11mth old tap vs bottled water

kenco

As we are heading into more warmer weather just wondering what peoples view of tap vs bottled water for an 11mth old would be?

The tap water is fine where we are and I guess it does not make a huge difference but it would be good to see what people think?

TheInquisitor

kenco wrote: »

As we are heading into more warmer weather just wondering what peoples view of tap vs bottled water for an 11mth old would be?

The tap water is fine where we are and I guess it does not make a huge difference but it would be good to see what people think?

Tap water has been fine for everyone for decades... in fact some botted water is just tap water

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3523303.stm

Quality

If you are going to use bottled water, make sure it has a low sodium count.

silja

As long as you are sure the tap water is fine where you are, I'd choose that over bottled due to mineral content in bottled water. We moved to the USA when the twins were 8 months old and used tap water (not boiled) from then on without any problems.

IsThatSo?

eek.............are you supposed to use bottled water for babies?:eek:

I always used tap water although we did buy a britta filter there recently and use that too.

nodolan

Can't recommend a Brita filter high enough. The water here in Cork city is awful. Every other week it comes out of the tap brown - nevertheless you'd be doing long term harm to your kid's immune system by not allowing his/her body to be exposed to small amounts of whatever is in the tap water IMO. Where in the country are you kenco?

Nevyn

Bottled water can have very high rates of minerals in them which may disagree with babies.

Jimdagym

I remember reading 6 or 7 years ago that the 3 most frequent causes of food poisoning were mayonaise, potato salad, and mineral water. Found it hard to believe at the time.

If your tap water is clean, and not especially hard, as mine is, i'd go for the tap.

killwill

Apparently tap water is much better for you than bottled water. My partner has got kidney stones 5 times in 3 years and the docs reckon alot of it is down to her drinking bottled water. There is very high calcium content in most bottled waters.

kenco

Many thanks for your feedback folks

Our water is fine so we have been defaulting to it but use the bottled option on the odd occassion

delly

Yeah, boiled tap water is the way to go imho.

We did have an unannounced cut in the water service last year for a weekend, so I did research online and by looking at sodium contents discovered that Evian is one of the recommended brands for babies.

nodolan

You can buy hand-held ultraviolet water purifiers (I have one myself) that will sterilise up to 2ltr of water in a bottle at a time which destroys all microbes like cryptosporidium and E. Coli. IMO you're far better off filtering the water with a Brita filter or something similar that will remove heavy metals (an under-sink permanent filter is best though - buy them online and save a fortune) and to be extra careful (in light of a recent report about the deplorable standards of drinking water in Ireland where at the end of September 2008, 341 public water supplies were on the Remedial Action List) use an ultraviolet purifier.

http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/water/drinking/name,25872,en.html

http://www.epa.ie/downloads/data/water/name,24319,en.html

oh well , okay

Tap water all day long for a child - do not give bottled water as it will generally be higher in minerals which is a no no for babies . Boil it to be safe if you want , although an 11 month old is probably licking the floors at this stage .

No need for a hand held UV purifier on tap water , a public system will be chlorinated and a UV will cause this to crystalise . Screams of overkill to me to use this on potable water . An inline filter has it's benefits , I reckon they're a bit exaggerated but it will remove chlorine from the water which will improve it's odour and therefore it's taste . It will remove some heavy metals and debris from the water but it would be exteremely rare to find these in a water supply anyway .

nodolan

oh well , okay wrote: »

Tap water all day long for a child - do not give bottled water as it will generally be higher in minerals which is a no no for babies . Boil it to be safe if you want , although an 11 month old is probably licking the floors at this stage .

No need for a hand held UV purifier on tap water , a public system will be chlorinated and a UV will cause this to crystalise . Screams of overkill to me to use this on potable water . An inline filter has it's benefits , I reckon they're a bit exaggerated but it will remove chlorine from the water which will improve it's odour and therefore it's taste . It will remove some heavy metals and debris from the water but it would be exteremely rare to find these in a water supply anyway .

I'm sorry but I can't let that go.

You obviously know something about chemistry so would you like to tell everyone what type of chlorine you're talking about? Are you talking about chlorine gas ([Ne] 3s2 3p5 - most commonly used in municipal water supplies), liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) or dry forms of chlorine (calcium hypochlorite)? Also, what Ph should the water be and what wavelength and duration of UV light does it need to be exposed to before it crystallizes?

A consultant hepatologist in St. James Hospital in Dublin told me that any water supply that uses the old lead pipes at any stage for transporting water (like many Irish towns do) is liable to contain heavy metals (I can give you her name by PM if you like) and she also told me not to drink tap water without first running the water for a few seconds because heavy metals collect in the pipes if the water hasn't been used for a while (like overnight).

Considering that most places in Ireland use chlorine gas which starts to evaporate from the water as soon as it starts to come out of the tap I'm interested to learn more.

Thanks

edit: She also told me to leave a glass of tap water standing for a few seconds before drinking it to allow the chlorine to evaporate completely.

