What exactly does the child need to be supplemented? The pediatrician, except for this, nothing else needs to be supplemented

Since having a baby, parents are most concerned about whether to make up something for their children, as if not making up something, it will affect the child's development.

Doctors hear the most, too:

"Do you want calcium supplements for my baby?"

"My baby is taking vitamin D and DHA, doctor, do you want to supplement some zinc? I heard that the most lacking thing for children now is zinc?"

……

So, what exactly do you need to make up for your child?

1. Is vitamin D needed?

The answer is: this one is really needed, and it is best to make up for it from the birth of the child.

Because vitamin D is necessary for our body, but it cannot be synthesized by the body itself. Breast milk and food do not provide enough vitamin D, so your child needs to be given an additional vitamin D supplement.

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone. It also has a scientific name for anti-rickets vitamin, rickets is mostly caused by long-term and severe vitamin D deficiency in children, and infants and young children aged 6 months to 2 years are highly incidentious.

Suffering from rickets, mild children will have restless sleep, excessive sweating, late teething, and severe will affect the child's growth and development, resulting in stunted growth or developmental deformities.

Proper vitamin D supplementation can effectively prevent the occurrence of rickets.

At the same time, vitamin D can promote calcium absorption, allowing the maximum effect of calcium intake.

So, how do you give your child vitamin D supplements?

Different age groups have different standards of supplementation. Children under the age of 1 need to supplement 400IU/day, according to this amount, they can continue to supplement until the age of 64, and after the age of 65, they need to supplement 600IU per day.

A study by Shanghai Sixth Hospital found that compared with the normal cognitive function of people who did not supplement vitamin D, the risk of cognitive impairment was reduced by about 48% in people who supplemented with vitamin D every day.

If you are a baby who drinks milk powder, there is 400IU of vitamin D in the 1000ml amount of infant formula, and there is no need to supplement additional vitamin D when you drink this amount. If your child doesn't drink this amount, supplement with 400 IU per day to make sure your child is not deficient in vitamin D.

In addition, the skin can also synthesize a portion of vitamin D through daily sun exposure.

2. Do I need to supplement vitamin A?

In general, no.

Unless it is a premature baby, a child in a remote area, or the child's complementary food is particularly simple, the amount of meat and vegetables is very small, or the child is a serious picky eater for some reason, and the intake of eggs, milk and meat cannot meet the demand, in these cases, additional vitamin A supplementation is required.

Because breast milk and complementary foods provide sufficient amounts of vitamin A, as long as the diet is normal, there is generally no deficiency.

3. Do I need to supplement DHA?

The answer is to look at the situation.

If your child can eat fish normally, he or she will be able to get the amount he needs without additional supplementation, but if he or she cannot get it through food, he will need to supplement it with additional food.

Parents may be confused about eating fish, how much fish to eat, and which fish to eat?

Through this table, we must pay attention to grasp a core: we must choose fish with low mercury content for consumption, and fish with high mercury content must not be eaten by children, so as not to cause adverse effects on children's bodies.

As recommended in the table, we guarantee that two servings of fish per week are enough, and the amount of one serving of fish can be measured in the palm of your hand.

4. Do other nutrients such as magnesium, iron, zinc need to be supplemented?

The answer is generally not.

If your child is able to eat normally, no additional supplements are needed.

Because the body's own demand for these nutrients is not particularly high, the content of food can meet the needs of the human body, so as long as the child eats normally, there is no need for additional supplements.

Unless there are some special circumstances, such as iron deficiency anemia in children, etc., additional supplements need to be given under the guidance of a doctor.

Therefore, in addition to vitamin D, other nutrients as long as the normal three meals a day, basically do not need additional supplements, children have symptoms such as pillow baldness, sweating, yellow hair, etc., parents should first go to the hospital to check to determine the cause, rather than just buy supplements for the child to eat.

Finally, there is no need to do trace element testing unless there are special circumstances.