Using Tap Water to Make Baby Formula: is it Safe?

If you have children, you're most likely very careful about what you feed them and how you take care of them in order to keep them healthy and safe. More and more parents are increasingly concerned about using tap water to make baby formula or juice for their children because of all the reports about the questionable quality of tap water. Using tap water to make baby formula is not a good idea for a number of reasons.

According to the Ralph Nader Study Group, there are over 2,100 toxic chemicals in tap water, some of which are carcinogenic. The contaminants found in tap water include but are not limited to chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, lead, PCBs, and mercury. In fact, an Environmental Working Group report noted that infants ingest 4 to 9 chemicals in every bottle of formula they drink!

In the past decade, cases of childhood leukemia, asthma, cancer, and immune disorders have risen and scientists think contaminants in tap water are to blame. Children today have an increased exposure to toxins and a decreased ability to detoxify.

Using tap water to make baby formula is dangerous since babies need to drink pure water in order to flush out the toxins that accumulate in their bodies and tap water will only make matters worse. Children are much more sensitive to the toxins in tap water because their defense systems are not fully developed.

There is little we can do to prevent our children from being exposed to the toxins in the air we breathe and the food we eat but we can help our children detoxify by giving them pure water. The chemicals in tap water can cause physical and mental developmental delays in children as well as an increased risk of degenerative disease later in life. Moreover, there are sometimes outbreaks of chlorine-resistant parasites in public water supplies.

While these parasites, such as giardia and cryptosporidium, cause flu-like symptoms in adults they can be fatal for children and the elderly. By using tap water to make baby formula you have no way to protect your child from outbreaks and the harmful health effects associated with the contaminants found in tap water. Your goal?

Instead of using tap water to make baby formula, why not invest in a home water filtration system for your home? A child's only chance to detoxify is by drinking pure, clean water and if you give your child tap water, you are putting you are putting his or her health at risk. Look for a carbon block or carbon granular filter so you can give your child pure, clean water that will help your child grow up to be healthy and disease-free.