Signs of dehydration in pregnancy

Pregnancy can make nausea, vomiting, heat, sweating, diarrhoea, or reduced drinking harder to manage. Dehydration may leave urine concentrated and make you feel weak or light-headed, especially when standing. Dark urine is a useful prompt to check your fluid intake but is not a diagnosis by itself. Burning urine, cloudy urine, fever, or pain in the side may point to a urinary problem rather than simple fluid loss.

Take regular small sips of water or an oral rehydration solution if vomiting or diarrhoea has caused fluid and salt loss. Continue eating small, tolerable meals and rest somewhere cool. If nausea makes drinking difficult, try chilled fluids or ice chips. Do not take medicines for vomiting or diarrhoea without checking that they are suitable in pregnancy. Note how often you urinate and whether you can keep fluids down.

Contact your maternity team or seek urgent care if you cannot keep fluids down, feel faint, are confused, have very little or no urine, develop severe weakness, or have a fast or irregular heartbeat. Seek prompt assessment for fever, persistent vomiting, painful urination, blood in urine, abdominal pain, contractions, vaginal bleeding, or reduced fetal movement later in pregnancy. Heat exhaustion and gastroenteritis can both require medical review.

Ask which rehydration drink is appropriate, whether your vomiting needs treatment, and which maternity symptoms require immediate contact. Tell the clinician how long symptoms have lasted, what you have managed to drink, and when you last passed urine.