Dehydration In Children- Warning Signs & Prevention

By Author: Dr. Srivatsan Gurumurthy
Total Articles: 28
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Most of the human body is made of water, so when the temperature rises and the body tries to cool itself by sweating, dehydration can be a real concern, particularly for children especially in the summer months.

Total body water constitutes approximately 75 per cent of body weight at birth and declines to about 60 per cent from the age of 2 years onwards. Total body water (TBW) is compartmentalized into intracellular fluid (ICF) and extracellular fluid (ECF).

What is dehydration?
Dehydration is the loss of water and salts (electrolytes) from the body. We need water to maintain enough blood and other body fluids to function properly, and to maintain our blood pressure.

Along with the fluids, the body also needs electrolytes like sodium, potassium which are salts normally found in blood, other fluids, and cells. Dehydration is one of the risk factors for heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which causes over 400 deaths per year! The early stages of dehydration often do not cause any symptoms which if left unnoticed can lead on to greater problems.

Drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day helps our body ...
... function efficiently. It is estimated that if we lost just one-tenth of the water within our body, we would not be able to stand, let alone walk.

Although fluid loss occurs during hard physical work, even simple tasks like gardening, walking or riding a bike can result in a significant loss of fluid within a very short period. The water loss is of a higher magnitude, faster pace and often progresses unnoticed in the months of summer which makes it a high-risk period for dehydration.

Babies and small children feel the effects of heat sooner and more seriously than adults.
Children in cars need special protection from heat as cars can heat up very quickly.
A parked, locked car can reach very high temperatures very quickly.
At highest risk of dehydration are babies under one year old, particularly if they are suffering from a co-existant illness like diarrhoea.
How do we lose fluid?
The body may lose fluids in a variety of ways:

when urinating;
when you vomit or have diarrhoea;
when sweating;
from the lungs when you breathe.
For every 100 calories metabolized, the body loses about 65 ml water in the urine, 40 ml by sweating, 15ml from the lungs and about 5 ml in the faeces and gains 15ml from production as a result of metabolic processes. Thus the net loss of water is 110 ml per 100 calories metabolized.

https://www.drsrivatsan.com/dehydration-in-children-warning-signs-prevention/