When is the baby's digestive system complete?

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The health of the child's digestive system is always the top concern of parents who are taking care of their children. A healthy digestive system is an important prerequisite for a child's comprehensive development. So when is the baby's digestive system complete?

1. When is the baby's digestive system complete?

The first years of life are the time when a baby's digestive system is perfect in both structure and function. However, the nutritional and energy needs of children are very high, not synchronized with the physiological function of the digestive system. Therefore, understanding when a baby's digestive system matures and the characteristics of each stage of development will help parents prevent possible digestive problems for their baby.
The complete digestive system is an extremely closely linked chain including: mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver and pancreas, each of which plays an indispensable role. for the overall development of the digestive system.
1.1 Mouth The jaw structure of a newborn is not yet complete, the mouth of a baby is small, but the tongue is quite wide compared to the mouth, the tongue spines develop to help the baby suckle better at the mother's breast. The mucosal area of ​​the child's oral cavity is quite thin, with many blood vessels, so it is very susceptible to injury, fungal and bacterial infections, mothers should clean the child's oral cavity regularly. The salivary glands in babies have to wait until 3 to 4 months to complete, so the best food at this stage is breast milk or formula.
Children 4-6 months often have physiological salivation because the tooth germ stimulates the V nerve. In the saliva contains starch-digesting enzymes: amylase, mantase..., the activity of these enzymes will gradually increase. by age. When a baby is born without teeth, baby teeth will start to erupt from the 4th to 6th month and end in the 24th to 30th month when all 20 teeth have erupted.
By 1 year of age, the structure of the oral cavity of the child is almost complete. When a child is 6 years old, the permanent teeth will begin to grow and gradually replace the baby teeth.
1.2. The esophagus of a newborn baby has a funnel-shaped structure with a very thin wall, and the muscles are still quite weak, so babies often vomit. According to the developmental age, the esophageal length will have a change in size to reach the complete adult length:
Newborn: 10 - 11 cm 1 year old: 12 cm 5 years old: 16 cm 10 years old: 18 cm 15 years old: 20 cm Adult: 25 – 32 cm 1.3. Stomach In infants and young children, the stomach is usually round, horizontal, and relatively tall. The muscular organization of young children is weakly developed, especially the gastric sphincter, so the stomach is easily deformed after eating, while the pyloric sphincter is well developed (closes more tightly than the gastric spasm). It is very easy to vomit after eating too much, especially in the first 6 months of life.
Over time, the child's digestive system will gradually improve, but how long it takes depends on each child, some children's digestive systems at 3 months old have basically completed, some children 6 months, 12 months. ..
In order to avoid milk reflux because the gastric sphincter does not close tightly when the stomach contracts to expel milk into the small intestine, the mother should put the baby's head up after feeding, divide the feeding (meals of the child) should be spaced from 2.5 to 3 hours), avoid stomach too full, avoid forcing babies to suckle continuously.
When the baby is 1 year old, instead of being horizontal like in infancy, the baby's stomach starts to stand vertically from the age of a toddler and has an elongated oblong shape. From the age of 2 onwards, the stomach structure has developed and become more complete, almost similar to the stomach of an adult.

1.4. Intestinal In fact, the intestines of children are usually longer than the intestines of adults, when a child is 6 months old, the child's large intestine is 6 times longer than the body, while the length of the large intestine in adults is only 4 times the height.
Characteristics of the child's intestines are that the gastrointestinal tract is quite large, the intestinal wall in children is very thin, the vascular system is many and high permeability, so even in the first years of life when the intestinal system is gradually completing Parents need to take good care of the digestive system to take advantage of the fast absorption capacity of the intestine, avoid infection due to the loose connection between intestinal epithelial cells, which cannot prevent bacteria. harmful.
The child's mesentery is quite long, the short cecum is easy to move, so the intestines are often twisted. In young children, especially children under 1 year of age, the appendix is ​​not fixed, often located behind the cecum, so the diagnosis of appendicitis in children is difficult. The child's rectum is quite long, the muscles are weak and the mucosa is loose, so it is easy to prolapse when coughing a lot, pushing a lot.
After the child is 7 years old or older, the child's digestive system has completed and is almost similar to adults in both anatomy and physiology, especially the intestinal microflora.
1.4. Pancreas is an organ that secretes a number of digestive enzymes such as Trypsin, Lipase, Amylase, which helps children convert proteins, fats, sugars, micronutrients... from complex molecular form to simple molecular form. absorbed through the intestinal membrane. In the first years of a child's life, the pancreas' function is not yet complete, so breast milk is the only source of nutrition that is suitable for the absorption characteristics of the baby's body.
1.5. Liver The size of a newborn's liver is quite large, accounting for 4.4% of the body weight, containing many blood vessels, but the liver cells are not fully developed. Besides digestive enzymes from the pancreas, bile secretion from the liver also plays a significant part in the breakdown of complex compounds in food into simple and easily absorbed molecules.
Food will be digested in the intestines thanks to the effect of digestive enzymes present in intestinal juice, pancreatic juice, bile... however, the content of these enzymes in children is always lower than in adults, so children are very susceptible to illness. digestive disorders and malabsorption.

2. Take good care of your child's incomplete digestive system

Children's digestive system has not yet matured, so symptoms such as flatulence, constipation, vomiting, diarrhea, indigestion... are very common, if you know how to examine your child's digestive system at home. Parents can completely become "personal doctors" to help children overcome and perfect the immature digestive system.
2.1. Taking care of the digestive system of children under 6 months of age Mothers need to try to breastfeed their babies right after birth, within 1 hour to stimulate milk secretion. Colostrum will help babies prevent infections in the newborn period, help them excrete stools quickly and improve jaundice. How to breastfeed will determine whether the baby is getting enough or not, it is necessary to feed the baby according to the baby's needs and stomach capacity, so let the baby empty one breast before transferring so that the baby can receive a rich amount of milk. fat. Babies need to be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, do not give them any food or drink, including white water. The digestive system in formula-fed babies is often much worse than breast-fed babies and has a higher risk of gastrointestinal diseases. 2.2. Taking care of the digestive system of children from 6-24 months old Children from 6-24 months old, breast milk is still the main source of food and meets most of their energy needs, so it is necessary to continue breastfeeding. lasts until the child is 2 years old, and at the same time begins to introduce solid foods when the child turns 6 months. The time to start weaning is when the child turns 6 months old because at this age children have an interest in eating, teeth also begin to grow, know how to use the tongue to turn food and use the jaw to chew. Your baby's digestive system has begun to be able to digest solid foods. Children's weaning foods need to be diverse, meet the needs of physical, mental and brain development, and have 4 groups: starch, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. The number of meals and the amount of food in each meal should gradually increase with age to match the growing stomach capacity of the child. During this period, children should drink more boiled and cooled water about 400-600ml/day. Gently massage the baby's abdomen to stimulate bowel movements, give the child more fruits (oranges, papaya, dragon fruit...), vegetables to supplement fiber, practice the habit of defecation on time, do not hold bowel movements. In general, the digestive system characteristics of children have many differences compared to adults. Knowing these characteristics will help parents easily arrange appropriate nutrition as well as detect abnormal digestive problems in children early.
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.