newborn question... Is it back sweat or wee?

[wookiebreath]

Hello,

I'm a proud new dad with a baby who is less that two weeks old.
He occasionally wakes from his sleep with what appears to be a sweaty back (The back of his clothes and his wrap are wet).

He doesn't have a high temperature, or a fever, his forehead doesn't feel 'hot' when he sleeps and we have slowly reduced the amount of clothes he sleeps in. But still on the odd occasion he wakes from his sleep with a wet back.

Doing some googling it doesn't seem that newborns really sweat that much... so I'm beginning to think that instead of sweat that it might be wee?

What do you think? the fact he isn't wet at the front meant I didn't think about wee to begin with (and I can't tell for sure, from the smell). Is it possible for his nappies (Huggies newborns) to be leaking from the back somehow?

Cheers
Wook

[aussienic]

Hmm not sure. I think I would assume wee unless he isn't waking upset? is the nappy very wet?

[BhoysGirl]

Hey Wook,

First, congratulations on your new little man!

Can only say from my experience that our wee experiences were more likely to be at the front, and that as long as his penis was facing south in the nappy (also Huggies) we didn't have problems with wee leakage. Again, in my experience, the huggies seem to be able to absorb huge amounts before wetness becomes an issue. Poo is a different case - that can definitely squirt up the back, but that's easier to tell!

Don't worry so much about checking his forehead for temp, baby foreheads are notoriously unreliable for temp. Instead, feel his torso - I would say that if that feels clammy then he's probably too hot.

[MamaPan]

i think it would be wee - i find that they can wet themselves in such strange positions - up the front, up the side, up the back - once i found DS with a huge wet patch under his arm... and it was wee...
i would thik it is unliely it is sweat - if it was i would think he would be sweating elsewhere (neck, torso would be hot) and he would be hot... if it is sweat - and this much - i woud get him checked as i would not think this is normal - but the wee certainly is!!!
how hot is the room and how many layers is he wearing?
perhaps the nappy does not fit properly - i found huggies too big/wrong shape to start with so i used baby love for a few weeks and this helped with leakage. i still find (at nearly 10 months) that at diff times DS fits diff brands better and we get less leakage w diff brands - more shape i think than weight.
congrats and enjoy!

[BhoysGirl]

pregpan raises a good point- sometimes you have to experiment with different nappies to find the one that has the right shape for your bub. I've been really happy with Huggies as they've always worked well on DS, but also have found the ALdi brand nappies good too.

[visitor1]

DD2 always had a sweaty back and her clothes would get damp. Def wasnt wee, well it didnt smell like wee...smelt like nothing really!

[Marlene]

This happened a few times with my DS, I found that it was sweat. Nappy wasnt very wet, and clothes didnt smell like wee, he was only wet where he was in contact with mattress, if you know what I mean. (He didn't feel too hot though)

I solved this problem by removing one of his blankets, it hasn't happened since.