Features of the digestive system in children

Like adults, the digestive system in children also includes organs such as mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas... but the individual structure of each organ will have some There are certain differences:
Mouth and oral cavity Children's mouth and oral cavity are usually small, the upper jaw bone is not developed, Bichat fat is still large, children's gums have many wrinkles, thick and wide tongue, lip muscles, muscles Chewing is so developed that the baby has a sucking reflex. Your baby's sucking reflex will fade away by the time the baby is 6 months old. In the case of a baby with some diseases caused by fetal distress, meningitis, and meningoencephalitis, the sucking reflex may be lost due to damage to the central nervous system.
Salivary glands in infants are not clearly differentiated, but it takes about 3 to 4 months to fully develop. The saliva secreted by the baby increases gradually from the first days after birth to about the 4th or 5th month, then physiological salivation will form, the reason is that during this period, the baby's teeth will develop. stimulates the activity of the V nerve, at this time the saliva pH is in the range of 6 - 7.8.

Children appear their first tooth when they are 5-6 months old and by 24 months old, they will have their last baby tooth, preparing for the process of permanent teeth. When the child reaches the age of growing enough teeth, parents need to give the child the right foods so that the teeth and jaws develop properly, avoiding the condition of delayed jaw bone development that causes teeth in the upper 2 jaws. the bottom does not fit together when performing the bite.
Esophagus The shape of the esophagus in infants is usually pyramidal or cylindrical with very thin walls, elastic muscles, and elastic structures that are not fully developed. The appearance of glands is very few but instead, the esophagus in the digestive system of children has many blood vessels. Some sizes of esophagus according to children's age are as follows:
Children under 2 months old: esophageal tube diameter is about 0.9cm;
Children 2 - 6 months old: esophageal tube diameter is about 0.9 - 1.2cm;
Children 9 - 18 months old: esophageal tube diameter is about 1.2 - 1.5cm;
Children 2 - 6 years old: esophageal tube diameter is about 1.3 - 1.7cm.
Stomach In terms of position, the stomach in the digestive system of infants is usually horizontal and in a rather high position, until the baby starts to walk, the stomach will switch to a vertical position. In terms of appearance, at birth, the baby's stomach will be round, then it will be longer when the child is old and similar in shape to the adult stomach when the child turns 7-11 years old.

In addition, the development of the stomach depends on the layers of stomach muscles as well as the type of food that is put into the stomach of the child. The capacity of the infant's stomach is about 30-35ml, increasing to 100ml when the baby is 3 months old and 250ml when the baby is 1 year old.
The child's stomach sphincter is poorly developed, on the contrary, the pyloric sphincter is well developed, so children often vomit after eating during this period. If the baby is breastfed, about 25% of the milk is absorbed in the stomach within 2 - 2.5 hours with breast milk, and about 3 - 4 hours with cow's milk.
Intestines The intestines of newborns are usually longer than those of adults, about 6 times longer than their body size during the first 6 months of life. The intestinal mucosa often has a lot of villi and wrinkles, and the number of blood vessels here is also very large, so the child has the ability to absorb some mediators and bacteria that easily enter the intestines during this period.
The mesentery in newborns is long, but the cecum is quite short and mobile, so children often have intestinal volvulus. The rectum in children's digestive system is long, the mucosa is often loose, so when children have dysentery syndrome or pertussis disease, rectal prolapse is easy to encounter.
Some digestive enzymes present in the intestines of children are Erepsin, Amylase, Lipase, Maltase... can digest food in 12-16 hours. In the first 10-12 hours after birth, the infant's intestines are in a completely sterile state, and then may be infected with some bacteria such as staphylococcus, streptococcus, pneumococcus, etc., so it is necessary to maintain breastfeeding during This is because in breast milk there are some substances that have the ability to prevent the growth of bacteria such as lactose, which can inhibit the activity of E.Coli bacteria.
Liver The liver of a large child, accounting for about 4.4% of the body weight, usually the left lobe will be larger than the right lobe, but after a while, the growth rate of the right liver will be faster. Liver cells have not fully developed when the child has not reached 8 years of age, there are many blood vessels in the liver, easy to react when the child has a toxic infection.

Newborn liver has the ability to metabolize some substances such as protid, glucid, lipid or vitamin, secrete bile to digest fat, produce blood cells while the baby is still in the womb, has anti-toxic ability and is a source of body heat.
Pancreas Pancreas develops as soon as the baby is born in which pancreatic juice is excreted after the baby's meals. Some enzymes are present in the pancreas such as: Trypsin, Amylase, Maltase.... The pancreas has the ability to produce insulin and some exocrine enzymes are then taken into the duodenum.

The structure of the digestive system in children is very complex and detailed, requiring careful study to know the digestive reactions that occur in children during the first years of life. Because the characteristics of the children's digestive system are very different from those of adults, the care of the digestive system in children is also very different. You should not be subjective and need to be cautious in eating, hygiene and drinking. protect the digestive system in children.

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