Sorry, I'm on a roll today and recovering from the large lumps on my head from hitting it against the wall!!!! Can anybody tell me what the normal specific gravity's of urine are for a one day old and then second day and then third day? I would assume since the volumes are small on the first couple of days and the kidneys are concentrating the urine with uric crystals normal up to 5 days old, that specific gravity would also be different. I was taking care of a full term baby, who at 40 hours old was admitted to the Special Care Nursery with irritability, pallor, cyanosis around the lips (sorry can't remember the term), blood tinge urine, elevated sodium, and temp of 99 rectally. Up to this time the baby had been nursing well, had 4 voids and 4 stools. When I came into work today I had learned the baby was in the unit, this all happened after I left yesterday. The neonatologist told me the baby was dehydrated and that is why it was there. I asked how could a 40 hour old baby get dehydrated and she just said because of the elevated sodium and high specific gravity that was the diagnosis. I don't remember what she said the sp. gravity was. The doctor went on to say that a baby this age should be having 8 wet diapers a day. I said that what the literature states the norm on the first day is one void and then just two voids on the second day. She wouldn't hear me nor would she give me her reference. She also was telling me that the baby was having apnea spells while feeding therefore the mother could not breastfeed any more and only the nurse could give bottles (of formula because they wanted 60cc) while they did blow by oxygen. I pointed out that bottle feeding would be more hazardous to this baby and asked why not tube feedings and both the doctor and nurse looked at me like I had 2 heads. (This is when I started hitting my head against the wall!) I asked if the baby was septic and was told the white count was normal but waiting on the results of the spinal tape. By the time I left today the baby was NPO, on an IV and on O2. The mother is pumping and getting 30-40cc per pumping. Mom was negative for Beta strep. My feeling is that this baby became septic somehow and some of the signs of dehydration resulted because of this. If someone can help me with the specific gravity question I would really appreciate that. Also, other than dehydration what would cause the sodium to be elevated, it was 155? Thanks for any help. Ann Perry RN IBCLC Boston, MA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html