The Great Debate: Tap Vs. Bottled Regular Vs. Baby

I use tap water and dreft. Tap because our local water is very good and because bottled is not always as pure as people think. I use dreft because I like the smell!!

There is an article on CNN today that says that Aquafina and Dasani are tap water and now Aquafina will be labeling its bottles with such. If they're just tap water, then they'll have the same fluoride levels as wherever they are "tapped". I do feel fortunate that we have good city water and our pediatrician says is just fine (obviously it could be different for those with well water). [url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/27/pepsico.aquafina.reut/index.html]Aquafina labels to spell out source - tap water - CNN.com[/url]

I saw the same thing on the news this morning. They said Evian and Nestle's water can still be classified as "spring water." Not sure what that means though. We'll still use the Nestle's like we have been. We're on a well, so I think bottled is still better since it's at least purified.

Aquafina (Pepsi) Purified water (water from local sources) Archer Farms (Target) Arrowhead (Nestle) Mountain spring water <.101.0 ppm Calistoga (Nestle) Sparkling: below the small town of Calistoga in California֒s Upper Napa Valley Regular: Mountain springs in CA None detected None detected Crystal Geyser Alpine spring water None added. 0 to 0.7 ppm naturally Dannon Natural spring water from Piedmont, Quebec, Canada Adds up to 1mg fluoride per 1 liter of water = up to 0.25mg of fluoride in one 255 mL (8.5 FL OZ) bottle Dasani (Coke) Purified water (water from local sources) None added, and water is filtered using reverse osmosis, so amount depends on local water Deer Park (Nestle) Spring water (originally from Deer Park, MD mountain springs) None detected.17 ppm Evian Natural spring water. Still mineral water from Evian in Southern France .02֖.07 ppm Fiji Artesian water in Fiji Untouched Gerber Baby Water (with Fluoride) .46 ppm Glacier Springs Purified water Nursery Water Drinking water Fl added Palomar Mountain Spring Water .1 ppm Perrier (Nestle) Mineral water from Southern France .13 ppm Poland Springs (Nestle) Spring water 0.0-0.27 ppm Safeway Drinking Water Drinking water, municipal source .81 ppm Safeway Spring Water Spring water from local sources .28 ppm San Pelligrino Mineral water from thermal spring at the foot of a Dolomite mountain wall towering above the Brembo river in the Italian Alps .62 ppm

Old thread, just found it... Didn't see a post like mine so: We used bottled nursery water because we live in the country on well water. I wanted something more pure (even though ours tested okay), and because we're not in the city, didnt' have access to flouridated water. Have tried the babe on free detergents before, but eczema seems worse. Have used Dreft the whole time. Will be trying him back on a cheaper baby detergent soon, as the weather is cooler and eczema SHOULD get better before the cold and dry air hits, to see if it bothers him.

We use bottled water for two reasons. 1) We are on a small communtiy water system which is run by volunteers from the community...although the water is tested monthly, I do know that the system is old and in ill repair with plenty of oppurtinity for cross-contamination. (I am too lazy to boil) 2) The other reason is that it is chlorinated, which should take care of any contamination, but since our son currently lives on only formula made from water, I am not sure that chlorine with every meal is good for him (breast fed babies don't get any chlorine). I am also using Dreft, but we are still on our first bottle of it and at some point I expect to switch to regular detergent...not sure when.

Tap water all the way -No TIDE in this house- I am allergic to it, but there is also no Dreft. Love to you,

Hi, Im new here. We used bottled water until babies are 2 years old, then we allow them to drink tap water moderately until they are used to it. I've always used Tide and with fabric conditioners for the clothes. So far, I didn't notice any problem.

We used nursery water simply because it had flouride in it. Flouride is only a problem if ingested in large quantities and is beneficial for strengthening the enamel on the teeth (hence the reason municipalities put flouride in the water supply). We are on a well at the house and our tap water is clean and great tasting (we're pretty sure we're tapped into an artesian spring, our area is loaded with them and our water tastes great) so we do give our DD water out of the tap at times. As far as detergent. We've never used anything special for DD clothing. The only thing we did when she was very little is to wash our work clothes separately from her clothes. Now everything get dumped into the same load. We use All Free and Clear and Tide with Bleach and Downy fabric softener. Our DD has very sensitive skin and has never had any derm reactions to any of the detergents or softeners.

