The source of happiness lies in the child's digestive system.
Some children often put off a meal for a long time, or don't want to eat until half a bowl of rice is finished. They have indigestion, malnutrition, diarrhea and abdominal distension.
I often hear parents around me say that the most important thing for children with indigestion is to eat less or not to eat spicy, pickled and other irritating foods, eat less snacks, eat regularly, and avoid food being too greasy and overeating. Are these statements correct?
Let's take a look at the digestive journey of food in the body.
The digestion of food begins in the mouth. Why do we taste sweet when we chew rice and steamed bread? This is because starch is converted into maltose by simple decomposition of salivary amylase, and maltose is sweet.
Food enters the esophagus through swallowing and reaches the stomach under the push of esophageal smooth muscle. The stomach receives the signal of food stimulation, performs receptive relaxation, tense contraction and peristalsis, and secretes gastric acid at the same time. With the participation of pepsin and some mucus, protein is decomposed into peptides, and food is excreted from the small intestine at the most suitable speed for digestion and absorption.
PS:
1. I have heard the saying that spicy food hurts the stomach.
2. Gastroptosis and insufficient gastric motility can lead to indigestion.
3. Rich nutrition can play the role of "nourishing the stomach".
4. Stimulating carbonated drinks may damage esophagus and gastric mucosa.
Small intestine is the main place for food digestion. When food reaches the small intestine, the small intestine must move quickly. Through intense contraction, rhythmic segmental movement and peristalsis, large pieces of food are broken down into small pieces, and small pieces of food are broken down into chyme, pushing undigested food residues into the large intestine. In this process, bile secreted by the liver and bile stored in the gallbladder participate in the digestion and absorption of food. Bile is a golden yellow or orange-brown liquid, which plays a decisive role in the color of stool. In addition, pancreatic juice secreted by pancreas and intestinal juice secreted by intestinal glands also participate in the process of food digestion and absorption.
PS:
1. Excessive drinking damages the liver.
2. Pancreas, intestinal glands and other physical injuries make food difficult to digest.
3. Chewing slowly can help the small intestine to save labor and facilitate food digestion.
4. Physical activity can enhance the motivation of small intestine to digest food.
The large intestine absorbs the remaining water from the small intestine and dries the food residue. There are a group of tourists who have settled in the large intestine for a long time-bacteria. At this time, undigested dietary fiber (prebiotics) provided rich food for this group of tourists. Bacteria use simple materials in intestinal tract to synthesize B vitamins, vitamin K and other components beneficial to human body. At the same time, they also decompose undigested protein and produce phenol, indole and hydrogen sulfide through a series of decomposition processes. They are the main source of fecal odor; Carbohydrates decompose to produce lactic acid and acetic acid, which are the sour source of stool; Fat decomposition produces aldehydes, ketones, etc. These are harmful to human body, and some of them can cause human colon cancer. It is worth mentioning that soluble dietary fiber can accelerate the excretion of harmful substances in large intestine, shorten the contact time between harmful substances and colon, and has the function of preventing colon cancer.
PS:
1. Oats, barley and other whole grains are rich in soluble dietary fiber, with more fruits and beans and less polished rice and white flour.
2. The stool stinks: protein is more (mainly meat); Sour stool: carbohydrates (that is, the staple food we often say) are not fully digested and fermented to produce sour taste; Feces are rotten and smelly: intestinal bacterial infection is serious, so you need to seek the help of a doctor.
3. The picture below shows the baby's stool color chart. Normal stools (⑦ ~ ⑨) should be golden yellow or light green.
White indicates that bile does not participate in fecal staining, which may lead to biliary obstruction;
There is undigested food in the stool, suggesting that the digestive function is weak, and it is necessary to make the food into acceptable properties for infants, such as chopping or juicing the food or grinding it into powder;
Because the baby's digestive organs have not yet matured and feeding has not yet formed a regular pattern, there will be milk flaps in the stool. If it does not affect the growth and development, you can continue to observe. If the weight o increases or decreases, you need to seek the help of a doctor.
Blood in the stool: There are three kinds of red stools, one is undigested red food residues, such as tomatoes, strawberries, hawthorn, peppers, etc., the other is blood mixed in the stool, which may cause bleeding in the lower digestive tract (jejunum, ileum, large intestine), and the third is blood adhering to the surface of the stool, suggesting anal fissure;
Black stool: You may have ingested iron or eaten foods with high iron content.
4. Constipation: dry stool. Older children will defecate once every 3-4 days, with blood on the surface or inside of the stool and feces between defecations. Diarrhea: Sudden increase in defecation frequency, abnormally high water content, loose stool, loose stool and bloody stool.
