🚰 Parents, are you hydration detectives? 🕵️‍♂️ Discover the key signs of dehydration in children and learn how to keep your little ones refreshed and healthy! 🌊 #HealthyKids #HydrationMatters #ParentingHacks

What is Dehydration?

Dehydration occurs when your child loses more fluids than they take in. This can happen due to various reasons, such as vomiting, diarrhea, fever, or excessive sweating. Mild dehydration doesn’t usually cause problems. But if mild dehydration isn’t treated, it can get worse. Severe dehydration is a medical emergency and can be life-threatening.

What Are The Symptoms?

People with mild dehydration might not notice any symptoms. As dehydration gets worse, it can cause symptoms such as:

• Feeling thirsty
• Urinating less often, or having dark yellow or brown urine
• Feeling tired or confused
• Feeling dizzy

What Are The Signs You Can Check For At Home?

Measure Your Child’s Weight

Dehydration is most objectively measured as a change in weight from baseline. Acute loss of body weight reflects the loss of fluid, not lean body mass. For example, an acute 2 kg weight loss generally reflects the loss of two liters of fluid.

It is clinically significant if your child has more than 5% of his weight from baseline.

In a systematic review of the literature, the other most useful clinical signs that identified children with clinically significant dehydration (i.e >5%) were delayed capillary refill time, reduced skin turgor, and abnormal respiratory pattern.

Capillary Refill Time

Watch the video on how to do this test at home!

A capillary refill time greater than three seconds is considered abnormal.

Skin Turgor

Watch the video on how to do this test at home!

If the skin on the thigh, calf, or forearm is pinched in a normal person, it will immediately return to its normally flat state when the pinch is released. This elastic property is called skin turgor. Dehydration leads to diminished skin turgor, and the skin flattens more slowly after the pinch is released.

Respiratory Pattern

An objective way of assessing your child’s respiration is to count the number of breaths your child is taking per minute.

A higher than normal respiratory rate for the age suggests moderate to severe dehydration.

Other Important Signs To Look Out For:

• No tears when the child cries
• Eyes that look sunken in the face
• Dry mouth or cracked lips
• A “sunken fontanel” in babies – A fontanel is a gap between the bones in a baby’s skull. When babies are dehydrated, the fontanel or “soft spot” on the top of their head can look or feel caved in.

When To See A Doctor

See the doctor if your child has any symptoms and signs of dehydration listed above.

You should also see a doctor if your child:

• Has diarrhea that lasts more than a few days
• Has vomiting that lasts more than 1 day
• Can’t keep any fluids down
• Vomits blood, or has bloody diarrhea
• Hasn’t been willing to drink anything for several hours
• Hasn’t needed to urinate in the past 6 to 8 hours (in older children), or hasn’t had a wet diaper for 4 to 6 hours (in babies and younger children)

How Is Dehydration Treated?

Dehydration is treated with fluids.

Children with severe dehydration usually need to be treated in the hospital. Treatment might involve getting fluids through a thin tube that goes into the vein, called an “IV”.

If your child only has mild dehydration, you can also treat it by giving them fluids to drink. You’ll know that the treatment is working when:

• Your child urinates more often and the urine looks pale yellow or clear.
• Your baby has more wet diapers.
• The child’s weight goes back to baseline
• The above listed signs and symptoms resolve

You should use the following fluids to treat your child’s dehydration:

• Oral rehydration solutions – These are special drinks meant to help with dehydration. You can buy them in a store or pharmacy. Try to give your child a few teaspoons of fluid every few minutes. If your baby won’t drink it from a bottle or cup, you can feed them with a spoon or syringe.
• Breast milk – Babies who breastfeed should continue to breastfeed.
• Apple juice mixed with an equal amount of water

Can Dehydration Be Prevented?

To help prevent dehydration, you can:

• Make sure your child drinks plenty of fluids, especially if they are sick and have a fever.
• Give your baby or young child an oral rehydration solution as soon as they start vomiting or having diarrhea.
• Give your child extra fluids when it’s hot out, or if they are exercising or sweating.

Conclusion

As parents, being vigilant about hydration can make a world of difference in our children’s health. By recognizing the signs of dehydration early and taking action promptly, we can help keep our kids happy and healthy!

Reference: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/clinical-assessment-of-hypovolemia-dehydration-in-children?search=dehydration&source=search_result&selectedTitle=1~150&usage_type=default&display_rank=1#H1617477535

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