That's the thing - formula fed babies ARE getting too much fluoride. Even the ADA admits that now. Furthermore, fluoride is not supposed to be ingested. It's supposed to be applied topically - like in toothpaste. You're not supposed to give your baby fluoride toothpaste because he or she may swallow it. How is then OK to give a baby fluoridated water?Newer studies are showing that fluoride isn't as important to dental health as has been thought. It seems as though fluoride might be in the category of things we thought were good for us (or at least OK) but really aren't - such as thalidomide, PVC, the oral polio vaccine (caused polio outbreaks here until the IPV came out, and now it's causing polio outbreaks in Nigeria), x-raying pregnant women, the original red M&MS, and do on.Fluoridosis - a dental condition that wears away the enamel on teeth that is caused by an overdose of fluoride - is on the rise. Studies on animals show that, when given proportionally the same amount of fluoride that a human drinks in one day, severe medical problems occur.The fluoride builds up in several organs, including the brain; there are signs of altered mental behavior (such of that of people with Alzheimer's); it appears to impact learning behavior; impacts the amount of sperm, thus decreasing fertility; the list goes on and on. Fluoridating water is equivalent to medicating a person (or in this case, thousands of people) without his or her consent, without any knowledge of the person's health conditions. People who have kidney disease should not be drinking fluoridated water, for example. Some people are sensitive to fluoride, in the same way that some develop allergies or sensitivities to certain medications or foods. There are many serious reasons why fluoride should not be ingested by anyone, but especially infants and the elderly.Some info:"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC 1999, 2001) has now acknowledged the findings of many leading dental researchers, that the mechanism of fluoride's benefits are mainly [URL="http://www.fluoridealert.org/topical-systemic.htm"]TOPICAL not SYSTEMIC[/URL]. Thus, you don't have to swallow fluoride to protect teeth. ""According to EPA and NIEHS, aluminum fluoride currently has a "high health research priority" due to its "known neurotoxicity" (BNA, 2000). If fluoride is added to water which contains aluminum, then aluminum fluoride complexes will form.""it is increasingly evident that some people in the population particularly people with kidney disease - are accumulating fluoride levels that have been associated with harm to both animals and humans, particularly harm to bone""Once fluoride is put in the water it is impossible to control the dose each individual receives. " [url=http://www.fluoridealert.org/]Fluoride Action Network[/url]We did install a reverse osmosis filter, and our water tastes much better! I'm not a fanatic about making sure Jack gets only filtered water when we're out, but I do make sure he drinks filtered from home.:hippie:

Here is another link, to the Environmental Working Group's page about fluoride. [url=http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/08/ask_ewg_what_can_i_do_about_fl.htm]Enviroblog: Ask EWG: What can I do about fluoride in my water?[/url]They're a bit more moderate than the Fluoride Action Network.

i always used ivory snow for first several months.boiled water,now tap water is usually okay.in fact if your city has flouride in the water,this is what kids need,for their teeth.check with your childs dr.if in doubt.

Actually, fluoridated water isn't good for infants and young children. Furthermore, fluoride is only useful when applied topically - as in, brushing your teeth - and can be harmful if consumed in large amounts. That's part of the reason there are warnings on toothpaste tubes about not letting children swallow the toothpaste. [url=http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/08/ask_ewg_what_can_i_do_about_fl.htm]Enviroblog: Ask EWG: What can I do about fluoride in my water?[/url]

We use fluorinated nursery water or bottled water that's fluorinated. When I was growing up we didn't use this and lived out in the country like we do now. We use Tide. We did use Tide with Bleach Alternative but it made our clothes smell extremely musty.

I use bottled nursery water and regular old Tide for my detergent. One of my boys has/had eczema and honestly, when I switched to dreft and then tried detergent without perfumes and such, he actually seemed to get worse. With the water, I just think it's better. I found when we went to my in-laws my boys spit up (actually projectile there) and the only difference was the water, so we stuck to bottled after that.