Neonatal hypernatremic dehydration. Clinical cases

Inadequate breastfeeding can lead to malnourishment, neonatal hypernatremic dehydration (NHD), and catastrophic results. The correction of hypernatremia involves a slow decrease of the sodium level because a rapid correction can be associated with complications such as seizures and death. We present two clinical cases of hypernatremia as a result of dehydration in breastfed term neonates. The first case is a neonate with a weight loss of 31.1% and a sodium level of 179 mmol/L. In the second case, of a neonate with a weight loss of 35.6% (1,350 grams) and extreme hypernatremia (sodium 195 mmol/L), the acute renal failure, the metabolic disorders (hyperglycemia, decompensated metabolic acidosis), the neurological symptoms, and the signs of infection led to difficulties in correcting the hypernatremia that resulted in the patient’s death.