salt?

[melhoney]

am not sure where to post this...so will copy and paste in Health as well.

As it's soooooooo hot, I give Maheen water , which she drinks very happily but my question is about salt...salt is also important for the body and we advise adults to put salt in water when it's hot...what about our little ones? I think I read somewhere that salt is not good for baies but am not sure when we have to face this heat! it;s 30 degrees in her room!!!!!

does anybody know anything about that?
Thanks
Mel xx

 

[K X]

Salt makes me thirsty and salt water makes me

I'm not sure....

 

[Hypnorm]

God no don't give salt water,
It would be very dangerous for a small baby!

Humans can't drink salt water because the kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.

Drinking the salt water would basically mean that only salt water is entering your system, and salt is a good dehydrating agent.

Why? Well, in your body, the osmotic action would see water move across semi-permeable cell membranes from the inside of cells to the outside, to try and balance the osmotic pressure and ensure that the concentrations of water inside and outside the cell are equal.

This would dehydrate your body, and eventually you would die.

 

[Manda]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO salt, it's fine in small quantities in food but dont give it them in drink or add to food there liver and kidneys can't cope with it, there was a case here a few years ago where the babies parents were skint so was feeding there baby normal tin foods ie baked beans and tinned veg, the baby died from too much salt and the parents were done for neglect

 

[Kim]

we advise adults to put salt in water when it's hot

I must say I have never heard of this. I would have thought it would make things worse, it would dehydrate you. Never give salt to a baby, it can kill them

 

[Lou]

When Isaac's room is hot he has the fan on all night but not directly on him incase he gets a chill. As for the salt its a big no no for babies. I once played a roll play game in a sales training course and it was about being stranded on a desert island and what would you need to survive and I put down salt then was told it would actually kill me quicker in the heat!

Lou

 

[melhoney]

Thanks girls!

It's just that inPakistan, you can buy sachets of salts that is given to patients to prevent them from dehydration, they have flavour like mnago or whatever, and I was told that salt retains water so this is where my question came from!
anyway, Maheen has managed to drink a lot of water today, about 180ml, so i guess she must be ok, if I keep on.

Another question for you though: can drinking water stop her from drinking her milk? today she has been even worse than usual regarding her feeds! and only took 30ml at one feed! I tried everything but she just refused to drink and screamed the whole place down!

She seems to prefer water t formula!

Thanks again
mel xx

 

[Hypnorm]

I think you may find that the 'salts' they refer to are an electrolyte replacement which is a mixture of compounds not just salt.

Electrolytes are salts that conduct electricity and are found in the body fluid, tissue, and blood. Examples are chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. Sodium (Na+) is concentrated in the extracellular fluid (ECF) and potassium (K+) is concentrated in the intracellular fluid (ICF). Proper balance is essential for muscle coordination, heart function, fluid absorption and excretion, nerve function, and concentration.

When you drink salt water you are forcing your body to deal with a
solution that is more concentrated than its own fluids. In order to get
rid of the excess salt, your body must excrete it through the kidneys as
urine, but to do this it has to expel water, too. This means that, if you
keep drinking the salt water regularly you will lose more water than normal and become dehydrated.
When this happens the levels of salt circulated in the blood will cause
damage to tissues.