NeoHydrate: An at home hydration and nutrition monitoring device for the critical first weeks of life
- Program: Biomedical Engineering
- Course: BME Undergraduate Design Team
Project Description:
Each year, at least 78% of neonatal caregivers plan to exclusively breastfeed for the first few weeks of life. However, these infant caregivers are often unsure of their children’s true hydration and nutrition needs. They struggle to interpret their infant’s hunger and thirst cues, and they struggle with latching and milk quality issues. This can severely detriment their child’s health. NeoHydrate is a neonatal hydration monitoring solution that proactively aids in alerting caregivers to dehydration before conditions such as neonatal dehydration and breastfeeding jaundice, present in nearly 10% of infants, can occur. Early identification of hydration deficiencies is critical for preventing hospitalization, and subsequent exposure to foreign-environment pathogens and traumatic caregiver separation. Currently, the only solution to measuring neonatal hydration is expensive visits to a physician where the child is weighed on a pediatric scale or an invasive IV-dependent serum osmolarity test. NeoHydrate bridges this gap by providing a noninvasive, at-home monitoring solution applicable in under a minute, twice a day to provide a caregiver reassurance that their child’s hydration needs are being met. It also allows for the detection of mild dehydration before severe dehydration manifests and immediate hospitalization is required. NeoHydrate thus improves the accuracy and accessibility of neonatal hydration monitoring and associated nutrition management.
Project Photo:
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