Often mothers ask how to determine the baby’s lack of calcium, iron, zinc, selenium and other nutrients, here to tell mothers in detail how to determine, you can also make timely adjustments in the future, so as not to affect the baby’s growth and development.
Calcium deficiency symptoms
1, often manifested as sweating, independent of temperature, especially after sleep head sweating, so that the child’s head constantly rubbing the pillow, a long time after the cranium can be seen occipital bald circle.
2. Mental irritability, disinterest in the surrounding environment, and sometimes parents find that the child is not as lively as before.
3.Night terrors, often waking up suddenly at night, crying more than once. The sweating is often caused by excessive sweating, which is not related to temperature, especially when the child’s head sweats after falling asleep, causing the child’s head to constantly rub the pillow, and the occipital baldness circle can be seen behind the skull after a long time.
4. Children after 1 year old show late teething, some children are still not teething at 1.5 years old, and the closure of the front chimney door is delayed, often still not closed after 1.5 years old.
5.High forehead protrusion, forming a square cranium.
6, there are often beaded ribs, is due to the lack of vitamin D, rib cartilage hyperplasia, each rib cartilage hyperplasia connected like a string of beads, often compressing the lungs, so that children have poor ventilation, easy to suffer from bronchitis, pneumonia.
When calcium deficiency in children is serious, the muscles and tendons are relaxed. If the abdominal wall muscles, intestinal wall muscle relaxation, can cause the intestinal cavity pneumonia and the formation of abdominal expansion such as frog belly. If the tendons of the spine are relaxed, hunchback may appear.
If children learn to walk after the age of 1, calcium deficiency can soften the bones and bend the lower limbs with the weight of the body when standing, some of them have “X” shaped legs and some have “O” shaped legs, and they are prone to fractures.
Causes of calcium deficiency
Infants grow rapidly and need relatively more calcium, but the daily intake of calcium in the diet of Chinese residents often does not reach the recommended intake standard. Therefore, it is now advocated that infants should be supplemented with 1/3 of the recommended amount of calcium from 2 weeks after birth, and at least until 2 years of age, otherwise they are prone to calcium deficiency.
The traditional Chinese dietary structure has many advantages, but it lacks foods high in calcium. Many people do not understand what is the correct and effective way to take calcium supplements. Some people may say that calcium tablets are full of calcium and must be the best way to supplement calcium. This is not quite true.
The calcium in calcium tablets is mostly inorganic calcium (calcium carbonate) or organic calcium (calcium gluconate), etc. The absorption rate of these synthetic calcium preparations is not as ideal as that of lactic calcium. The absorption rate of milk calcium can be as high as 40%, while the absorption rate of some organic calcium is only about 20%. The absorption rate of inorganic calcium is similar to that of dairy calcium, but it is more irritating to the stomach and intestines. Therefore, the best choice for calcium supplementation is through foods with high calcium content, such as formula rich in lacto-calcium.
Vitamin D is the carrier for calcium to be absorbed by the bone marrow, and Calcium Edge tablets contain vitamin D, which can increase calcium absorption exponentially. Once again, calcium absorption needs the help of vitamin D3, otherwise calcium will just “come and go in a hurry” in the body. Vitamin D3 facilitates the deposition of calcium on the bones and reduces loss. Therefore, milk or milk powder fortified with vitamin D3 will be more effective in calcium supplementation.
Calcium supplementation method
Dietary Calcium Reference Intake for Chinese Residents.
Age Daily reference intake (mg) 0-6 months 3001 years-4 years 4004 years-7 years 6007 years-11 years 80011 years-18 years 1000 Pregnant women Mid-term 1000 Pregnant women Late-term 1200 Lactating mothers 1200
1.Eat more food with high calcium content
such as: milk, yogurt, cheese, loach, mussels, snails, shrimp, small shrimp skin, kelp, crispy fried fish, oysters, peanuts
sesame paste, tofu, pine seeds, collard greens, cauliflower, cabbage, rape, etc.
2, do more sports
Exercise can make the muscles pull each other, strongly stimulate the bones, strengthen blood circulation and metabolism, reduce calcium loss, delay bone aging, and at the same time is conducive to the body’s absorption of calcium in the diet.
3, more sunshine
Ultraviolet light can promote the synthesis of VD in the body and facilitate the absorption of calcium. But ultraviolet light can not penetrate the glass, so you can not sunbathe through the glass.
