title: Using enteral sterile water feeds for hypernatremia in extremely low birth-weight infants.
abstract: Extremely low birth-weight infants are prone to fluid and electrolyte imbalance due to multiple etiologies. Hypernatremia can occur in this gestational age group during the first week of life. One therapy that many NICUs initiate to treat hypernatremia is enteral sterile water feeds (SWFs). The use of free water is an adjunct therapy in place of large volumes of intravenous fluids. This article presents a review of renal physiology and 3 case studies of infants, less than 27 weeks' gestational age and less than 1000-g birth weight, treated with SWFs for hypernatremia. Commonalities and differences in treatment are addressed. There is limited evidence-based research using enteral SWFs for the treatment of hypernatremia.
authors.affiliation: Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. alb24@case.edu
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bieda
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dowling
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Winkelman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D006955:Hypernatremia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D014867:Water / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance; D014883:Water-Electrolyte Imbalance / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D014867:Water