Whether the baby is deficient in calcium has become a daily topic for mothers, and in order to supplement calcium for the baby, the mother has also spent a lot of thought.
How can I know if my baby is deficient in calcium?
As long as you do reasonable feeding + vitamin D supplementation on time, the baby will generally not be deficient in calcium, so parents should not give the baby calcium supplementation without authorization.
So what is your baby's calcium need?
According to the latest edition of the "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents" recommended calcium intake, the appropriate daily intake of calcium for babies is:
◆ 0-6 months of age daily intake of 300mg;
◆ 7-12 months of age daily intake of 400mg;
◆ 12 months -3 years old daily intake of 600mg.
That is to say, as the age increases, the baby's demand for calcium will gradually increase. However, it must be emphasized that the calcium content in breast milk or formula is very sufficient. Why? Let's see that the calcium content of different milk is also different:
◆ Breast milk contains about 35mg/100mL of calcium, and the absorption rate of calcium is relatively high;
◆ The calcium content in formula milk is about 50mg/100mL, but the calcium absorption rate is not as high as in breast milk.
Although formula has a higher calcium content than breast milk, the absorption and utilization of calcium in breast milk is high. The reason why the calcium content of formula milk is higher than the content of breast milk is actually to make up for the lack of absorption rate. Therefore, as long as parents ensure that sufficient breast milk/formula feeding + the right amount of vitamin AD can prevent the baby from being deficient in calcium, and there is no need for additional calcium supplementation.
Whether calcium deficiency is judged according to the syndrome, such as: it is not easy to fall asleep, it is not easy to enter a deep sleep state, crying or sweating after falling asleep, easy to wake up, paroxysmal abdominal pain, etc.
If parents still feel that they cannot accurately judge, then they can take the baby to the hospital to test the trace elements and osteoase, and the osteoase is not higher than 250. It is then judged based on a combination of test results and abnormal symptoms. Under normal circumstances, there is no shortage of calcium!
If your baby is deficient in calcium, it could mean a major problem with his diet, or it could be because of certain diseases or medications that affect calcium absorption, most likely due to a lack of vitamin D.
Parents should understand: serious supplementation of VD, timely addition of complementary foods, maintain a balanced diet can not appear to lack of calcium intake problems. Whether it is a family, a friend or a doctor who says that your baby should supplement calcium, you must first ask yourself a few questions: 1, have you insisted on vitamin D supplementation, go out in the sun? 2, is there a timely addition of complementary foods? 3. Are the types of complementary foods rich and balanced? If these three answers are yes, you can basically ignore each other.
How to Get Enough Vitamin D?
1. Take preparations containing vitamin D, such as ikecin. Basking in the sun, humans are very powerful, and by shining ultraviolet rays on the skin we can produce vitamin D on our own. Obtained through food, because the content of vitamin D in general food is relatively low, this trick is not suitable for babies.
2. How much vitamin D supplement? In practice, the most common way to use is to take preparations containing vitamin D to solve the problem of calcium absorption, although sunlight can also synthesize vitamin D, but the specific irradiation time, irradiation area, and the relationship between the amount of synthesis is difficult to determine, and can only be used as an auxiliary means.
Vitamin D this thing must not eat more, eat too much will be poisoned. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breastfed infants need to supplement with 400 IU of vitamin D per day, which translates to 10 micrograms. Early childhoods recommend a daily intake of 10 micrograms of not exceeding 20 micrograms.
Count those who may be calcium deficient and may be "false calcium deficiency"!
The manifestations of calcium deficiency in each child are still different. Just because of a specific behavior of the baby, the parent can not directly conclude: "Oh! My baby is deficient in calcium! repair! repair! repair!
Children grow teeth late, often see the neighbor's children have two teeth, their own children have not yet emerged.
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Explanation: If you find that your baby is slow to teeth, don't directly conclude that it is calcium deficiency.
Normal first deciduous teeth erupt at the latest is 18 months, and late teething is not necessarily calcium deficiency, which may be inherited from your parents.
If you don't have teeth after 18 months, ask the doctor what caused it.
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Baby has less hair and a lopsided ring can be seen on his head.
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Explanation: In fact, most babies will have occipital baldness, and the baby's hair also has a growth cycle, and it will fall out during the specific time period, which is only the fetal hair loss in the physiological period.
In addition, the baby is still young, and he will not turn over, and he will sleep lying upright.
When the baby grows older and slowly learns to sit and turn over, the time to lie down will be reduced, the time for the scalp to be oppressed will also decrease, and the missing hair will naturally grow.
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Other people's children of the same age see a sample at a time, the size of the rubbing grows fast, their own baby is not very long!
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Explanation: The change of children's height and weight depends on various balanced nutritional combinations, which cannot be said to be calcium deficiency. It is also related to the genes of the parents.
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Baby is found to have his ribs turned outward.
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Explanation: The child is still in a young age, the development of the body bones is not yet mature, the limb ribs are in a state of stiff contraction, as the baby grows up, the body gradually relaxes, this phenomenon will slowly disappear.
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Babies sweat a lot and often find sweating on their heads when they fall asleep. Feel that the baby is deficient in calcium and is deficient.
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Explanation: The baby's sweat gland regulation is not yet fully developed, and the skin has a lot of water content, so the skin moisture evaporates quickly and the basal metabolism is also high.
Especially now in the summer, the indoor temperature is too high or the baby will cause physiological sweating, not to mention that some babies are more afraid of heat.
Of course, if you find that your baby sweats with fever, you should consult a doctor.
Going back to the original question, if you want your baby not to be deficient in calcium, you need to do these 3 things:
1, the amount of milk per day (not less than 600ml before the age of 1, not less than 400ml after the age of 1); after the baby gradually transitions to the family diet, you can not forget two cups of milk a day! Yogurt, milk, cheese, etc., are all good forms of calcium supplementation, if the intake of dairy products is insufficient, it is difficult to ensure the calcium needed by the human body through other foods.
2. Supplement vitamin D every day to help calcium absorption;
3, often add calcium-rich foods to the diet (all listed in the above table).
With the improvement of everyone's living standards, the phenomenon of calcium deficiency will be less and less, as long as the diet is reasonably arranged, the baby will be in good health and eat fragrant!
Note: Some of the views in this article come from the "Expert Consensus on Scientific Calcium Supplementation for Infants and Young Children Aged 0-3 in China" and the "Child Nutrition" of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Judging whether the baby is deficient in calcium cannot be based on a single symptom, but must be based on the child's overall performance, such as feeding and the results of the physical examination. If you are really worried about calcium deficiency, you can add vitamin AD + calcium to your baby for a month to see if the symptoms have improved. Or seek medical treatment for scientific testing and calcium supplementation according to the guidance of the doctor.