Thank you for your inquiry, Eddie, and congratulations to you and your wife on the new baby!

As for whether or not you can use your public water supply to dilute your child’s formula, that all depends on the amount of fluoride that your water treatment plant adds to the water it distributes.

We have read that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a recommendation against using undiluted water sources that contain fluoride concentrations at or above 0.7 mg/L (ppm) to make formula for infants 6 months of age or younger.

While fluoride does play a role in the development of healthy of a child, too much of a good thing can cause problems… like a condition known as ‘mild dental fluorosis’. Experts in the field describe dental fluorosis as visible changes to the enamel surface of the teeth.

Examples of dental fluorosis include:

• Very mild and mild forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have scattered white flecks, occasional white spots, frosty edges, or fine, lacy chalk-like lines. These changes are barely noticeable and difficult to see except by a dental health care professional.
   
• Moderate and severe forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have larger white spots and, in the rare, severe form, rough, pitted surfaces. ( source )

At this time the CDC states that symptoms of dental fluorosis develop only in the teeth of children 8 years old and younger and only before the teeth emerge through the gumline.

Why does dental fluorosis affect young children?

Scientists and health experts hypothesize that since a child drinks a lot more fluids (formula & water) when younger and smaller in size, the amount of fluoride they take in compared to their body mass puts their fluoride per pound level at a much higher concentration.

Think of this this way: If you add 1 gallon of blue dye to 10 gallons of water then the water will turn a dark blue color. This represents a small child consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride. Now add that same 1 gallon of blue dye to 50 gallons of water and the water turns a much lighter shade of blue. This represents an adult or adolescent consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride.

Ways to prevent dental fluorosis

Opponents of public water fluoridation immediately jump up and scream, “Stop adding fluoride to the water supply!” While that sounds like a quick fix, the battle of fluoridation of municipal water supplies has gone on for a long time so we highly doubt that it will end anytime soon — which means some public water supplies will continue to contain fluoride.

Therefore, the CDC suggests using low-fluoride water sources like bottled water when making formula bottles for infants. Check the labels on the bottled water, though, to make certain you use deionized, purified, demineralized, and/or distilled water.

For those not in favor of using bottled water, and we know a lot of folks out there who absolutely despise bottled water, by the way, we have found that a quality reverse osmosis water filter will do an excellent job of lowering fluoride levels in drinking water.

Certain undercounter and countertop water filters also do an excellent job of reducing fluoride levels in drinking water, but make sure the unit you select specifically states that it reduces fluoride levels. Not all undercounter and countertop water filters include a filter cartridge designed to reduce fluoride levels!

For a list of water filters specifically designed to target fluoride concentrations, we suggest you take a look at the Fluoride Filters page on FilterWater.Com

While the jury has not come back with a decision on whether or not fluoride in drinking water poses a serious health risk to people who drink water spiked with it, if you don’t want it in your water Crystal Quest has recently come out with a convenient, easily installed countertop water filter for fluoride — and many other unwanted potential drinking water contaminants.

Crystal Quest manufactures a product called the Countertop Disposable Single Fluoride Multi PLUS Water Filter System which installs in seconds and effectively removes fluoride AND hundreds of drinking water contaminants — if present in the water to begin with.

Water travels through a series of seven filtration stages in this unit. You will find detailed information on those stages below:

Pre and Post One-Micron Filter Pads: Used in stages 1 and 7, this filtration method removes suspended particles including silt, sediment, cyst (Giardia, Cryptosporidium), sand, rust, dirt, and other undissolved solid matter.

Fluoride Removal Cartridge: Used as the second stage of filtration, water flows through a fine mesh synthetic aluminum oxide absorbent media which has an extremely high affinity for fluoride, lead and arsenic. Through a combination of adsorption and chemical reaction the media effectively removes metals over a wide pH range.

How much fluoride can the filter hold before it needs servicing? The filter will reduce 10ppm feeds to 0.2ppm for a total of 6,000ppm fluoride removed.

KDF Media Bed: The third and fifth stages of filtration feature proprietary blends of high-purity KDF resins (KDF-55D and KDF-85D) which work using electrochemical and spontaneous oxidation-reduction (REDOX) principles. In these stages compounds such as chlorine get neutralized. Laboratory testing has shown that combination KDF/GAC cartridges can remove more than 99% of chlorine from greater than 20,000 gallons of water.

During these stages iron and hydrogen sulfide also get oxidized and become an insoluble substance that attaches to the surface of the media. Additionally, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, copper, nickel, chromium, cadmium, aluminum, and other dissolved metals get removed from the water by an electrochemical process at this point.

Ion Exchange Resin: The fourth stage of filtration uses an ion exchange to further reduce/remove heavy metals such as lead, copper and aluminum. This stage also acts a water softener by reducing calcium and magnesium levels (aka: total hardness) in the water.

Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC): The sixth stage of filtration makes use of granulated activated carbon, a material universally accepted as a highly effective means of eliminating a wide range of unwanted contaminants such as chlorine, potential carcinogens (i.e. THM’s, benzene, etc.), pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), PCB’s, MTBE’s and many more chemical contaminants that may show up in water. Many of these compounds create a ‘bad’ color, taste and/or odor in drinking water, but not all.

Important note regarding carbon filters… Some manufacturers use a lesser grade of carbon, but this filter uses a highly porous, and therefore more useful, carbon derived from coconut shells.

How do I know if I need a water filter like this one?

If you have concerns regarding fluoride in your drinking water, contact your local water department and ask for a copy of the most recent drinking water report. Some water districts have made their annual reports available online so you may want to look on your water district’s web site first.

If your concerns deal with potential water contaminants that may have entered your water supply after it left the water treatment plant — bacteria, lead, heavy metals, etc. — then at-home drinking water test kits like the following may work just fine for you.

Keep in mind, though, that if you have serious reason to suspect drinking water contamination, you should seek the assistance and expertise of a certified water testing laboratory.