Newborn Dehydration - symptoms & solutions???

[Leishy]

Today was a warm day and DP & I noticed that DD has dry, cracked lips. Looking over the rest of her body, she has dry, flakey skin not just in the creases, but also on her belly & legs. We have also noticed that nearly every bowel movement is like a frothy liquid.
Our parents both gave different opinions on re-hydrating DD. One said to give her water in a bottle, the other said not to. We've been trying to research it a bit & we're both a bit concerned that maybe she has dehydration because of the diarrhea. It also suggested that we should be giving her an electrolyte sustinent such as Pediolyte.
She seems to drink a fair bit, over the last 36 hours DD has had 930mls of expressed breastmilk, she has had 5 or 6 bowel movements & passed urine 4 or 5 times (that we know of).

Please help us! If anyone could please give 2 young, concerned parents some advice on what we should do with our DD, we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

[Opinionated]

If you can, directly breastfeed rather than ebm. Breastmilk is not all the same. Babies are able to drink the mainly hydrating foremilk and leave the hindmilk which is rich, if it is mainly water they need. Feed as frequently at the breast as possible and your baby will hydrate quickly. If you have to, go to bed with your baby and just feed and sleep.

Newborns do not need water or pedialite. If you think they do, you should be seeking medical attention.

[reAllytee]

Feed feed feed.

If she is passing urine then things arent too bad at this point but that being said im not a doctor nor can I see her. If she is still acting like she does normally as well as wetting her nappies then I wouldnt be too alarmed at this point but thats me because it tells me she is getting enough through her system :yes:

It sounds like she could have a tummy upset & thats either say a tummy bug or because something in your diet is affecting her or it could be Lactose Overload.

Make sure you arent eating anything too full on for her tummy so if you find you are eating loads of say cheese or chocolate then leave them alone for a few days to see if that helps her. Dairy tends to be the biggest culprit in causing babies to have frothy bowel movements etc followed by things like wheat, citrus etc.

This ABA page may be handy to read : ABA Lactose (http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/lactose.html)

If you scroll down to Lactose Overload this is what a lot of babies suffer in the first few months & its easily handled.

Good luck hopefully things settle soon !

[Miss_Vicki]

booby feed on demand an im sure bubs will be right :)
Hope gets better soon :)