Dehydration occurs when the body's fluid stores drop too low. Children are particularly susceptible to dehydration, because their fluid stores are often more rapidly depleted than adults'. Determine how dehydrated your child is, and get a rough idea of how much fluid is going in and out. You can assess hydration by looking at a child's mouth, eyes, fingers and behavior. In mild dehydration, the mouth may get slightly dry, and urine output may decrease slightly, but a child should still have non-sunken eyes, warm pink fingers and responsiveness to you.
Parents can usually manage mild dehydration at home.
Behavior can change from the unhappy fussiness and mild decreased energy seen in mild dehydration, to the more concerning inactivity and unresponsiveness of moderate and severe dehydration. By pressing gently on a fingernail tip, you can make the normally pink fingernail bed turn white. When this pressure is released, a well hydrated or mildly dehydrated child will have enough fluid to return the fingernail bed to its usual pinkish color in less than two seconds. A moderately or severely dehydrated child will take longer than this. Keeping track of what goes in and out of your child can be difficult, but a rough idea helps you and your doctor evaluate hydration status.