4.Eat a good breakfast
5, the vegetables containing oxalic acid first blanched to destroy oxalic acid (oxalic acid can affect the absorption of calcium), and then cooked. Such as: collard greens, cauliflower, spinach, amaranth, hollow cabbage, mustard greens, snowdrops, bamboo shoots.
6, separate supplementation: calcium supplementation and supplementation of other minerals separately.
7, eat calcium tablets containing vitamin D supplementation.
8, eaten before bedtime, or between lunch and dinner is more easily absorbed.
Iron
Iron deficiency symptoms
Iron deficiency in children can lead to iron deficiency anemia, which is most common in children within 3 years of age. Most often after 3 or 4 months of age, fetal iron stores are used up and mother’s milk contains little iron.
Children may have pale complexion (most obvious in lips, eyelids and nails), loss of appetite, restlessness, shortness of breath and accelerated pulse after activities, enlarged liver and spleen, heterophagia, apnea when crying, hyperactivity, inattention, poor comprehension and small movements in class in toddlers and school-age children. It can also lead to reduced immune function and susceptibility to infectious diseases.
In mild cases, hemoglobin is 9-11 g/100 ml, in moderate cases 6-9 g, and in severe cases 6 g or less. Small red blood cells, small cell anemia.
Iron supplementation methods
1.Eat more iron-rich foods
Iron in food exists in two forms: non-heme iron and heme iron. Non-heme iron mainly exists in plant foods, due to the interference of other food components, the absorption rate is extremely low, the absorption rate of iron in rice and noodles is only 1 to 3 percent. Heme mainly exists in animal food, not disturbed by other food components, absorption rate is higher, such as liver in the absorption rate of iron up to 10-20%, so that we can replenish iron and blood more fully.
2, eat more food to promote the absorption of iron
Vitamin C can promote the absorption of iron, vitamin C is a strong reducing agent, can make the iron in the food can be absorbed ferrous iron, kiwi, citrus, orange, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C. Drinking tea before and after meals will inhibit the absorption of iron.
3, eat fortified foods
In milk powder, rice flour, soy milk, there are many are specially added iron, “iron” fortified food in the food label are specially indicated, choose the right to buy.
Currently there are two types of fortified foods on the market, one is fortified according to the national standard for baby food, containing 6-10 mg of iron per 100
One is fortified according to the national standard for baby food, containing 6-10 mg of iron per 100 grams; the other is a special iron fortified food, containing up to 40 mg of iron per 100 grams. The latter is not suitable for babies. It is recommended to supplement iron with some vitamins.
It is a misconception that “iron pot is good for iron”. In traditional Chinese cooking, the most used cooking utensils are iron pots and pans and spatulas, and there are reports that cooking with iron pots can increase iron intake. In this regard, in the nutrition community, the standard statement is that cooking food with an iron pot may increase the amount of iron in the diet, which is only possible, not certain.
Some people think that eating food with high iron content with milk is more conducive to iron absorption, I remind, this view is also wrong, because the iron contained in various foods must be transformed into “ferrous” in the human digestive tract in order to be absorbed by the stomach and intestines, in the process of transformation, the phosphorus and calcium in milk is easy to react with other substances, resulting in not easy to In the process of transformation, the phosphorus and calcium in milk can easily react with other substances to produce iron-containing compounds that are not easily dissolved, but are not conducive to human absorption, therefore, it is more appropriate to drink milk and then eat iron food 2 hours later.
Don’t overdo iron supplementation
Excess iron can easily cause iron poisoning, which may directly corrode the gastrointestinal mucosa, resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, black stools, abdominal pain and gastroenteritis.
Zinc
Zinc deficiency symptoms
1. Loss of appetite: picky eating, anorexia, refusal to eat, general decrease in food intake, children do not feel hungry and do not take the initiative to eat;
2. Eating strange things indiscriminately. For example: biting nails, clothing, chewing toys, hard objects, eating hair, confetti, raw rice, wall dust, dirt, sand and gravel, etc.
3, slow growth, height 3-6 cm lower than the same age group, weight 2-3 kg lighter;
4, low immunity, frequent colds and fevers, repeated respiratory infections such as tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, sweating, sleep sweats, etc.;
5, white spots on the nails, long barbs on the fingers, map tongue (irregular red and white graphics on the surface of the tongue);
6, hyperactivity, slow reaction, inattention, poor learning ability;
7, vision problems: vision loss, easily lead to night vision difficulties, myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism, etc.;
8, skin damage: when trauma occurs, the wound does not heal easily; prone to dermatitis, stubborn eczema.