Watering down the baby bottle, how often and to what extent makes this dangerous since measurements are loose?

I think it was pretty clear in the article how and why it's dangerous to do this. 30 years ago Nestle got in trouble for marketing baby formula in Africa with a smiling baby on it, moms would use it and loose their milk, end up dependent on it and then watering down the powder to make it last since it's so freaking expensive. Babies were dying left and right from lack of nutrition and too much water, and it was compounded by poor sanitation with their water.

Part of what happens is that babies get all their nutrition from a liquid, so their kidneys who are not full developed get a lot of a work out. One big job that a kidney does is make sure liquids go out and dissolved molecules stay in, so when their is too much water it overwhelms the kidneys - and your homeostasis is wrecked, fluid floods the lungs, makes the intestines porous (and prone to infection) and the brain porous. Totally not cool.

It's one more nail in the coffin that formula is not for babies except in desperate situations.

I use the Target brand as well. And I premake all the bottles in a another container, and I just fill it to the mark I know is 7 oz. I used a measuring cup to make sure it was correct. I havent had any problems using them. Not that lil of water is going to do that big of harm. Its if you say use enough formula for 7 oz but use 12 oz of water instead for each bottle, that may cause some serious issues after awhile. ( just an example) EDIT!!!!!..Yea dont go by the lines on the bottle they are not right. You can also , Take a measuring cup, fill it to the amount you need, and then fill the bottle and take a sharpie and mark the bottle. This way you can fill it every time without worring about the liners measurements. You might have to re-do the mark after a few washings, but just an idea.

What kind of parent deprives their child of nourishment? How can you not realize that giving a child less nutrients would be harmful? I didn't have much money when I had my son either, his father and I were not together at the time, and not even in the same country. But I still not only gave him all the nourishment he needed, for what I had to supplement, I bought the BEST kind of formula I could find for him, even though it was a fair bit more expensive than anything else. You can cut costs anywhere else you like, but you can't do it where your child's welfare is concerned. Always follow the directions given on the container, for each brand. They have to test their product and make sure that they instruct parents properly, so as not to get sued.

Baby formula is created to give an infant a proper diet of calories, vitamins and nutrients. If you water it down, you are giving the child the liquid volume to fill the kid up but you are not passing along the proper amount of nutrients.

Are you asking how often and how much you CAN water down a baby's formula and still not starve the baby to death? If so, I hope that CPS pays a visit to you very soon. Your doctor will know if this is what you're doing, so think twice. Loose measurements? Are you asking how far you can push this? What part of that article do you not understand?

Two local morons here had a child. They realized that an electrolyte replacement (stacked next to the formula in the store) was cheaper, so they started feeding that to their baby instead of formula. The baby was quite literally starving, ended up in the emergency room and was subsequently removed from the home. The mother is taking parenting classes and the dad will join her as soon as he finished up in anger management after threatening to assult the ER doc.

Sigh. People don't have the sense that God gave lettuce. I hoe you're not among them.

This is very interesting.

My son had a "watered down" bottle of breast milk at noon with his childcare provider for about three weeks because of constipation. I did this because he would not drink plain water from a bottle. That issue has since subsided, but this was done with advice from his doctor who told me baby's passed the age of four months can safely ingest up to two ounces of water a day and a little water is the best way to cure a mild form of constipation. He ended up ingesting probably an ounce a day of water, and I added it to his regular amount of breast milk, I did not replace it.

This woman must've been adding A LOT of water to her son's formula to stretch it for him to get this sick. I actually feel really sorry for her, that she couldn't realize what she was taking away from her son when she did this.

I'm not sure... this is news to me. I thought if you didn't put enough water in it was dangerous because it overworked the kidneys and thought that if you added to much water that it just meant less nutrition which for a growing baby is needed. I knew water for babies under a certain age was not needed, but never thought it could be harmful. A lot of the older generation always asked me if I gave my baby plain water to drink and although I didn't, it seems like they did and their babies turned out just fine. I even read that formula fed babies could be given a little bit of water in the summer if it was really hot out. Thanks for the info.

No, measurements are NOT "loose". Each can of formula has EXACT measurements for bottles.

It's a very scary, and potentially deadly, thing to do to your infant. I doubt this woman exhausted ALL means of help before taking matters into her own hands. There had to have been a local hospital, police station, WIC office, pediatric office, something, that would have helped her if she explained her situation.

Actually the measurements are not really "loose". Every brand of formula has very specific measurements as to how much powder to add to how much water. My doctor went well out of her way to stress to me that it's very important to make sure to mix the formula correctly.

It's not just 'water intoxication' that can harm a baby whose formula is incorrectly mixed--their kidneys can get overstressed and shut down as well if it's got too much water in it. If it's got too little water in it, they could get severely dehydrated and constipated.

I feel for this poor family who couldn't afford to feed their baby, but I find it hard to believe that she couldn't find *anyone* to help her out. Very sad.

NEVER do it

Make it up exactly to the instructions.

If you can't afford it breast feed as this is best anyway

I gave my son Pedialyte because it's easier to digest and it keeps them re-hydrated.

You can also give them Pedialyte ice cycles to suck on and they like that too.