Is my 9mth old dehydrated?

[RUNFORLOVE]

Hello

My anxious sister just called about her 9mth old son.

She said she has noticed he has very dark circles under his eyes and they look worse tonight.

Is is a very good size with a healthy diet and she feeds him with only good food. He has a breast feed morning and night and water in between.

I asked her how much water he drank today between breast feeds and she said 2ozs - this sounds like very little to me. She said that after changing his nappy when he wakes he only has two nappy changes after. I'm sure when my girls were that age I was needing to change then 4-5 times or more a day.

I told her to call nhs direct and to check his fontalle - soft spot is not dipped. He is asleep now and was fine today so I guess its just the dark eyes that has made her worry.

I think it sounds like he is not getting enough fluids especially since he as not done his usual poo.

Because he has had two wet nappies today then he cant be dehydrated right?

No, he sounds more anemic to me. Dehydration causes the eyes to sink, no wet nappies, dry mouth, dipped fontinelle.

The rule used to be that if they were having BM then they didn't need water. It may have changed though.

Might pop him to the GP. He doesn't sound well.

thanks - i will tell her to take him to the docs tomorrow.

feel awful for him getting a blood test though bless him.

he is only getting two bm feeds a day so that would not be enough?

It doesn't sound like enough to me. It can cause problems with the kidneys if they don't drink enough. He should have more then 2 wet nappies! Sorry.

I think so too - just tried to call her but think she's on the phone to nhs direct now so I'm sure they will give her advice.

i will def tell her to go see her gp.

thanks