4 Benefits of Water Filter Pitchers for Kids & Infants

Considering buying a water filter pitcher for your family?

You might be wondering how this filtration device may be beneficial for your children.

Here, we’ve shared everything you should know about water filter pitchers for infants and young children. 

🫗 What Is A Water Filter Pitcher?

Before you can decide whether or not a water filter pitcher is right for filtering the water you give to your children, you need to know exactly what it is and how it works. 

A water filter pitcher is a pitcher jug with an attached filter. 

There are two reservoirs: a top reservoir (which contains the filter) and a bottom reservoir. The top reservoir slots onto the pitcher jug, which holds the bottom reservoir. When you add water to the top reservoir, it travels down through the filter cartridge and into the bottom reservoir, where it’s filtered and ready to drink. 

Water filter pitchers use gravity filtration. Rather than being pushed through the filter by the force of pressure in your pipes, water trickles through the filter at a slow, steady rate, gradually filling the pitcher below. 

🤔 Why Filter Water For Infants And Young Children?

We all want to do what’s best for our children, and that means supplying them with clean, safe drinking water that won’t harm their health. 

However, our public drinking water supplies contain traces of a range of common contaminants, and the reality is that many of these contaminants have more dangerous health effects on children than they do on adults. 

Children are still developing, and their bodies are different from adult bodies in a few ways: 

• They’re more at risk of getting sick
• They have thinner skin
• They breathe in more air per pound 
• Their bodies – and organs – are smaller and less resistant to toxins

That means children are more likely to experience worsened health effects than adults due to drinking certain contaminants in their water, and they’re also more likely to experience unique health complications that don’t affect adults. 

The EWG reviewed reports from neatly 50,000 water companies in the US and found that drinking water supplies for millions of children contained up to 250 contaminants, including the following:

• 93 chemicals linked to cancer
• 64 contaminants that impact the development of fetuses and infants
• 38 contaminants linked to fertility problems
• 78 contaminants linked to nervous system and brain problems

Even contaminants that don’t have any known health effects on children may affect the developing fetus if they’re consumed in water by pregnant women, potentially leading to birth defects and complications. 

This data is worrying, and what’s even more concerning is that there’s still a lot we don’t know about exactly how exposure to certain contaminants may harm a child’s development – so the reality may be even worse than we assume. 

By filtering your child’s water in a water filter pitcher, you can greatly reduce or eliminate many of the contaminants that are known to be harmful to their growth and development. 

🧫 What Contaminants Can a Water Filter Pitcher Remove?

Different water filter pitchers remove different contaminants. The exact substances removed depends on the filter quality and the complexity of its filtration process. 

Below, we’ve outlined the common contaminants that the best water filter pitchers can remove, and the potential health effects of these contaminants for children. 

Lead

Lead is a neurotoxin that is seriously harmful to a child’s health. According to the CDC, exposure to even low levels of lead may cause slowed growth and development, speech and hearing problems, brain and nervous system damage, and behavior and learning problems.  

Water utilities are legally required to remove lead down to 0 PPM in water, but it’s still present in many underground water distribution pipes, which leach trace amounts of this metal back into water as it travels to our homes.

Nitrate

Nitrate is a naturally occurring compound that is linked to a condition called infant methemoglobinemia, or blue baby syndrome, which occurs as a result of a decreased amount of hemoglobin in the baby’s blood. Nitrate blocks the blood’s ability to carry oxygen, and is at its most dangerous when it’s found in water that’s used to prepare baby formula. 

The EPA allows up to 10 PPM of nitrate in water. 

Fluoride 

Fluoride is a mineral that’s often produced synthetically and added to public drinking water supplies for its dental health benefits. However, too much fluoride may cause dental fluorosis (discoloration of the tooth enamel), especially in children. Very high levels of fluoride have also been linked to neurotoxicity, and some studies found that children in high-fluoride regions had much lower IQs than children living in low-fluoride regions.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that water companies limit their fluoride levels to a maximum of 0.7 PPM.

Microplastics

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic debris that end up in our water as a result of the breakdown of plastic waste in the environment. One review of studies into the effects of microplastics on children found that exposure to even small amounts of microplastics during early developmental stages could result in long-term health effects. The review concluded that microplastics could cause ”numerous changes” in a child’s reproductive, immune, digestive, central nervous, and circulatory systems.

Despite their abundance in water supplies and their known health concerns, microplastics still aren’t officially regulated by the EPA. 

