Li Bo of Pediatrics of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Why do children accumulate food? What are the symptoms? How to prevent food accumulation?
During the holidays, big fish, big meat, melon and fruit snacks, the children's mouths have not stopped for a moment, and at the same time, their spleen and stomach are constantly running, fighting all the time. Children eat too much and too miscellaneous, it is inevitable that they will not be able to digest, which will damage the acceptance and transportation function of the spleen and stomach, causing food accumulation.
1. What is accumulation of food?
"Accumulation of food", also known as "stagnation", is a disease of Traditional Chinese medicine, which refers to the excessive amount of milk food in children, improper diet, affecting digestive function, so that food stagnation in the gastrointestinal formation of the disease. Accumulation of food occurs in infants and young children, mainly manifested as abdominal distention, dry or sour stools, farting and smelly, frequent hiccups, etc. Western medicine calls it "dyspepsia", and the clinical symptoms are mainly postprandial fullness, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, pantothenic acid and so on.
As the saying goes, "If you want children to be safe, three points of hunger and cold". This means that if you want your child not to get sick, don't eat too much and dress too warmly. This is because the gastrointestinal tract of infants and young children is not perfect, and a large number of or too nutritious foods cannot be digested and absorbed quickly, but it causes "accumulation of food" and harms the body.
Many parents love their children in the way of food, afraid that their children are hungry. In fact, the baby should not eat too much and eat too much, otherwise the accumulation of food will lead to digestive disorders, hot and cold food mixed to eat, especially eat hot food after eating cold food, it is easier to cause "fighting" in the stomach, after eating too much greasy food, the abdomen is cold, which is also the cause of gastrointestinal dysfunction. Accumulation of food is not a small problem, it will increase the burden on the baby's intestines, stomach, kidneys, and may also bring diseases to these organs, making the baby more mentally ill. So moms have to pay attention.
Second, why does the baby accumulate food
1. Children have a weak spleen and stomach
Children have three deficiencies: lungs, spleen, kidneys and three organs are often weak. Therefore, the spleen in children is often insufficient. Chinese medicine believes that the main function of the stomach is to receive food, and the main function of the spleen is to transport food. When eating too much food, the spleen and stomach are overwhelmed, which will lead to food accumulation and indigestion, resulting in symptoms such as abdominal distension.
2. Children have poor self-control ability
Children do not have the ability to control themselves, as long as they see what they like to eat, they will not be able to stop; Especially in the Face of Delicious Food, it is difficult for these innocent and lively children to control their small mouths during the New Year's Festival, and at this time, the children's small stomachs often bulge.
3. Family eating habits are not healthy
As the saying goes: "If children want to be safe at four o'clock, they often have to be hungry and cold", that is, if children are not sick, they should not give children too much food and clothing. Elders often want their children to eat more, especially meat, spicy food, etc. Eating too much will cause food accumulation.
No matter which kind of food is nutritious, you can't eat too much, otherwise not only can't make the child healthy, but it will cause the child to "accumulate food" and bring damage to the child's body.
4, eat too many snacks
Both adults and children love to eat snacks. Not to say that eating snacks is not nutritious, just that children eat too many snacks, children must have no appetite when eating, and it is not good to eat. Especially some fried foods in foreign fast food, or sweets, children often eat, not only children will grow fat, but also affect the spleen and stomach function, causing children to accumulate food, fire, and love to cough when sick.
5. Go to sleep after eating
Sleeping after eating may be the easiest to form a accumulation of food. After the baby finishes eating, the stomach has not fully completed the task, if you sleep at this time, the brain will also follow the rest, there is no instruction, the peristalsis of the stomach will slow down, the longer the food will accumulate in the stomach. The longer this "time" stays, the greater the possibility of accumulating food.
Third, how to judge the child's accumulation of food?
1, anorexia
If your baby's appetite has been good, or if there is a sudden significant decrease in appetite, a meal will take a long time. Excluding other pathological causes, it is likely to be caused by food accumulation. Vomiting may also occur in severe cases, (vomit is generally sour, and lactating babies may also have vomit sour and indigestible milk flaps)
2. Abdominal discomfort
Children often say that the stomach hurts and the stomach is uncomfortable, and this discomfort will get better after excretion.
3. Bad breath
Babies with severe food accumulation have thick and white tongues, and you can clearly smell the sour smell of the baby's exhaled breath.
