Dehydration and night nursing

[agnieszkaj]

My DS is 26mo and is still breastfeeding LOTS, esp at night. He co-sleeps, and usually breastfeeds very frequently tho not for long periods at a time.

I think I am experiencing *dehydration* in the morning.

Whe I wake, I am very thirsty and also feel weak.

I do have urination during the night and when I wake. But, I have very little after that until afternoon. Even after drinking 24 oz of water or juice in the morning, I still have no urination for hours.

My big symptom I think is swelling/edema. My hands feel swollen. My legs clearly are retaining water. From my understanding, dehydration causes one to retain water.

I may have a kidney problem involved in all of this, specifically lupus nephritis is suspected. I had a lupus dx 9 years ago, after my DS#2 was born - but I've never had much symptoms. But now, it seems that possibly my kidneys are involved.

So, I was wondering if any of you here have experience/advice regarding my condition?

Thank you so much!

[tinybutterfly]

I am going to move this to Breastfeeding Challenges since it isn't specifically about Breastfeeding Beyond Infancy.

You might want to crosspost in Health and Healing, too.



tinybutterfly

[Quinalla]

I assume you are already drinking water or other fluids right before bed, when you wake to urinate and when you first wake? If not, I would do that first for sure as well as making sure you are getting enough fluids in general throughout the day. I know I get mildly dehydrated at night because of her night nursing sometimes, but since we don't co-sleep I just make sure to grab a quick drink of water on my way back to bed. Maybe try some kind of electrolyte drink like Gatorade? I don't know anything about your condition, but I would certainly contact your doctor!