Signs of dehydration in children and infants

It is essential for mothers to know the signs of dehydration in infants and children. Kids can become dehydrated if they lose fluids as in gastroenteritis due to vomiting and diarrhea and also the lowered appetite. Dehydration is easy to treat but can become serious if left untreated (specially in babies in their first 6 months), it needs attention and careful observation to be noticed.

Signs of dehydration in infants and young children:

• The child is lethargic, sleepy or isn't responding well to the mother ( he's not smiling back, he's very tired to open his eyes). Or, the child is very agitated and crying.
  
  
• Dry mouth and tongue. Touch your baby's tongue to check the moisture. In dehydrated children, you will notice that he will suck your finger vigorously (he is very thirsty!).
  
  
• Sunken eyes.
  
• Depressed fontanelles: if you notice that the level of the fontanelles is lower than normal.
  
• Alertness: pay attention for your babies overall "mood" and alertness, decreased activity and alertness is a sign of more and more dehydration.
  
• Skin turgor: hold a fold of your child's skin gently between your fingers and release it. Normally, the skin should return immediately, if it returns slowly or very slowly, it is a sign of dehydration (compare with yourself).
  
• Urine output: is your child producing less amounts of urine than usual (or less frequent).

When to seek medical help:

• If you suspect dehydration signs you should always seek medical advice. If your child is younger than 6 months seek medical advice immediately. Always remember to give your baby enough fluids (using the oral rehydration solution ORS) if he or she has diarrhea or vomiting to compensate for the water he lost and see a doctor for more help.
  
• If your baby is under 6 months old.
  
• If you feel the condition is getting worse or the symptoms are not improving.
  
• If there is high fever or severe abdominal pain.
  
• If there is blood in your baby's diarrhea or vomit.
  
• If your child has any other medical condition.
  
• If the child keeps vomiting everything he drinks or eats.

Treatment of dehydration:

In mild dehydration the treatment is simply more ORS about 50ml for each motion or as your doctor advice you. Remember to start giving you kid fluid and continue the normal feeding when they have gastroenteritis until a doctor examines him/her. In more severe cases, IV solutions are needed. Other treatments may include antibiotics for bacterial infections, antiemetics for the vomiting and anti-pyretics for the fever.

Related:
Gastroenteritis in children.
Diet for diarrhea in children.

Diet for diarrhea in children

Diarrhea and gastroenteritis is very common in children of all ages, specially infants and toddlers. There are many different causes for diarrhea, some of these causes may require a special diet such as diarrhea caused by lactose intolerance but we will be just talking about the other more common types of gastroenteritis, mainly caused by viral infections.

This is for educational purposed only and not a substitute of medical consultation. If your child is sick or have diarrhea, go to the doctor, it is important to assess the degree of illness and to detect dehydration and correct it.

This article may help you decide what to feed your child at home during the treatment of gastroenteritis. Here are some of the foods to include in a diet during diarrhea:

• Don't forget the rehydration solution if your doctor told you to use one! In young and dehydrated children, the Oral rehydration solution is the most important item in treatment.
  
• If your baby is breastfeeding, continue breastfeeding unless the doctor tells you otherwise.
  
• Rice water is okay.
  
• Mashed potatoes, you can add a little salt to it.
  
• Milk and yoghurt.
  
• Fresh fruit juice, better without sugar in infants and toddlers.
  
• Bananas, applesauce and toast. The BRAT diet (Banana, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) is popular in many places although there is no evidence shows it is beneficial or better than the usual diet, besides, it lacks protein.
  
• If your child's case gets worse after an initial improvement, try a lactose free milk formula and seek medical advice.

Foods to avoid:

• Cola and similar beverages.
• Fatty, oily food and chipsy.
• Cookies, candy and chocolate.
• Junk food in general.

Congenital Hemolytic Anemias in Children

Hemolytic anemias are common congenital blood diseases. They result from genetic causes and runs in certain families and races. Congenital hemolytic anemias can appear since the moment the child was born but some of them just appear days, months or even years later, specially in mild forms. They have the usual symptoms of anemia plus other symptoms and signs characteristic for each type.

