Dehydration in children usually occurs due to episodes of diarrhea, vomiting or excessive heat and fever, for example, resulting in water loss from the body. Dehydration can also occur due to a decrease in water intake due to a viral disease affecting the mouth and, rarely, excessive sweating or excessive urine can also cause dehydration.
Babies and children can become much easier than teens and adults because they lose body fluids more quickly. The main symptoms of dehydration in children are:
- If any of these signs of dehydration occur in your baby or child.
- Your pediatrician may order blood and urine tests to confirm dehydration.
Treatment of dehydration in children can be done at home and it is recommended that hydration begin with breast milk, water, coconut water, soup, water-rich foods or juices to prevent the situation from getting worse. In addition, oral rehydration salts (SROs), which can be found in pharmacies, for example, can be used and should be taken throughout the day. Meet some water-rich foods.
If dehydration is caused by vomiting or diarrhea, your doctor may also indicate the use of certain antiemetic, antidiarrheal and probiotic medications, if necessary. In more severe cases, the pediatrician may request the child’s hospitalization so that the serum is given directly into the vein.
The amount of oral rehydration salts the child needs varies depending on the severity of dehydration, being indicated:
Regardless of the severity of dehydration, it is recommended to start feeding as soon as possible.
To relieve symptoms of dehydration in infants and children to promote a sense of well-being, it is recommended to follow the following tips:
Feeding should begin 4 hours after oral rehydration and easy-to-digest foods are recommended to improve intestinal transit.
For infants who exclusively eat breast milk, it is important that this type of feeding continues even when the baby has symptoms of dehydration. For infants consuming infant formula, it is recommended that half dilution be administered during the first two doses and preferably with oral rehydration serum.
Learn how to make homemade serum by watching the following video
The child should be taken to the pediatrician or emergency department when he or she has a fever or when symptoms persist the next day. In these cases, the pediatrician should indicate appropriate treatment, which can be performed only with home serum or with homemade rehydration salts or venous serum in the hospital, depending on the degree of dehydration of the child.