Children with rickets due to nutritional problems

Children with nutritional rickets have a high prevalence in children under 3 years of age. This disease is a deficiency or disorder of vitamin D metabolism, thereby affecting the metabolism and absorption of calcium and phosphorus in bone formation. The main cause of malnourished children is the parents' abstinence habits, fearing that the child will be sick, so they do not let the child sunbathe, leading to a lack of sunshine. In addition, the disease is also caused by the following reasons:
Improper diet for children: Children with a diet that does not meet nutritional needs, does not have a variety of diets, causes lack of nutrients, especially calcium. Calcium is the most important substance in the development of a child's skeleton, has a higher absorption rate than other foods and is contained in large amounts in breast milk. Therefore, babies drinking less breast milk than needed is one of the leading risk factors for rickets. The diet of children, especially children who are eating solid foods, has too much glucid (sugar powder), protein (protein) leading to metabolic disorders, increased calcium excretion into the urine, causing calcium deficiency for the body. Pregnant women are not provided with enough nutrients for the development of the fetus, especially vitamin D and calcium deficiency leading to nutritional rickets in children. In addition, children who lack nutrients in cases of premature birth, infectious diseases, fetal malnutrition, prolonged digestive disorders... are at high risk of rickets.

Malnourished children often have the following signs of illness:
Baby sweats a lot even when it's cool, especially night sweats (sweating at night). Children often cry, get excited, startle and have trouble sleeping. Children have hair loss or hair loss around the nape of the neck. The child's head has a frontal hump, apical tumor, and a slow fontanelle with soft edges and overlapping skull joints. Children have soft skull bones, easily deformed, the head is bent to one side or flattened behind. The baby has a rib necklace and a chicken breast shaped chest. Children with wrists, ankles and bent limbs in the shape of an X, an O. Children with acute and severe rickets may experience the following signs: Convulsions due to hypocalcemia, laryngeal stridor and stridor. silent cries.
Cases of nutritional rickets in older children often show signs of long bone pain in the evening or at night. Children have signs of delayed teething, teeth are often decayed and have poor enamel. Slow development of motor skills such as rolling, crawling, sitting, walking..
Besides, children with nutritional rickets often fall into the following groups:
Twins or premature babies. Children drink formula milk and cannot use breast milk. Children are too chubby. Children born in winter. When your child has the above symptoms, you should take your child to see a nutritionist for proper diagnosis and treatment.

In fact, there is always confusion between children with nutritional rickets and children with stunting. So what is the difference between these two diseases?
Children with nutritional rickets can be found in both children whose weight and height measurements are normal and above the normal range, but still lack phosphorus, vitamin D and calcium due to higher requirements than normal children. .
Stunted children are malnourished children whose weight and height measurements are below normal, they may or may not have rickets.

Children with nutritional rickets, if not treated promptly, will leave many consequences, complications or sequelae affecting the child's appearance. Some sequelae caused by rickets are as follows:
Some organs of the child are changed such as deformed ribcage, limited respiratory function, kyphosis and scoliosis. Children with bow legs (O) or bowl legs (X), bent limbs and deformities in teeth. Children with growth retardation, low nutrition can affect the race. Children are at high risk of osteoporosis and fractures in adulthood, narrow pelvis affects later reproduction. In addition to bone complications, children with nutritional rickets also have a weakened immune system, which makes them susceptible to infections, especially pneumonia.

Treatment methods in children with nutritional rickets are as follows:
Building a scientific and nutritious diet, breastfeeding, ensuring enough meals and nutrition for each meal, for the sake of the child. Eating less causes rickets to account for a high rate in this disease. Some foods contain high levels of calcium and vitamin D such as natural salmon (600-1000 IU vitamin D in 100g fish), egg yolks (107 IU vitamin D in 100g)... Let children bask in the sun daily in the morning (before 9 am) by exposing the child's legs, arms, abdomen, back for 10-15 minutes. Because pre-vitamin D is available under the skin when exposed to sunlight, it will be activated and converted to vitamin D. Vitamin D helps metabolize and absorb calcium and phosphorus. Your doctor may prescribe calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients supplements depending on your child's medical condition. Calcium and vitamin D supplements must be prescribed by a doctor with the right amount and time to avoid excess causing vitamin D toxicity.

Prevention of nutritional rickets must be done in both mother and baby, which includes a nutritious diet combined with a reasonable regimen of sunbathing and sun exposure for children.
Some measures to prevent child malnutrition are as follows:

From the time of pregnancy, mothers should be exposed to the sun daily, preferably in the morning. Besides, mothers need to be supplemented with enough calcium (800-1000 IU/day) during pregnancy. In case the mother is diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency, the dose of calcium supplement should be prescribed by the doctor with a daily supplemental dose of 1000-2000 IU of vitamin D3/day or a higher dose of 20,000 IU of vitamin D3/week. Mother's diet needs a variety of foods, especially foods rich in vitamin D and calcium such as milk, shrimp, salmon, eggs, cheese...

Children need to be sunbathing every day when they are 6 months old. The time of sunbathing depends on the season, in the summer, children should be sunbathing before 8 am or after 4 pm. In winter weather, the right time is from 9am to 3pm. In addition, children need to be provided with enough vitamin D, the vitamin D content needed for children under 12 months is 400 IU/day and for children over 1 year old is 600 IU/day. The diet when children start weaning must contain all the basic groups of substances such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and essential micronutrients for the body. Nutrient-rich foods such as crab, fish, eggs, cheese and green vegetables... After the child is weaned, the child should still be given formula milk, and the child's meal should contain vitamin D and be adequate. nutrition. Thus, nutritional rickets is a common disease in young children and requires appropriate treatment and nutrition, providing enough vitamin D and calcium to ensure the daily development of children. In addition, parents should supplement their children with supporting products containing 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 simultaneously apply dietary supplements and functional foods derived from nature for easy absorption. The most important thing is that improving your baby's symptoms often takes a long time. Combining many types of functional foods at the same time or changing many types in a short time can make the baby's digestive system unable to adapt and completely not good. Therefore, parents must be really patient with their children and regularly visit the website vimec.com to update useful baby care information.