Finally, the stool is discharged from the anus, which contributes to the value of green plants.
Knowing the digestion process of food, I also understand that it is very necessary to eat less or not spicy, pickled and other irritating foods, eat less snacks, eat regularly, avoid food being too greasy and overeating, and exercise properly.
For babies, there is a key factor that can lead to indigestion. What is this key factor?
Feed liquid food for a long time.
In early life, liquid foods mainly included milk and porridge.
milk
Formula milk is a baby food except breast milk, which can meet the nutritional needs of children's growth and development. After 6 months, the digestive organs such as gastrointestinal tract are relatively developed and can digest diversified foods other than breast milk and formula milk; At the same time, the baby's taste, smell, touch, psychology, cognition and behavior are also ready to accept new foods; Moreover, the nutrition provided by breast milk and formula milk can not fully meet the growth needs of infants; Therefore, when the baby is 6 months old, it is necessary to start with mud food and gradually add complementary food.
With the growth of months, the baby needs more complementary food. For example, when I was 6 months old, I began to try to add rice noodles and minced meat. If it goes well, they should be able to eat rice paste, minced meat, vegetable paste and fruit paste at the age of 7 months. After 8 months, it will transition to thick porridge, boiled noodles, cut vegetables and minced meat, and the amount is gradually increasing. After 1 year-old, it has entered a new dietary milestone with fresh food as the main food and breast milk and milk powder as the supplementary food.
Before talking about why long-term formula feeding can lead to indigestion in children, let's briefly talk about the nutritional value of the food we usually come into contact with.
Rice, flour, steamed bread and other staple foods: rich in carbohydrates, providing heat for the human body.
Eggs, milk, meat, fish and tofu: rich in high-quality protein, protein is an important component of human tissues and organs, and all tissues and organs contain protein.
Vegetables and fruits: rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Lack of vitamin C can lead to anemia and skeletal abnormalities, and lack of dietary fiber can lead to constipation and obesity.
Edible oil: provides fat, and the average weight of human body is about 14%~ 19%.
People's thinking, exercise, talking, digestion, excretion and other physiological activities are all maintained by nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc and iodine provided by these foods.
As we said before, breast milk and formula milk can meet the nutritional needs of infants under 6 months, and they should be provided with complementary food after about 6 months. After 1 year, children need more nutrition to meet their growth and development. So, here's the problem. If most of the nutrition of children 1 year old is still provided by breast milk and formula milk, malnutrition is likely to become an inevitable trend.
Malnutrition is closely related to digestive tract diseases.
porridge
The principle of indigestion caused by long-term drinking porridge is basically the same as that of formula milk.
I once received such a child nutrition consultation: the child is 2 years old, smart and very lovable. When uncles and aunts came to visit the house, they had to hug it, as if to satisfy their joy of seeing their children. However, the child's physique is thin, his back and ribs look obvious, and his diet is an ordinary bowl of porridge that he has not finished drinking for 20 minutes. Sometimes when you eat with adults, you can't eat half a bowl. Every two or three days, the child will cry inexplicably.
Drinking porridge can't meet children's comprehensive needs for nutrition. In this case, we must first realize that providing rice, flour, milk, eggs, meat, fish, bean products, vegetables and fruits can get basic nutritional supply, and children will feel comfortable with their behavior.
Secondly, the topic that children don't like eating seems to be more and more serious, which is often one of the important contents of parents' communication. At any time, it is important to realize that most lasting eating habits are formed from infancy, from the first bite of breast milk or formula milk. In the future, when parents give their children milk or snacks, they will look at it from another angle.
Thirdly, understand the reasons why children don't like eating. 1. Maybe the snacks I ate before dinner have almost filled my stomach, and the children don't eat much. Some biscuits will last a long time. 2. If you drink too much, you will have no appetite to eat anything else. Soda, fruit juice and drinks have low nutritional value, which makes people feel full easily. 3. Are there any diseases such as flatulence, early satiety, acid regurgitation and loss of appetite caused by gastrointestinal bacterial infection?
Finally, pursuing independence is an important task in the process of children's growth. Sometimes, no matter how good the food you give him and how you explain it to him, he will probably ignore you. Sometimes, you make a lot of efforts to make your child eat an extra piece of meat, but he doesn't seem to feel your pain. On the contrary, he may feel stressed. Don't worry, take your time. Relaxation is beneficial to the interaction between you and is relatively easy for children to accept. Besides, sowing in spring will bring you harvest in autumn.