Health concerns re: drinking stagnant water

August 7, 2006 11:14 AM

Mistakenly gave my son a sipppy cup with water that had been sitting out for a few weeks. Should I be worried?

On the way back from the park today, I gave my son an *old* sippy cup to drink out of (I poured fresh water into a new cup, but didn't realize that there was an old sippy cup in the stroller basket. I gave him the old one to drink from, and didn't realize the switch until we got home). It was just water, but I think it had been sitting there for about two weeks (and it has been hot out). Should I be worried about this? How worried? I took a sip myself to see -- it tasted like plasticy-water.

posted by Badmichelle to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

No, don't be worried.
posted by thirteenkiller at 11:19 AM on August 7, 2006

It's just old, stale water. It was covered the whole time, and no one else had access to it, so don't worry.
posted by headspace at 11:22 AM on August 7, 2006

In fact, do it more often so that he doesn't grow up with some sort of house of cards immune system.
posted by jon_kill at 11:22 AM on August 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

My son picked up a sippy cup from the back of my car, with old juice in it, drank from it, and said "old", handing it upfront to me.

I took a look at it and said "oh shit". There was mold in there. I panicked, worried for a couple of hours, and nothing happened. That was about six months ago and he is still ok, though he does now say "oh shit"
posted by poppo at 11:37 AM on August 7, 2006 [23 favorites]

I think if it was going to be unhealthy for him, it would have tasted bad (weeks would have been plenty long for a bacteria to really take over, if it was going to, and I'd guess you'd taste that).

I wouldn't sweat it much.
posted by teece at 11:46 AM on August 7, 2006

Nothing to worry about. And if something did happen, I'd be concerned about the water supply going into the house and/or how dishes get cleaned in the house, rather than the sippy cup that gets left out for two weeks.
posted by frogan at 12:12 PM on August 7, 2006

Response by poster: Hey thanks for the responses! I am still worried (because it is my nature) but a little less so.
posted by Badmichelle at 12:49 PM on August 7, 2006

Where did the water come from? If it's municipal water, it's got chlorine in it, which will inhibit growth of nasties for quite a while. Most bottled water also comes from municipal (chlorinated) sources, you will have to read the fine print on the label.

If he isn't sick yet, he'll be fine.
posted by defcom1 at 1:24 PM on August 7, 2006

Response by poster: It was plain old tap water, filtered through a britta filter. And he seems absolutely fine at the moment. :)
posted by Badmichelle at 1:38 PM on August 7, 2006

Have some faith in your son's immune system. If you're worried now, what will you do when he starts eating dirt and flies ? :)
posted by Popular Ethics at 2:09 PM on August 7, 2006

Yeah, the eating mud thing was when my parents finally realized that my immune system could take anything I threw at it (or I threw myself at... whichever was the case)
posted by hatsix at 3:32 PM on August 7, 2006