DEHYDRATION

With soccer, baseball, lacrosse and track starting up this season, I feel I should discuss dehydration. Many kids experience this and I have first hand knowledge. My daughter who loves to play sports has had a few episodes where she was having signs of dehydration. She has had a few of the classic symptoms such as a headache or feeling lightheaded. She recovers quickly once she hydrates. If a child is vomiting or extreme headache they will need to hydrate and lie in a cool dark place until feeling better. We have discussed this with our doctor and concluded that she really needs to drink more water daily. Of coarse I had to do a bit of research myself because I do worry. I went on the Mayo Clinic website to read up on this topic. Here is what I found.  The definition of dehydration is really logical:  when your body loses more liquid than you take in, it cannot function properly and you need to replace any fluids that you have lost. Common causes are vomiting, fever, diarrhea, increased urination, not drinking enough during hot weather or exercise and excessive sweating. The symptoms can be dry mouth, sleepiness, headache, constipation, dizziness, lightheaded and a decrease in urination. Then there are more serious ones like low blood pressure, fever, rapid breathing, confusion. I realized when the children were infants I was tracking their daily intake of milk, water, new foods, their urination and bowel movements, you name it. As they have grown older I have not watched their water intake until now. The bottom line is, you should always talk to your physician if you have any concerns. In the meantime, we are encouraging our kids to drink plenty of water daily and especially before, during and after exercise (that goes for adults too).