How do breastfed babies get enough water?
Depending on temperature, humidity, and the infant’s weight and level of activity, the average daily fluid requirement for healthy infants ranges from 80–100 ml/kg in the first week of life to 140–160 ml/kg between 3–6 months. These amounts are available from breastmilk alone if breastfeeding is exclusive and unrestricted (on-demand day and night) for two reasons: Breastmilk is 88 percent water. The water content of breastmilk consumed by an exclusively breastfed baby meets the water requirements for infants and provides a considerable margin of safety. Even though a newborn gets little water in the thick yellowish first milk (colostrum), no additional water is necessary because a baby is born with extra water. Milk with higher water content usually “comes in” by the third or fourth day. Figure 2 shows the principal components of breastmilk. Breastmilk is low in solutes. One of the major functions of water is to flush out, through the urine, excess solutes. Dissolved substances (for ex
