Science / Medicine : Water Intoxication in Babies

Water intoxication, a potentially fatal condition, has increased dramatically among U.S. infants, in part because poor parents give babies too much water when formula runs out, Missouri researchers have found. When a large amount of water is ingested in a relatively short period, it floods brain cells, causing them to swell. The swelling can destroy brain cells.

Undernourished babies who are not breast-fed are especially at risk, according to pediatrician James P. Keating and his colleagues at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. They reported in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Diseases in Children that they had seen 34 cases of water intoxication between 1975 and 1990 and 24 cases within the last three years, “indicating a marked increase in incidence of this previously rare condition,” the study said.

“It takes an overwhelming drive, in this case hunger, that will overcome the babies’ natural resistance to ingesting too much water,” Keating said. All of the babies survived because they were treated promptly.