What should children with digestive disorders eat?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Phan Thi Cam Van - Neonatologist - Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital
Digestive disorders are a health problem of the digestive system, these disorders can affect daily activities and affect the development of children. So symptoms, causes of digestive disorders in children and children with digestive disorders should eat?

1. Symptoms of children with digestive disorders

There are many causes for children to have digestive disorders, but these diseases all have the same symptoms of digestive disorders, specifically as follows:
Nausea Abdominal pain Diarrhea Vomiting Dehydration due to diarrhea and vomiting

2. Causes and nutrition for children with digestive disorders

Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders
Eosinophilic dyspepsia is the most common disease among the group of eosinophilic esophagitis with symptoms occurring due to white blood cells too much in the baby's digestive tract. This leads to inflammation and swelling in the digestive tract, causing pain, discomfort and difficulty swallowing.
Currently there is no cure for eosinophilic digestive disorders, but drugs such as steroids can reduce the number of white blood cells in the intestine and lead to relief of symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe cutting out certain foods that cause an allergic reaction or other special diets. In severe cases, a feeding tube may be required.
Celiac Disease (Gluten Intolerance)
Children with celiac disease have a severe reaction when they eat foods that contain gluten, which is the protein in wheat, barley, and rye. This intestinal disorder damages the small intestine and prevents the child from absorbing the nutrients in food.
For these cases, the child needs to follow a gluten-free diet as the only treatment for celiac disease. Because gluten-free foods prevent damage to the intestines and allow time for previously damaged intestines to heal.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory bowel disease, which usually occurs in older children or adolescents, includes two main digestive disorders:
Ulcerative colitis causing swelling in the colon Crohn's disease, this is diseases that can affect any part of the digestive system If these two conditions are present, the child will have common symptoms such as bloody or watery stools and abdominal pain. Inflammatory bowel disease can also slow a child's growth or delay puberty. Both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease can lead to joint pain, itchy eyes, kidney stones, liver disease, and brittle or fragile bones.
The goal of inflammatory bowel disease treatment is to keep symptoms from appearing, for as long as possible. The doctor may recommend that parents should give the child a pathological diet and use medicine. If symptoms of ulcerative colitis are severe, your child may need hospital treatment or surgery.

Intussusception
This intussusception occurs when part of the intestine turns over and enters the next segment of intestine. This is a very common disease in children. With this condition, the child has symptoms like an infection that causes pain, swelling and sudden lethargy/fatigue and can even tear the intestines.
Treatment usually begins with using a liquid or air enema to push the bowels back. This disease usually does not require surgery and all treatments are effective. Otherwise, the child may need surgery.
Volvulus
This is an emergency, which occurs when a loop of a child's intestines twists around itself and the mesentery that supports it, resulting in a bowel obstruction and blocking the flow of waste. In some cases, the blood supply of the intestine behind the volvulus is also cut off, leading to ischemia. To treat and save the child's life, doctors will need to perform urgent surgery, after successful treatment, most children grow up and have normal health.

Short Bowel Syndrome
With this syndrome, the child does not have enough intestines to absorb the nutrients and fluids found in the food they have eaten. It may be because some babies are born with a few pieces of intestine missing or need surgery to remove part of the intestine. Other causes of short bowel syndrome are:
Crohn's disease Intussusception disease A blood vessel in the intestine is blocked that slows blood flow to the segment of bowel behind the blocked segment, eg volvulus Intestinal damage Cancer Causes All of the above causes gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea. Short bowel syndrome can lead to problems such as malnutrition, dehydration, kidney stones, and severe rashes.

For children with short bowel syndrome, the child needs to change the diet and sometimes need to give nutrients to the child intravenously or through a feeding tube. In addition, children need more medication to relieve symptoms and slow the movement of food through the digestive system, so the child's digestive system has time to absorb nutrients.

3. Digestive disorders should do?

If your child has the symptoms of frequent digestive disorders listed above, you need to take the child to the hospital to have a doctor find out what causes the child to have digestive disorders and from there the doctor New treatment regimens as well as nutritional regimens are proposed for each disease.
For children to be healthy and develop well, it is necessary to have a nutritious diet in terms of quantity and quality balance. If children are not provided with adequate and balanced nutrients, it will lead to diseases of excess or lack of nutrients, which adversely affect the comprehensive development of children in terms of physical, mental and motor skills.
Children who do not eat properly are at risk of micro-mineral deficiency causing anorexia, growth retardation, malabsorption,... If they notice the above signs, parents should supplement their children with products. The supplement contains lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, and B vitamins to help fully meet the nutritional needs of children. At the same time, these essential vitamins also support digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, help improve anorexia, and help children eat well.
Parents can learn more:
Signs of zinc deficiency in children
Micronutrient deficiency and failure to gain weight in children
Please regularly visit Vinmec.com website and update useful information to take care of your child. Take care of the baby and the whole family.
Articles refer to the source: Webmd.com