Infants shouldn't drink water
As promised, here's my other pre-summer safety tip:
Johns Hopkins Children's Center is cautioning new parents that they should avoid giving infants water, even in the heat of summer when all kids need extra liquids. Each year, a press release reports, the children's center sees 3 or 4 babies who have suffered seizures because of drinking too much water.
Water flushes sodium from the body, and babies less than a year old may be more prone to these types of seizures than older children because their diet does not contain enough food sources to replenish the lost sodium. "Also, an infant's immature kidneys cannot flush out excess water fast enough, causing a dangerous buildup of water in the body," the release says.
Overdiluted formula can cause the same problem, so stick to breast milk and properly mixed formula, especially for babies not yet eating solid food.
One reason I'm mentioning this is because I've run into a few grandparents out there who think giving babies water is still a good idea, because that's what they did. Now, if you get into a dispute about it with your mother or mother-in-law, you can point to an "official" source.