The patient suffers from the usual general symptoms of anemia such as pallor, easy fatigue, and difficulty in concentration , etc but with the addition of the symptoms of hemolysis of red blood cells (jaundice, enlarged spleen, etc) and more symptoms specific for each type of hemolytic anemia. For example, Thalassemia patients have a characteristic facial appearance due to changes that occur in the bone in many cases specially those detected late. Other types such as sickle cell anemia has some characteristic complications and signs such as leg ulcers and other infarctions and a crisis known as thrombotic crisis or (sickle cell crisis).

Not all types of congenital hemolytic anemias are discovered soon after birth. Some types are detected later during infancy or even in childhood after exposure to stress or some agents. The best example is G6PD deficiency anemia which is sometimes detected later in life after exposure to certain chemicals, meications or to the fava beans (by ingestion or sometimes by inhalation).

The blood tests will show the general anemic picture of decreased RBCs numbers and decreased hemoglobin content. Further investigations are needed to reach the exact diagnosis and to identify the type of this congenital hemolytic anemia.

Sickle cell anemia shows a special type hemoglobin called HbS, which is detected by hemoglobin electrophoresis, while thalassemia shows an abnormal high percentage of the fetal hemoglobin HbF. Babies are born with more HbF in their blood and a transition occurs six months after birth from fetal hemoglobin (HbF) to the adult type of hemoglobin (HbA), in thalassemia, this doesn't occur as the body is unable to produce HbA. There are also more tests to detect other types such as microspherocytosis.

In G6PD deficiency, the family should help their child avoid the ingestion of fava beans and should be aware of the drugs that can cause an attack such as certain types of antibiotics and antimalarials.

Related:  What are the symptoms of anaemia

infant overfeeding

Infant Overfeeding and Underfeeding
It is important to nurse your baby and give him the required nutrients he needs in his early life, however, overfeeding can be bad to your infant as well as underfeeding.

Signs of infant overfeeding:

• The baby vomits after feeds. Crying due to flatulance and gases.
• Diarrhea.
• The baby gains weight.
• Sweating.
• Polyurea (large volume of urine).

This is cause by too frequent feeding, irregular feeding and nursing for prolonged periods of time. You should follow a schedule in nursing your baby and limit the nursing time to not more than 20 minutes. This can also occur with formula milk if given with excessive amounts.

Infant underfeedimg :
Normally, most infants go to sleep after feeding, but if the baby is under-fed he doesn't go to sleep. ~Some of the other signs are:

• The baby is crying before and after feeds because he is not satisfied yet.
• constipation.
• Suckling his fingers.
• Failure of the baby to gain weight or loss of weight.
• The baby is passing less amounts of urine than normal.

Underfeeding can occur in some conditions in the mother or the baby and in artificial feeding if scanty or too diluted.

What is colostrum: benefits of colostrum

What is colostrum?
Colostrum is the milk produced during the first 2-4 days after delivering a baby and it is the first stage of milk production. The secretion of colostrum may start a few days before delivery. After colostrum, a type of milk that is half way between colostrum and mature milk is secreted before mature milk, this is called "transitional milk".

There are many benefits of colostrum even with its little amount (less than mature milk) as it contains the suitable nutritional substances that the baby needs during this stage.

Colostrum contains lymphocytes and leukocytes (white blood cells of the immune system) as well as fat, proteins, carbohydrates and minerals all in the optimal proportions and concentrations for the newborn to digest with ease.

Apart from being amazingly nutritive and of suitable amount and concentration, colostrum is also rich in antibodies and immune cells. Colostrum secretion also help the involution of the uterus back to its normal shape and place.

It's important to evacuate the breast during the first few days and regularly evacuate it as to prevent milk engorgment. Persistence of colostrum for a long period may indicate scanty milk production and medical help should be sought.

Image by Peasap.

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for http://children-infants-feeding.blogspot.com/

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at acct_active@hotmail.com.

At Infants and Children feeding tips, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by Infants and Children feeding tips and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, Infants and Children feeding tips makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
Infants and Children feeding tips does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense



These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on http://children-infants-feeding.blogspot.com/ send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

Infants and Children feeding tips has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. Infants and Children feeding tips's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.

---