How do I know if my 6 week old is dehydrated?

[familygirl]

I am breastfeeding and have heard that breastfed babies can't get dehydrated/ don't need water, but his fontanelle seems rather dipped and it's so hot it's got me wondering...

Is he still having wet nappies and feeding regularly?

Oh,as long as you are feeding on demand and he is produced lots of wet nappies then you are fine. Keep him out of direct sunlight obviously.

I am, but he's more sleepy coz of the heat so not sure he's fed as well as usual (can you ever really tell!?) I'm pretty sure he's ok but just wondered about 'warning' signs' just in case-thanks for the reminder about wet nappies! Will make mental note...

Could he be a bit hot because of the weather? I agree about wet nappies - as long as they're wet and he's not got diorhhea then he doesn't sound dehydrated.

Congratulations by the way - how lovely to have a new baby!

make sure you're getting plenty of wet nappies, check his mouth tongue and lips to make sure they are moist

If baby is severly dehydrated the fontanelle will be significantly deppressed, will happen slightly in hot weather anyway, otherwise early warning signs are as mentioned decreased urination, dry lips, vomiting and dihorrea. There's no harm on giving cooled boiled water occaisionally but if you're BF on demand and are producing plenty then should be fine.

we've just been at docs as DS (15wks) had diahrroea and vomiting. i mentioned how worried i was about dehydration & mww had mentioned the soft spot but i found it hard to tell. He said soft spot is very hard to tell, and by the time it gets noticably depressed they're already quite dehydrated.
He said best way to check is in mouth, for saliva, and wet nappies. Ds drools like a labrador at the moment so I should have plenty of warning

he also said to only give cooled boiled water if it's the only thing I can keep down him.