sure breast milk will supply sufficient fluid if you feed on demand but like other posters, I'm giving a sippy cup of water (when I remember!) with food to get DS used to a cup.