Pam,

Thanks for asking the questions about brick dust urine.  Please, let's make
this a group discussion -- don't e-mail privately as I think this is
important.....  How important?  Often I see peds/nurses who determine that
baby is dehydrated, despite moist mucous membranes, and clear urine.  Scanty
urine, yes, but clear.  We used to see it really frequently back in the days
of not feeding babies for 18 to 24 hours after birth & no one worried about
it.  I know they are uric acid crystals, but couldn't find anything written
about them in any of the books I have, including the most latest nursing text
on Maternal-child health.  One would think that if this is a cardinal sign of
dehydration, it would be mentioned SOMEWHERE!

My concern is, if this is benign, should we be rushing to supplement?
 Sometimes it seems to occur in kids that don't pee much, but are taking in
enough fluids.

A question:  can a newborn (days 1-4, say) have dark colored urine?  Is the
brick dust urine a function of kidney being unable to concentrate urine?  Why
do we not see it in kids that are older?  Sometimes it is as early as day 1;
sometimes day 3 or 4.  Pam's baby is unusual in that it was still present at
day 19.  I've never seen it past about day 4.... anyone else?

(Just had one last week; baby was down 7% of birth weight; mom's milk came in
on day 4 --she had been pitted (sorta like an olive, doncha know??) -- so it
was late.  As soon as milk in, and increased urine, no more brick dust,
which, incidently, only showed on two diapers, but enough to scare mom & send
her to peds because she assumed baby was bleeding....

Jan Barger