Overhydration

Overview :

Overhydration occurs when the body takes in more water than it excretes and its normal sodium level is diluted. This can result in digestive problems, behavioral changes, brain damage, seizures, or coma. An adult whose heart, kidneys, and pituitary gland are functioning properly would have to drink more than two gallons of water a day to develop water intoxication. This condition is most common in patients whose kidney function is impaired and may occur when doctors, nurses, or other healthcare professionals administer greater amounts of water-producing fluids and medications than the patient's body can excrete. Overhydration is the most common electrolyte imbalance in hospitals, occurring in about 2% of all patients.

Infants seem to be at greater risk for developing overhydration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared that babies are especially susceptible to oral overhydration during the first month of life, when the kidneys' filtering mechanism is too immature to excrete fluid as rapidly as older infants do. Breast milk or formula provide all the fluids a healthy baby needs. Water should be given slowly, sparingly, and only during extremely hot weather. Overhydration, which has been cited as a hazard of infant swimming lessons, occurs whenever a baby drinks too much water, excretes too little fluid, or consumes and retains too much water.