Liz asks how long would it take for the dehydration to be this
severe?  The babies I have seen come in with the diagnosis of
"hynatremic dehydration" to my hospital are anywhere from 5 days old to
12 days old. The staff automatically assumes, of course, there is
something wrong with the parents because they didn't notice the baby was
starving.  But, in almost every case, these were first time parents, and
in almost every case they were intelligent and pretty with it (albeit
sleep deprived and very freaked out by the time I saw them!).  The 12
day old had gone from a birth weight of 8 lbs. 2 oz. down to 5 lbs. 12
oz.  Pretty scarey.  That was a 41 y.o. primip who had called her HMO
advice nurse line FOUR TIMES to say someting was not right.  When her
father came to visit he took one look at the baby and drove them to the
E.R.  I think that one was a close call.  The 5 day olds are nowhere
near as bad off.  The thing that gets me is how hard it is to get these
parents to feel it's OK to breastfeed again after landing in the
hospital.  Their confidence is pretty shattered.
Edie Armstrong, BSN, IBCLC, Fairfax, Va.