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

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

wow thanks for all your responses :) so quick and helpful.

My DS is a little fella (2.8kg) and has little chicken legs so it could well be an ill fitting nappy. I will definitely try a different brand and triple check his willy wonka is facing south into the most padded part of the nappy.

He definitely isn't overdressed as we have slowly started removing items as that is what we first thought was the problem. He has been sleeping in just a one piece "wondersuit" with no singlet on), he is lightly wrapped and he likes to sleep with his arms out so I'm pretty sure it's not sweat. I've checked his torso (thanks for that tip) and he definitely isn't clammy. He's a healthy looking cherub too so I don't think that he has a fever.

So we'll try a nappy change and see if that makes a difference, the community health nurse is coming for a visit on Friday too (to do his 1-4 week health checkup) so we'll ask her lots of questions about this as well.

Cheers and thanks so much for the support
Wook

Hi, I'll just chip and let you know that my four week old DD's wrap often feel damp-ish along her back/bum when I lift her out of bed, hers is from sweat.... I thought babies were sweaty little things at times?? She doesn't seem bothered by it and I'm not worried.. Good luck :)

Our DS was around the same size at birth and we had all sorts of issues with nappies leaking. We too thought he was sweating. We were using huggies at the time and found they were a horrible fit on our little lean man, so we switched to Baby Love. Problem solved! Hope you find a solution soon!

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We were using huggies at the time and found they were a horrible fit on our little lean man, so we switched to Baby Love. Problem solved! Hope you find a solution soon!

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:D Thanks everyone for your responses... I think I can confirm that my problem is badly fitting nappies.

Just as I was about to change a pooey nappy this afternoon, my DS decided to do a wiz and I noticed some leakage coming out of the nappy. I think his little bum and legs are too small at this stage to make a decent seal (without pulling them so tight that they leave marks).

A quick call to grandma and we had a different brand of nappies promptly delivered (she would go to the end of the earth for kisses and cuddles with my DS ;p ). The new nappies are for slightly smaller babies (up to 4.5kg rather than 5kg) and are definitely not as wide as the other brand. He's got through a couple of sleeps now without any dramas and I'm hoping you lot have helped me find the solution!!! I'll repost if the wet back returns.

Thanks again for you help
Wook

Congrats on your little man!!

When the wet backs returns ... you will know it's time for a bigger nappy :) I learned that on a weekend away with a 3 month old dd, also learned that you can NEVER pack enough bedding ;)

We had wet back issues with sposies too and the same brand you mentioned. When I changed to cloth it wasn't an issue anymore so I'm sure it was leakage. We also had leaking where the tabs crossed the front.