4, the face is not good
Children's food accumulation for a long time is manifested in the face will be two cheeks red, yellow face, these babies are often accompanied by general emaciation, mental atrophy, thinning and yellow hair and other symptoms.
5, sleep is not good
The child's body will constantly flip and sometimes grind his teeth during sleep; the younger baby will cry and sleep unsteadily.
6. Fever in the hands and feet
The temperature of the palms and feet of children will generally be higher than the temperature of the body.
7. Abnormal stool
Your child's stools are prone to dryness or diarrhea, smell bad, and are easily sticky. Some children will still grunt in their stomachs, feel the gas jumping in their stomachs, and will continue to fart.
8. Low immunity, repeated colds and coughs
Long-term food accumulation may cause the child's immunity to decline, always for no reason cold, cough, once sick it is easy to cause throat discomfort, and even cause pneumonia.
Fourth, the impact of accumulated food on the body
1. Fever
The fever caused by accumulated food is called "accumulated heat", and the food eaten is stuck in the middle coke, and the accumulation time will turn into heat, and the heat will be steamed inside, and the child's body temperature will go up. Most of these children have yellow faces, bloating, vomiting, lactation, and abnormal stools.
2. Cough
Accumulation of food can lead to cough, which is what is called "food cough" in Chinese medicine. The spleen is the source of sputum, and the lungs are the organs for storing sputum. If you eat too much, your spleen and stomach will be weak, and it will be easy to produce phlegm over time, resulting in coughing. Therefore, looking at those children who eat cough, most of them have symptoms of accumulation of food and heat, such as stomach distension, not loving to eat, belching, bad breath, hot hands and siblings, dry stool or constipation, red tongue, thick tongue and so on.
3. Restless sleep
In the "SuQin Inverse Theory", it is said: "Stomach disharmony is restlessness.". Food stagnation in the middle of the air stagnation can not be full, abdominal pain and sleepless restlessness. In addition, it will accumulate heat and disturb the heart and spleen.
4. Affect development
Food accumulation for a long time, easy to lead to spleen deficiency, and the spleen is the source of qi and blood biochemistry, spleen deficiency is easy to cause malnutrition in children, affect growth and development, so that the baby is emaciated, sweaty and weak, short stature.
5. How to prevent children from accumulating food?
1. Adjust the diet structure. Eat more foods that are easy to digest and absorb, and do not blindly increase high-calorie and high-fat foods. Let the baby eat more vegetables and fruits, eat less meat, appropriately increase rice, pasta, and high-protein diet in moderation, so as not to increase the gastrointestinal burden. Seven points full, good health. No matter what kind of food, no matter how nutritious you can't eat too much, otherwise not only can't strengthen the body, but it will only backfire in the effect, and if you don't get it right, you will form a food accumulation, diarrhea and other conditions, hurting the baby's body.
2, three meals quantitative, to arrange three meals a day for the baby to be regular and quantitative, can not be hungry a full meal, the stomach and intestines and people, the rest, the work when working, otherwise it will disrupt the gastrointestinal biological clock, affecting the normal operation of digestive function. Don't eat too much at night, the baby has a large amount of activity during the day, and eating can be digested, but at night, the stomach is slow, and it is easy to accumulate food.
3. Let the baby concentrate on eating. Parents must pay attention to the fact that the baby generally has accumulated food, which may be caused by inattention to eat. For example, watching TV, or listening to music, or playing with other children, etc., when eating, will lead to the occurrence of food accumulation in the baby. Therefore, when the baby eats, it is best to let the baby concentrate on just eating.
4) Stop blaming your children when you eat. Some parents like to scold the baby and scold the baby when the baby is eating. This is the least ideal kind of behavior, and it is a big mistake. For the baby, when eating, the body itself is in the process of ingesting nutrients, you are scolding him, blaming him, can only make his food difficult to swallow, resulting in food accumulation.
5. Eat less for dinner. Eating less at night focuses on reducing the burden on the stomach and intestines, so that the stomach and intestines can get enough rest and recovery time at night. The baby exercises a lot during the day and eats and digests quickly, but at night the stomach is slower, the digestion ability is weaker than during the day, if you eat too much and overstepped, it is easy to accumulate food. Therefore, don't eat too much at night.
6, let the baby participate in outdoor activities, walk after meals. If the weather is cold, you can choose to let the baby go out for half an hour to an hour every day when the sun is good and the wind is light. After eating, take your baby for a gentle walk for half an hour to an hour, with more exercise to help digestion.