Why can’t babies drink water but use water on formula milk?
In: Biology
Babies are small. What would be a small amount of water to you, proportionally speaking, represents a much larger portion of their total body water. Basically, if babies have too much water without the protein, fat, carbohydrates, and electrolytes found in formula or breast milk, their blood electrolytes, and in particular their sodium, can get diluted and drop to dangerous levels. Kidneys are pretty smart and efficient even in younger babies beyond the immediate newborn period but sometimes too much water is just too much to handle.
Most frequently, we see a drop in the serum sodium level when babies are given plain water in excess or are given diluted formula (families will sometimes dilute formula to save money by “stretching” the formula supply). If your sodium gets too low, it causes seizures.
A good rule of thumb is that babies can have one ounce of water a day for every month of age they are over six months up til about 10-12 months of age (so a six month old can have an ounce of plain water a day, a seven month old can have two ounces, etc.).
Source: I’m a pediatrician and I’ve treated hyponatremic (low sodium) seizures many a time, unfortunately.
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