DreamC

We just buy bottled water for kids. I think it's safer this way, though the child drinks tap water as well.

oh well , okay

Whoooa - Fly off the handle much there nodolan ? Let's keep this civil and jargon free , we're on a parenting forum after all .

Tap water ( boiled if preferred ) is perfectly acceptable for an 11 month old child ; anyone that advocates the use of a hand held UV water purifier on tap water is a scaremonger .

I'm a mere technician in a plant that produces potable , process and purified water for the pharmaceutical plant we're based in . I've been involved in the commissioning of 3 Irish potable water plants and 2 in Scotland and have visited many more . I'm no chemist and I'm no hepatologist but I'll stand by my comments and I think the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland do not own hand held UV purifiers and the fact that no regulatory authority recommends them bears my point out somewhat .

npc_100

just 2 quick points. Most formula products will specifically tell you NOT to use bottled/mineral water (certainly SMA does) as they have the correct balance of minerals/nutrients in the formula and using bottled water can lead to an over supply of these which can cause issues for babies/infants.
Also, be careful with the Britta filters, they use ion exchange to soften the water, which from what I remember, take Calcium out of the water and replace it with sodium, this is not brilliant as tap water is a good source of calcium and you end up with a load more sodium getting into your body..

nodolan

oh well , okay wrote:

Screams of overkill to me to use this on potable water.

An inline filter has it's benefits , I reckon they're a bit exaggerated but it will remove chlorine from the water which will improve it's odour and therefore it's taste . It will remove some heavy metals and debris from the water but it would be exteremely rare to find these in a water supply anyway.

oh well , okay wrote:

Whoooa - Fly off the handle much there nodolan ? Let's keep this civil and jargon free , we're on a parenting forum after all .

Tap water ( boiled if preferred ) is perfectly acceptable for an 11 month old child ; anyone that advocates the use of a hand held UV water purifier on tap water is a scaremonger .

I'm a mere technician in a plant that produces potable , process and purified water for the pharmaceutical plant we're based in . I've been involved in the commissioning of 3 Irish potable water plants and 2 in Scotland and have visited many more . I'm no chemist and I'm no hepatologist but I'll stand by my comments and I think the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland do not own hand held UV purifiers and the fact that no regulatory authority recommends them bears my point out somewhat .

I simply replied to you, I see nothing in the way of me lacking civility. If my reply was too technical for you then you should admit that you don't know what you're talking about (as you basically did but then stood by your uninformed comments) instead of trying to belittle my reply with sweeping generalisations and dramatics. I used technical language to demonstrate that I actually know something about water supplies and water purification methods which I see as beneficial to the thread and see no reason to keep it 'jargon free' (usually a term used by those who don't like being corrected).

Many hotels in Galway (Jurys Inn, The Corrib Village, The Harbour Hotel and the Radisson SAS to name but a few) are actually using alum and UV based (in-line and in-tank) water filters (supplied by a company in Wicklow I believe) and I personally know of four private individuals using them in their homes (my sister in Navan being one of them).

Wicklow County Council uses both chlorine and alum to purify their water and sometimes UV light to purify it even further BTW.

:cool:

oh well , okay

I will freely admit you've a greater knowledge of chemistry than I, this however does not make you correct in your assertions. Like I've said and you've repeated I am not a chemist merely a technician who has worked on several water systems over the years.

You can point out any number of schemes that use these technologies while in the process of producing potable water, I am well aware of this. The fact the you point out so many schemes that use these at source would support my argument that the end user has no need to purify the water further with a device that takes 90 seconds to clean 1 lt of water and (AFAIK) can only clean 2 lts at a time .

To me it is unnecessary/overkill and would only be recommended on a parenting forum by a scaremonger or perhaps a salesman. Perhaps this is a bit strong but that would be my opinion.

These devices are designed for emergency use and need only be used as such. Their very own website describes them as such in the majority of its content.

Could you kindly point out some health, safety, environmental or regulatory authorities in Ireland or indeed Britain that recommend the use of these hand held devices on a potable water supply ?

The OP stated they were on a good water supply and asked a simple question. The simple answer is use tap water over bottled and if the child is still on formula then boil the water.

loismustdie

nodolan, you were obviously being antagonistic by the first line of your reply, "ok i can't let that go" or somethin along those lines even though readin as opposed to hearing can sometimes be very misleading, and you go on to list out the various types of chlorine, i immediatley felt a negative vibe and it's comment like yours that make me not want to read anymore of the thread, the idea of this board is to help and friendliness is always a plus, i wont bee comin back to this particular thread so feel no need to reply, just advice but it may be more benificial to phrase your comments in a more passive and mayb even nice way. hope the op is satisfied with the answers recieved. personally i gave britta filtered water without boiling it at 11 months and he's NEVER had a tummy bug, so perhaps that helps

nodolan

My water 10/04/09 in Cork City

Nevyn

/Sigh

Everybody can we please accept that water quality varies depending on where you live
in this country, there are many group schemes, co council scheme and private wells and
constantly we have those water supplies being comprised.

Parents need to make the best judgment call based on the best information they have
and the quality of water to their home. If you have any concerns talk to your baby/public health nurse and/or family gp.