How to Treat Children with Poor Digestion

The digestive system of infants and young children is not yet fully developed, so it is easily affected. Poor digestion in children can affect the child's development as well as comorbidities. This article will provide more information on the causes of poor digestion in children and some remedies.

Causes of poor digestion in children

Causes of poor digestion in children

Poor digestion, also known as malabsorption of nutrients. In simple terms, poor digestion is a condition in which food sources from outside enter the body with all the necessary nutrients, but children cannot absorb them, leading to nutrient deficiencies, poor health, and poor health. be good. poor health, easy to get sick…

Food digestion takes place in a certain sequence. Food after being loaded into the body will create nutrients. The nutrients after being produced continue to be absorbed by the small intestine and then transported to the blood, organs and tissues to help the body grow and maintain strength.

Most nutrients from food when supplied to the body are easily absorbed through mechanical activities such as biting, chewing, crushing, kneading... and chemical transformation activities such as enzymes: enzymes. hydrolysis in the stomach, pancreas, bile secretion to the small intestine… Although the digestion of food is well established and tight, some nutrients can still be present. difficult to absorb such as: Protein, lipid ...

Poor digestion in children is not uncommon but quite common. Causes of poor digestion in children can be traced back to:

The time for children to eat supplements is not reasonable: Eating supplements too soon makes the child's digestive system vulnerable, causing poor digestion or digestive disorders. The reason is that children at this stage of the digestive system are not fully developed, the absorption of nutrients from food can cause the child's digestive system to work too hard, causing damage.
Children eat unhygienic: The process of functioning of organs, cells, tissues ... in children's bodies is not completely working at full capacity like adults. Therefore, the ability to absorb and digest food is also different from that of adults. The frequent use of unhygienic foods by children can make their digestive system weak. Signs such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, intestinal infections ... all make the child's digestive system worse and the ability to digest food into nutrients for the body is inhibited.
Complications of the treatment of diseases related to the digestive system: The use of certain medicines to treat diseases can affect the digestive system or intestinal microflora of the child. Especially diseases directly related to the digestive system.
Unbalanced eating habits make the digestive system weak: Children often skip meals or eat more than normal needs, adversely affecting the digestive system. All of the above cases cause damage to the digestive system, leading to inflammation, reduced performance and affecting the absorption of nutrients into the body.
Using antibiotics will kill harmful bacteria and harmful viruses, however, this also means destroying the beneficial bacteria of the intestinal tract in the child's body. When there is an imbalance of microflora in the intestinal tract, it will cause digestive disorders and poor absorption of nutrients.
Measures to improve children with poor digestion

Measures to improve children with poor digestion

During normal development, children can still have malabsorption for about 1 to 2 days due to: Teething fever or bacterial infections, respiratory infections, side effects of vaccines ...

If the child has symptoms of poor digestion not due to the above causes, parents need to take the child to the doctor for timely and appropriate diagnosis and treatment. In addition, parents can apply one of the following contents to prevent and overcome malabsorption in children:

Appropriate diet: Parents need to prepare food hygienically, suitable for age and taste to stimulate children's taste buds. Only give children enough to eat, do not force them to eat too much because that way they will be afraid and lazy to eat. The nutritional composition of a child's diet needs to ensure that there are enough 4 groups of nutrients along with the necessary levels of vitamins and minerals. Parents should also give children about 5 meals / day with 3 main meals and 2 snacks.
After each course of antibiotic treatment for children, in addition to digestive enzymes prescribed by doctors, parents can give children more yogurt to help supplement beneficial bacteria for the digestive tract. In addition, parents can also add soluble fiber to help stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestinal system.
Parents remember to deworm children over 2 years old periodically to clean the digestive system.
Children should be encouraged by their parents to be active. When children are active, it will increase the contraction of the intestines, helping to eat more deliciously and the process of digesting food also increases, thereby absorbing all the necessary nutrients.

In summary, poor digestion in children is quite common. In this case, parents need to pay attention to the right nutrition for their children. The full addition of 4 important groups of substances will help improve the digestive system, so that the child can develop to the maximum physically and mentally. In case the child has poor digestion due to a medical condition and the daily diet cannot provide the necessary vitamins and nutrients, the parents can give the child a supplement as prescribed by the doctor. to keep the digestive system healthy.