Malnutrition in children means that feeding or food can't be fully absorbed and utilized, resulting in insufficient energy, unable to maintain normal metabolism, forcing the body to burn fat, stagnant growth and muscular atrophy, also known as malnutrition protein's deficiency.
Infant malnutrition refers to the symptoms of insufficient food intake or insufficient absorption and utilization, which leads to insufficient energy, unable to maintain normal metabolism, forcing the body to consume, causing weight loss or no increase, stagnant growth and development, and muscular atrophy. It is also called protein energy deficiency malnutrition, which is more common in children under 3 years old and belongs to the category of malnutrition in traditional Chinese medicine.
Infant malnutrition includes the lack or deficiency of heat energy or nutrients, which has a serious impact on the health of children in the vigorous growth and development stage. Often secondary to some medical and surgical reasons, such as frequent illness, chronic diarrhea, short bowel syndrome and malabsorption diseases.
Causes of malnutrition in infants.
1, improper feeding
Long-term feeding problems, such as insufficient complementarity of breast milk and early failure; Artificial feeding, the quality and quantity of food meet the demand, such as diluting milk, or feeding only starchy food; Suddenly weaned, the baby can't adapt to the new food.
2. Bad eating habits
Irregular diet, partial eclipse, ruminant habit or nervous vomiting. Due to insufficient nutrition intake, the body's digestion, absorption and utilization function is not perfect, glycogen is utilized in the body, followed by fat consumption, protein causes negative nitrogen balance, plasma protein, blood sugar and cholesterol are all decreased, and the basal metabolism is only 70% or lower than that of normal children.
3. Disease factors
Diseases affect appetite, hinder the digestion, absorption and utilization of food and increase the consumption of the body. Common diseases that easily lead to malnutrition include persistent diarrhea, chronic enteritis or dysentery, malabsorption syndrome caused by various enzyme deficiency, intestinal parasitic diseases, tuberculosis, measles, recurrent respiratory tract infections, chronic urinary tract infections, etc. Some congenital digestive tract malformations (such as cleft lip, congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis or cardia relaxation). ) and severe congenital heart disease can cause feeding difficulties.
4. Hereditary metabolic disorder
Some hereditary metabolic disorders and immunodeficiency diseases will also affect the digestion, absorption and utilization of food. Premature delivery and twins can easily lead to malnutrition, intrauterine infection, maternal diseases or malnutrition. Abnormal structure and function of placenta and umbilical cord can lead to fetal malnutrition and intrauterine growth retardation, which is a prerequisite for infant malnutrition. Severe malnutrition is mostly caused by many factors.
The harm of infant malnutrition
1, early malnutrition, height has no obvious effect, but with the aggravation of the disease, the bone growth rate slows down and the height is lower than normal. Mild malnutrition, normal mental state, but severe mental discomfort, poor response, hypothermia, weak pulse, loss of appetite, constipation, diarrhea, alternating.
When plasma albumin is significantly reduced, sunken edema and skin brightness may occur, and in severe cases, chronic ulcers may be formed by rupture of infection. Severe malnutrition can cause damage to important organ functions, such as decreased heart function, dull heart sounds, low blood pressure, slow pulse and shallow breathing.
2. Malnourished children are prone to various infections due to low immune function, such as repeated respiratory infections, thrush, pneumonia, tuberculosis, otitis media, urinary tract infections, etc. Infantile diarrhea often persists, aggravating malnutrition and forming a vicious circle. Malnutrition can be complicated with spontaneous hypoglycemia, and children may suddenly appear pale, unconscious, slow pulse, apnea, hypothermia but no convulsions, and may die if not treated in time.
3, severe malnutrition can have important organ function damage, such as decreased heart function, slow heart sound, low blood pressure, slow pulse, shallow breathing and so on. The common complications are nutritional anemia and vitamin deficiency, and about 3/4 children are accompanied by zinc deficiency. Because of their low immune function, they are vulnerable to various infections. At the same time, infancy is the key stage of development with the fastest growth rate, and protein and lack of energy are fatal to its growth. Malnutrition in infants will lead to impaired immune function and increase disease susceptibility and mortality.
Prevention of malnutrition in infants
The most important thing to treat baby malnutrition is to adjust diet. Children with mild and severe malnutrition can be given digestible food and a lot of vitamins because of their good digestive ability. The ratio of sugar, fat and protein should be 3: 2: 1 as far as possible, and the daily calorie per kilogram of body weight should be 170 ~ 250 joules.
If it is well digested and absorbed, it should be increased appropriately every two or three days. The second is to give children various digestive enzymes, such as pepsin and pancreatin, to help digestion. Oral vitamins B 1, B6 and C, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine massage and chiropractic therapy also have certain effects. Patients with severe malnutrition should be hospitalized.
To prevent malnutrition in infants, scientific feeding should be carried out mainly from newborns. Breastfeeding as much as possible in infancy, especially in premature infants. Insufficient breast milk can be artificially fed or mixed, and complementary food can be added on time.
Develop a scientific life system for babies, correct bad habits, ensure adequate sleep time, and conduct reasonable outdoor activities and exercises. This can stimulate appetite and help improve digestion. Children with other chronic diseases should be actively treated, and malnutrition will be improved after eliminating the cause.
Conclusion: Through the above introduction, I think everyone has a comprehensive understanding of the symptoms of infant malnutrition. Infant malnutrition is still a common situation in our lives. I hope the above article can help everyone and wish the baby good health.