GD soon to be weaned - Water issues

God save us from the cranks of this world!

Sorry. Can't help. But sympathies to you.

Just give her the same water you drink? Any drinking water laid on by the authorities in the UK is safe

I suggest you ask to be provided with everything you will need each time she comes to you.
I hope you enjoyed the christening.

I'm with jings on this one. Why do people go out of their way to make their lives so flipping complicated?
Hope you find some solution NanaHolly - I'd do what shysal suggests. Good luck.

We used to boil water then let it cool. Won't that do? If not, then bottled I suppose. Can't you have it delivered by Internet shopping? But by the age of 18 months most babies are past needing everything to be sterilised.
Now, healing water really makes the mind boggle!!
I am surprised though tha your DIL has left weaning to the week she goes back to work - leaking boobs, inconsolable baby etc ? All too complicated, I would have thought a "trial run" might have been a good idea.
How about soya/almond etc milk if formula or cow's is unacceptable? What are the "moral reasons"??

The moral reasons are clearly to do with causing discomfort to the cow when squeezing her teats - heaven forfend.

If DIL is going to be so fussy, then I'm with Shysal. Ask her to provide what is needed to feed the little one. IMO at 18 months, she needs to be exposed to the real world or she will end up full of allergies!

Heaven preserve us from these neurotic parents!

Oo-er luckygirl
I could understand the morality of taking calves away from their mums so that the rest of us can enjoy dairy produce, but "discomfort to the cows being milked" well, there's a thought.
Is that OP's point, that dairy is out of the question? I hope the baby doesn't miss out on her calcium etc in that case.

Indeed you should ask her to provide everything - water, air to breathe, the whole lot!

Oh yes, air! Gosh, let's hope you don't live too near a busy road with all the exhaust pollutants . She may have to bring oxygen cylinders along too

DiL clearly has specific rules when it comes to her child. I think they are totally off the wall but should be respected. I would definitely ask that she provides everything your GD needs when she's with you.
Just an aside, I'm sure I read you shouldn't use mineral water to make up formula.

Actually, milk producing can be considered very cruel to the cow. Have you heard a cow bellowing for it's calf when said calf has been taken away in the interests of supplying milk from the mother cow to humans? And continuing, yearly, pregnancies where the same thing happens over and over again.

Life for a cow isn't always that great. TBH.

Yes. Alea mentioned that. But it's worth repeating. We can't always go gaily conscience free about our business.

Jingle My farming friends would argue that the cow was bellowing because her carefully bred, oversized mummeries were swollen and she needed milked. Today's dairy cows produce far more milk than is needed to feed one or two calves. A dairy farmer would consider it cruel NOT to milk his cows.

'Discomfort to the cow being milked' I certainly experienced that whilst breast feeding my two. That's not a grin that's gritted teeth.

You're right jingl life for a dairy cow is far from good. They feel emotions just as much as humans or any other mammals and removing their calf is every bit as distressing for them. Why do we humans think we have the monopoly on suffering?

Re the OP, I agree with others that you should ask the mother to supply everything needed when you look after your GD. I'm sure that someone who gives so much thought to the food she gives her child would want to do that anyway.

No Granny23. The bellowing I refer to is definitely when a calf has been taken away.

What do you use to make tea and coffee, Nanaholly? If you boil your tap water and let it cool, won't it be fine for the wee one?

If my daughter-in-law wanted a particular kind of water for my grandchild when I was looking after it, I'd expect daughter-in-law to provide the particular water. If she didn't I'd use my own nous and probably boil my tap water, or whatever water I used for making my own drinks.

Not disagreeing with you Jings just stating what friends in the farming community have said when I complained it was cruel. Cattle bred for beef do not have huge udders and are allowed to feed their calves naturally. They may have a better quality of life than dairy cows but it will be a short one.

I reckon that the worst aspect of life as a dairy cow would be the boredom. Two visits daily to the same milking parlour, back to the same field with nothing to do except graze and nowadays an annual visit from the vet to start a pregnancy - a bit of fun with the bull is too random apparently.

I feel so much better to know that I'm not the only one out there! And thank you all, the Christening was lovely. Even more lovely to see that the spouses, ex spouses and new spouses were all capable of being good examples to the children. In regard to social behaviour at least.

The 'different strokes' is just something I'll leave up to the DIL and her New Age family. But I think you are right. We do make an effort, so they should at least cart the stuff up here. I don't mind paying for it. A friend of mine regularly treats her grandson to a hot dog (he does love them), which his mother has forbidden. And I'll admit I would like to do the same, really. I think I will draw the line at 'healing water'. It seems it's £ 5 a bottle. And it tastes perfectly awful!

It might have been worth mentioning that we live on Teneriffe half of the year. Back now (obviously), but the visits we get there tend to be rather extended. We were told that drinking even the boiled water wasn't OK, which is why we got the system to begin with. And yes, that's what we drink, cook with, etc.

Do you think this might help the argument? (It's at about the middle of the page. I don't know how to get a link to go where I want it yet). There must have been something about bacteria and parasites, but I can't seem to find it either.

I used to rear dairy calves and our house backed on to the yard.

Many a night I laid awake listening to the mournful 'moos' from across the yard, the only consolation being that the cows soon seemed to forget their heartache when their udders filled and they need milking.

They don't moo in pain from over-filled udders. It's just a form of communication.

I would really like to know where you read that. This 'healing water' stuff seems to me like turbo-mineral water! It smells (and tastes) horrible. It's hardly a wonder that GD doesn't want to stop being nursed.

shall we try some?

You first.

Good one. If I'm going to drink it to "regulate the metabolism of alcoholic excess", I think I'll buy one bottle of healing water to every 10 bottles of
. (That would count as excess, right?)

Now you've got me wondering why DIL's mother is so adament about it! (Too bad there's no devil-smiley here)