Sometimes children need to restrict their daily fluid intake, often because of kidney problems. Learn ways to regulate your child's fluid intake.
Key points
Some children with kidney problems must limit their daily fluid intake.
All liquids and some foods are fluids.
Measure all fluids your child gets each day.
Semi-solid foods count as fluids.
Introduction
Why restrict fluids?
Sometimes, children with kidney problems need to limit how much fluid they drink. Healthy kidneys clean the blood and flush out unwanted fluid and chemicals through urine. Kidneys that are not working properly cannot do this. Instead, extra fluid stays in the body and builds up.
If too much fluid builds up in the body it can cause the following problems:
puffiness and weight gain
high blood pressure
trouble breathing
Treatment
Liquids and some foods are fluids
Fluids are things your child drinks such as milk, tea, juice, water and pop. Food that is liquid at room temperature also counts as fluid. This includes foods such as ice cream, popsicles, freezies, yogurt, soup, ice cubes and pudding.
You can help measure and control how much fluid your child eats and drinks. It is important to measure all the fluid your child gets each day. This is the only way to make sure they do not have too much.
In the hospital, children may also get fluids from an IV tube leading into their arm. These are called intravenous fluids. Staff at the hospital will measure the intravenous fluids your child is given.
Measuring fluids
Fluid measurements
Measure and write down all the fluid your child eats or drinks in a 24-hour period.
Read labels to find the number of ml of fluid in the food or drink. The size of containers may change with different brands of the same food or drink.
Count the fluid your child drinks when they take their medicine.
Count all the foods that are liquid at room temperature such as ice cream, Jell-O, ice cubes, yogurt, soup and pudding. These semi-solid foods count as fluids.
More information about the treatment
Tips for controlling how much fluid your child gets
Here are some things your child can do when they are thirsty:
Drink from a small cup or glass.
Drink small amounts throughout the whole day rather than a lot of fluid at any one time.
Drink only when they are thirsty, just enough to quench their thirst.
Eat a piece of cold fruit.
Rinse their mouth with cold water or mouthwash and spit it out.
Suck on hard candy, ice cubes, a lemon wedge or frozen grapes.
Chew sugar-free gum.
Here are some things you can do to help your child:
Give them a fork instead of a spoon for eating cereal. This will help them leave milk in the bowl.
Freeze ginger ale or fruit drinks (but not fruit juice) into slushes or popsicles.
Each day, fill a jar with the water equal to your child's daily fluid limit. Each time they drink or eat fluid, pour that amount out of the jar. You will be able to see how much is left. This may help you spread out your child's fluid intake evenly throughout the day.
Do not give your child very salty or very sweet foods.
Ask your child's doctor if there are medications that will help with dry mouth.
Notes
Your child can have ________ mL of fluid in a 24-hour period.
