Anemia is harmful to infants and young children, affecting their development and even causing damage to multi-organ systems. If anemia occurs in infants and young children, parents should immediately take their children to the hospital for blood routine tests to confirm the diagnosis, and then perform targeted treatment.
First, the harm of anemia in infants and young children
1. Affect physical development
Infant and young children are in the critical period of growth and development, if anemia occurs, the function of blood delivery oxygen and nutrients decreases, which will affect the growth and development of infants and young children, gastric acid secretion and fat absorption are reduced, and anemia will make infants and young children thinner, and even affect the development of motor function;
2. Affect brain development
The brain is a very important organ, the blood supply is also the most abundant, when anemia occurs, the blood supply of the brain will be affected, so that infants and young children may have dizziness, headaches, irritability, crying and other phenomena, serious will affect the brain and intellectual development, learning, cognition and other abilities are lower than their peers;
3. Affect immune function
The body's immune function is inseparable from the supply of blood, when the immune function of infants and young children is anemia, it is very easy to occur various infectious diseases, such as respiratory tract infections, digestive tract infections, etc.;
4. Affects cardiopulmonary function
The severity of anemia can affect cardiopulmonary function. Oxygen exchange is mainly carried out in the lungs, when infants and young children are anemic, there will be difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, severe anemia will affect cardiac function, at this time patients can have anemia heart failure, and even lead to cardiogenic shock;
5. Affect digestive function
When the body is anemia, in order to ensure the nutritional supply of important organs such as the heart and brain, it will reduce the blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract, which may lead to symptoms such as loss of appetite and bloating in infants and young children, affecting digestive function
Second, it is easy to cause the cause of baby anemia
Improper choice of rice noodles
At the beginning of the baby's addition of complementary foods, iron-fortified rice noodles should be selected. Homemade rice noodles are nutritionally unbalanced and low in iron content.
Meat is added too late
Heme iron in the meat is more conducive to the absorption of the baby, the time of adding meat food to the baby's complementary food, it is best not to be later than July, red meat is an excellent food for iron supplementation.
Premature or excessive intake of milk
Milk has a low iron content and low bioavailability, and drinking too much will affect the intake of other high-iron complementary foods, so it is not recommended to switch to fresh milk feeding or excessive intake of milk too early (before the age of 1 year).
High temperature mixed rice flour or milk powder
Folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C are not tolerant to high temperatures, the destruction of vitamin C will affect the absorption of iron, and the baby is prone to iron deficiency anemia and scurvy.
Traditional methods of replenishing blood
For example, brown sugar water, dates, guiyuan, etc., these foods are actually very low in iron content, and the main supplement is sugar. And younger babies are not suitable for eating this type of food.
Anemia is only a firm food supplement
The effect of food supplements is slower, can be used as an auxiliary, when the baby has severe anemia, to supplement iron preparations, while food supplements.
Preparations are not replenished in a timely manner
Anemia is accumulated over time, and there is often a lag when it is found, so to do a good job of prevention, the baby can supplement additional iron at four to six months, until the baby begins to add complementary foods, which can reduce the frequency of supplementation.
Long rice soup thin porridge feeding
The first is the inability to meet your baby's nutritional needs. Secondly, the baby's stomach capacity is small, and excessive intake will affect the absorption of other nutrients, and long-term malnutrition may occur. After your baby starts teething, rice soup and porridge are also unable to exercise chewing ability.
3. How to treat baby anemia?
Mild anemia in normal people often has no obvious symptoms from the appearance and behavior, that is to say, it cannot be seen, so parents should pay attention to the baby's routine physical examination and regularly check the blood routine according to the physical examination requirements.
Anemia: Hemoglobin below 110 g/L can be diagnosed.
Mild anemia: 90-110g/L, the most important thing is to adjust the diet, a reasonable diet, eat more animal liver, animal blood, lean meat, dark green vegetables and other foods.
Moderate to severe anemia: moderate anemia, hemoglobin 60-90 g /L.
Severe anemia: Hb
Moderate and severe anemia in addition to the diet to strengthen, but also need to be under the guidance of a doctor to apply iron treatment, generally using oral iron, such as ferrous sulfate, ferrous fumarate, etc., the treatment time is often more than a month.
It is best to take the drug in the middle of two meals, which can reduce the irritation to the gastric mucosa and facilitate absorption.
If parents find that the baby has anemia, do not be too nervous, as long as you follow the doctor's advice and take the medicine on time can receive a good effect.