The Titratable Acidity, pH, Ammonia and Phosphates in the Urines of very young Infants

Abstract

The authors studied 72 urine specimens obtained from infants at birth or within a few days. The pH and titratable acidity were detd. both by formol titration and also in Conway and Byrne "units." The phosphates were detd. by the method of Briggs or of Fiske and Subberow. The avg. pH of infant urines tended to fall slightly after birth and rise again with the establishment of nursing. The differences were not statistically significant. The acidity titrated to the phenol-phthalein end point and the ammonia ,N of infant urines rose and fell with the total N. The titratable acidity fell as the pH rose. The urines of newborn children contained very little phosphate and the P/N ratios were low. Urine passed in utero is highly dilute but differs in no other ways so far discovered from urine passed in the first few days of life.