How water retention can exaggerate baby weight loss

If you are planning an undisturbed birth, you should hydrate to thirst by mouth. You do not need to be connected to IV fluids.

Getting too much IV fluids (2.5 liters) 2 hours immediately before the birth of your baby is strongly correlated with excessive infant weight loss (>10%)

A baby should have one wet diaper on day one of life. If you notice a significant amount of wet diapers on that first day, they might be ridding themselves of the excess fluids. It can look like a baby is having feeding issues with all that weight loss when in fact their initial weight was inaccurate.

High doses of Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) have significant antidiuretic properties. This means that this drug helps the body retain water. This can pass into the placenta cause the baby to retain water as well.

There is a real difference between a baby who truly is not getting enough nutrition and a baby just ridding themselves of excess water.