Travelling with my 4month old

hey!

Personally, I don't have a kid. But I did travel with my buddy through Italy with his 6-month-old so I have some experience. And I have spent a lot of time traveling Italy.

As far as distilled water from a tap I think it is hard. It is easy to find bottled water if that works.

I think your best bet would be looking at airbnbs and send messages to the owners asking if they have distilled water. You might have some luck finding it at restaurants. But this is also iffy.

As far as boiling water. There is no need. The water in Italy is drinkable. There are even old drinking fountains in Rome where you can still refill your water bottles.

We had a blast traveling with a kid in Italy. Actually you get a lot of perks. At a lot of the sights and attractions, we were brought to the front of the line because we had a small child. And you get a lot more attention at restaurants, and markets, etc.

It was awesome!

Distilled water can be found anywhere, but it is mainly meant for pressing irons. For baby formula I would use bottled water, even easier to find. A low-salt bottled water like S. Anna IMHO would be the best.

In mountain areas - I do not know about the city of Trento - it may even be possible that tap water, coming from nearby springs, is even better in quality than bottle water.

Mmmm, why does it need to be distilled? My 'babies' are now in their 30's but I don't recall every needing distilled water for consumption. A website check does suggest for babies under 4 months to boil water for 2 minutes prior to mixing. (Canadian Pediatric Society), but after that age, water from a clean source or low sodium bottled water.
If your hotel doesn't have a kettle, consider buying one there so it is the correct wattage and plug shape.
Italy has good water in general, and even public drinking water sources.

Just in case you DO still want to use distilled water, there was discussion on this forum some months ago about finding distilled water in Europe. You can put "distilled water" into the search bar, above, to read some of the threads. Among those, was this advice from poster "Roberto da Firenze" who, in response to the question re. finding distilled water in Rome, shared that: "In any supermarket or food store you should find “acqua distillata” that is used for ironing clothes. Italians put exclusively distilled water in the iron to eliminate the possibility of damage caused by mineral deposits. You will find it generally in the same shelf with detergents and it’s really cheap, just cents. If you want it really pure, that is good for drinking or medical purposes, then you can find that type at any pharmacy. It costs a bit more, maybe a couple of € per liter."

A 4-month -old does not have a fully developed immune system, and avoiding water straight from the tap is sound practice. Bottled water should be fine; you can boil it briefly and then let it cool if you want to be extra cautious.

Hi Kay,
We are taking our 5 month old to Italy in November (he will be 7 months). We plan to just use bottled water. I wouldn't worry too much on if its distilled or not. I've never followed the instructions on our formula (distilled/boil) and our son is perfectly fine if not a little chunky.

Amanda

Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for the helpful responses. We are first time parents and it's our first time travelling with the little one so I'm little nervous. But it seems like we should be fine with bottled water for her formula. Thanks for all the tips. Much appreciated.
Kay

What does your pediatrician have to say about the need for distilled water?