Page 3 of 3
Dehydration
As you have found on the previous page, watery diarrhoea and more thirst
than usual are important signs of dehydration in a SAM child. However,
it is important to look for all signs of dehydration in SAM children.
If a SAM child has dehydration, you will need to treat the child with
Rehydration Solution for Malnutrition (ReSoMal), the details of which
you will learn in Module 3. Stop rehydration after 12 hours or if
there are 3 signs of hydration, or if the child shows signs of fluid
overload. Remember that you should not wait for watery stools to
end before you stop ReSoMal. Watery stools can continue long after
dehydration has been corrected.
It can be difficult to know when a child with SAM is rehydrated because
signs of dehydration may not go away even when the child is hydrated.
However you should still look for signs of hydration in case they
do return: these include passing urine, faster skin pinch, tears,
moist mouth, eyes less sunken, less thirsty.
