“The Importance of Hydration During Infections: Expert Advice from a Pediatrician”

A lot of water. The heat demands it! But if you have an infectious episode with dehydration, the water intake should be 1.5 times more than necessary.

In childhood, any infection accompanied by stuffy nose and nasal secretions means dehydration. The child is disturbed when he drinks or when he eats.

He will not take his normal amount of water. The heart beats faster.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Mihaela Bălgrădean, head of the pediatrics department: “The heart beats faster as a means of compensation and it is very good to beat faster, the fact that it beats faster to compensate for this lack of liquid is a first sign we have from the cardiovascular apparatus – tachycardia. In infections of all kinds, children develop fever and fever is a defense mechanism, and through fever fluids are lost. In respiratory diseases and in the worst ones, the child breathes faster to compensate for the lack of oxygen, breathing is faster, again, fluids are lost.”

With each breath, he will lose fluids. More than 1.5 times the daily amount of fluids – a child who is going through an infection needs.

Water does not lose water alone. But together with sodium, potassium and calcium, i.e. electrolytes. The body uses chemicals called electrolytes to regulate all of its activity.

These salts must be taken orally. Rehydration solutions also contain glucose, dissolve in 200 ml of plain water. They thus become a food and hydration support.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Mihaela Bălgrădean, head of pediatrics department: “In the absence of a correct intake of salt, the brain first suffers from insufficient intake of salt. Otherwise, sodium, instead of being in the extracellular space, enters the cells and under those conditions a liquid collection appears in the brain, this means cerebral edema.”

That is inflammation in the brain. For this reason, proper hydration is done daily, and in infections add rehydration salts daily. In water.