re: . when did you start giving your baby water? .

Quoting Dr. J:“ The fluoride stuff scares me. I mean you can't give your child adult toothpaste because of fluoride, but doctors want you to give them fluoride drops?! I don't get it.”

Excatly... I'm SO torn on it.. So I don't do drops and I give him flouride water twice a week.. He's getting some, but I know he isn't getting to much.

I started giving my son water in a bottle at like 4 months. I breastfeed, so I would usually give it to him to pacify him since I don't use pacifiers. He would only drink like maybe an oz. Now I give it to him, but he still will only drink like maybe 2 oz at one time.

Quoting jamils_mommy:“ Excatly... I'm SO torn on it.. So I don't do drops and I give him flouride water twice a week.. He's getting some, but I know he isn't getting to much.”

I really don't know what to do. I stopped giving my daughter her fluoride tablets when I read up on it, and I haven't given my son any drops...but I don't want to deprive them of something they might need, ya know? Ugh! I wish things were more clear cut!

You don't need to give the baby flouride. Tap water gives them what they need. They actually say not to give them any extra. I can provide a link why....

Quoting Dr. J:“ I really don't know what to do. I stopped giving my daughter her fluoride tablets when I read up on ... [snip!] ... son any drops...but I don't want to deprive them of something they might need, ya know? Ugh! I wish things were more clear cut!”

I agree...

To me, I would rather push good oral hygine, and not have to worry about any negitive side effects of the flouride, plus to much flouride looks much worse on the teeth than cavaties do...

I'll just post some info:

Fluoride Exposure During Infancy:

In contrast to recommendations adopted in the 1950s, fluoride supplementation is no longer recommended for newborn children. This includes both fluoride in drops, and fluoride in drinking water.
Not only is fluoride ingestion during infancy unnecessary, it can also be harmful - as suggested by a mounting body of evidence linking fluoride exposure during the first year of life with the development of dental fluorosis. (For pictures of dental fluorosis, click here)
Because of the risk for dental fluorosis, and the lack of demonstrable benefit from ingesting fluoride before teeth erupt, the American Dental Association - and a growing number of dental researchers - recommend that children under 12 months of age should not consume fluoridated water while babies under 6 months of age should not receive any fluoride drops or pills.
Fluoridated drinking water contains up to 200 times more fluoride than breast milk (1000 ppb in fluoridated tap water vs 5-10 ppb in breast milk). As a result, babies consuming formula made with fluoridated tap water are exposed to much higher levels of fluoride than a breast-fed infant. (A baby drinking fluoridated formula receives the highest dosage of fluoride among all age groups in the population (0.1-0.2+ mg/kg/day), whereas a breast-fed infant receives the lowest).
Dental fluorosis is not the only risk from early-life exposure to fluoride. A recent review in The Lancet describes fluoride as "an emerging neurotoxic substance" that may damage the developing brain. The National Research Council has identified fluoride as an "endocrine disrupter" that may impair thyroid function, while recent research from Harvard University has found a possible connection between fluoride and bone cancer.

That picture came out of no where LOL. It wasn't on the site or maybe it just didn't load.

that's my problem.. We can't drink our tap water, and I don't feel comfortable with the supplements, so he gets one bottle of flouride water a week, not sure how else to go about it...  

They say you don't need to worry about giving it to them. They don't need it. Which I didn't know with my first.

Quoting Megan♥ baby Lydia:“ oh i know!! Lydia doesn't even like water unless it's from my cup or water bottle!!  I had a friend ... [snip!] ... (booby baby doesn't know how to hold it without handles like the sippy cup has) so she's just chewing on it and throwing it!”

 Adison hasn't had water OR a sippy cup yet!  Even more things to ask her dr about at her 6 month appointment!  I need to start making a list...

Quoting jamils_mommy:“ \and thanks... I read a LOT! Our tap water is no good, I give flouride bottled water occasionally ... [snip!] ... don't give it all the time.. and I hope he's getting enough, but would rather him have a cavity than problems with his bones...”

Nathan's pedi gave him vitamins with floride so that is all I give him.  I was only giving bottled water or no water at all but then I found out the water here has no floride so I said hmm I'll just give him some of that sometimes.

Aidan had a few ozs of water at around 2 1/2 months because we were in Oklahoma and it was over 100 degrees out... a lot of those small town stores have nothing more than a crappy little 30 yr old A/C IF that... he hasn't had it since but without it he would have DEFINITELY been too hot... It was MISERABLE in some of those places...

i was told by a nurse that you can mix pedialyte with your formula or breastmilk, the plain flavored kind, in the heat, just to be sure they're getting proper hyrdration, etc.

Quoting Gabby311:“ You don't need to give the baby flouride. Tap water gives them what they need. They actually say not to give them any extra. I can provide a link why....”

Not all tap water is fluoridated. I know ours isn't.

Quoting war pony:“ i was told by a nurse that you can mix pedialyte with your formula or breastmilk, the plain flavored kind, in the heat, just to be sure they're getting proper hyrdration, etc.”

why the formula already has the electrolytes the baby needs - water mixed with the formula as the package says is what they need. Too many electrolytes are bad too.