Digestive disorders are abnormalities that occur in the digestive tract, the disease occurs at any age. The symptoms affect the patient's daily life, if this condition progresses for a long time without appropriate treatment, it will lead to dangerous complications.
Cause of digestive disorders in children
- Weak resistance, especially for children who are not breastfed or are not exclusively breastfed.
- Using antibiotics: Antibiotics can kill some beneficial bacteria leading to diarrhea, constipation, and raw stool.
- Unhygienic eating and drinking, polluted living environment.
- Children enter the period of weaning, the microflora is not yet complete, and they are not used to digesting food. Food that is not completely digested allows harmful bacteria to grow.
- Unreasonable diet: Eat a lot of protein, high in sugar, low in fiber, low in vitamins and minerals.
- Running and jumping right after eating affects the longitudinal, sphincter, and oblique muscles in the digestive tract.
- Psychological stress or prolonged staying up late causes stimulation of the X nerve, causing increased secretion of digestive juices, especially acid in the stomach, causing an imbalance in the pH of the digestive tract.
Some common symptoms in children with digestive disorders
- Abdominal pain: Intermittent pain, often related to meals, can be triggered by certain foods such as milk, fatty foods, etc. Pain is usually mild to moderate. These pains cause discomfort but do not affect the overall condition of the baby. The location of the pain is usually in the epigastrium or around the navel. Young children who do not yet know how to speak often manifest themselves by crying and sometimes refusing to eat.
- Anorexia: The child eats little or refuses to eat. Each feeding or feeding usually lasts longer than usual.
- Fullness: Feeling full when eating a smaller amount of food than the age, making the child not want to continue eating.
.jpg)
- Abdominal distention: The baby's abdomen is more stretched than usual, especially in the epigastrium. When tapping on the abdominal wall, the echo is heard. Symptoms of flatulence and bloating are caused by slow movement of food in the digestive tract.
- Burps: Babies often burps because there is a lot of gas in the stomach. This is because the baby swallows too much air when eating or when feeding. Children are often irritable, twisting, and blushing. Older children and adults have epigastric discomfort. In these patients, belching is pleasant.
- Nausea and vomiting: Children feel nauseous while eating or shortly after eating. Vomiting is usually whole or undigested food. If the child vomits blood, green or yellow fluid, it is necessary to take the child to the doctor to rule out serious diseases such as stomach bleeding, acute pancreatitis, appendicitis, intestinal obstruction.
- Diarrhea: Diarrhea is when a child has 3 or more loose stools in a day. Acute diarrhea usually clears up after 5-7 days. Some children have persistent diarrhea. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration and death. These cases require medical examination at medical facilities.