PFAS

PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals that are widely present in the environment, including in our drinking water supplies. One 2018 study found that PFAS was capable of modulating immune responses in children, and a study on PFAS and pregnancy found that PFAS exposure during early pregnancy was linked to adverse neurodevelopmental status later in the infant’s life. 

The EPA has recently proposed Maximum Contaminant Levels of 4 parts per trillion, or PPT, for PFOA, and 4 PPT for PFOS – two of the most common PFAS found in drinking water supplies.

💡 Note: This is just a selection of the tens of contaminants that have known health risks for young children. Not all water filter pitchers can remove these contaminants. We recommend investing in a pitcher that removes hundreds of contaminants, like the Clearly Filtered Pitcher, to protect your family from as many drinking water contaminants as possible. 

✅ Benefits Of Water Filter Pitchers For Infants And Children 

Here are some of the key benefits of using a water filter pitcher to filter your child’s or infant’s drinking water: 

Improved Hydration

If you have a picky child (or simply a child with good taste!), you may struggle to get them to drink enough tap water due to the unpleasant chemical aftertaste. 

Water filter pitchers remove chlorine, which is added to disinfect the water and is the main cause of this taste. By eliminating the chemical taste, you can encourage your child to drink more water simply because it tastes better. 

Children have less fluid in their bodies, so dehydration can have a bigger effect on them than on adults. So, if you’re having trouble getting your child to drink enough water, try filtering the water in a pitcher to improve its taste and make it more appealing. 

Protection From Harmful Contaminants

If you had the choice, you definitely wouldn’t want your children to drink even trace amounts of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and pollutants. 

Using a water filter at home is the most effective way to prevent your family from these contaminants. While you can’t control which contaminants your local water utility chooses to leave in your water, you can at least remove them at home with a water filter pitcher. 

If you want to minimize your child’s exposure to dangerous pollutants as much as possible, using a water filter pitcher will ensure their drinking water supply is clean and safe. 

Portable Solution

Water filter pitchers are portable devices that you can take with you anywhere, whether that’s to your toddler’s childcare sessions, to another family member’s house, on family vacations – or simply from one room in your house to another. 

Using a portable filtration system is particularly beneficial for families with children because it means you don’t have to miss out on drinking filtered water, regardless of where your hectic schedule takes you. 

Water filter pitchers are lightweight and compact, and can be used anywhere with an accessible drinking tap water supply. 

Affordable Filtration Method

Many families have tight budgets to stick to, and an expensive water filtration system costing hundreds of dollars is often out of the question. 

You want to protect your child’s health, but not at such a high expense that you’re forced to cut something else out of your life, like family activities, childcare, or other household essentials. 

The great thing about water filter pitchers is that they’re an affordable filtration method, costing less than $100 upfront and around the same per year on maintenance. 

If you have a small budget or you just want to get the biggest value from your purchase, a water filter pitcher is the makes-sense solution. 

👩‍⚕️ Should You Use A Water Filter Pitcher For Infants And Young Children?

Ultimately, there’s no essential need to use a water filter pitcher to filter your tap water before giving it to children and infants. 

If you’re on a city water supply, your municipal supplier will treat the water and make it legally safe to drink according to EPA regulations. 

However, many parents don’t want their children to drink even “safe” amounts of chlorine, nitrates, chromium-6, and other contaminants with known health effects. 

Plus, you’re putting a lot of trust in your water utility, and you may feel that you can’t rely on your provider to remove contaminants even to within EPA legal limits. 

If you feel strongly about your child’s health and safety or you simply want to improve the taste and quality of the water they have access to, you’ll benefit from using a water filter pitcher. 

But if you don’t want the hassle of changing filters or you’re watching your finances carefully at the moment, a water filter pitcher might not be right for you. 

📑 Final Word

Water filter pitchers have numerous benefits for infants and young children. 

The main perk of these filtration devices is that they remove contaminants that are known to be particularly harmful to young people. 

❔ FAQ

Is filtered tap water safe for babies?

Yes, filtered tap water is safe for babies, as long as the original water source (before filtration) was potable, and as long as you follow the manufacturer’s instructions and replace the filters as necessary to prevent the risk of bacteria buildup. 

Can I use Brita filtered water for baby?

Yes, you can use Brita filtered water for your baby, but if your baby is very young (0-12 months of age) you should boil and sterilize your baby’s water rather than filter it. Brita’s water is safe for infants to drink, but it’s not as purified as water from other water filter pitchers. 

Is filtered water good for kids?

Yes, filtered water is good for kids. It’s lower in sodium, and it doesn’t contain contaminants that could affect a child’s development. Using a water filter at home is a great way to make sure your family has access to clean, great-tasting water.