Lactose deficiency in infants is a rather serious and even dangerous problem. After all, such a violation is associated with the inability of the body to absorb dairy products, including mother's milk. Therefore, each parent should be aware of the main symptoms of this condition, because the sooner treatment is started, the greater the chance of a successful recovery.
What is the danger of lactose deficiency in infants?
To begin with, it is worth noting that milk (including breast milk) contains sugar called lactose. It covers almost 40% of the energy costs of the child’s body. The process of digestion of this carbohydrate occurs with the participation of the enzyme - lactase. Lactose deficiency in infants is accompanied precisely by a deficiency of this enzyme, which makes the normal assimilation of such a product impossible. However, lactose is directly involved in the development of the brain and the formation of the retina. That is why a shortage of such a substance leads to unpredictable and often sad consequences.
Lactose deficiency in infants and their forms
To date, it is customary to distinguish between two main forms of such a violation:
- Primary, or congenital, insufficiency is most often associated with genetic characteristics and is hereditary. The same form is often found among premature babies.
- Secondary lactase deficiency develops already after birth amid diseases of the digestive system, including some intestinal infections.
Lactose deficiency: symptoms of the disease
The main symptom of the disease is diarrhea - bowel movement occurs 10 - 12 (sometimes more) once a day. In this case, feces are liquid, foamy, green in color with an acidic smell. During the illness, digestion processes in the digestive tract intensify, as a result of which an excess amount of gases accumulates in the intestine. Thus, the child constantly suffers from bloating and abdominal pain, often refuses to eat, pulls his legs to his stomach, constantly cries, sleeps poorly. Often you can notice abundant regurgitation, up to vomiting. In the absence of treatment, the baby slowly gains weight, and in the most severe cases, developmental lag is also observed.
Lactose deficiency in infants and diagnostic methods
Today, there are many ways to check the work of the child's body:
- First of all, an analysis of feces on the level of carbohydrates;
- in addition, check the pH of feces - in case of insufficiency, this indicator changes;
- in some cases, the doctor prescribes diet diagnostics - the child is prescribed a lactose-free diet, and the state is monitored;
- the most accurate diagnostic method is a biopsy of the intestinal mucosa followed by examination of the samples for lactase activity.
The child has lactose deficiency: what to do?
In fact, the treatment here is individual and depends on the reasons for the development of insufficiency and the age of the child. For example, quite often, special artificial mixtures with a low or zero lactose content are introduced into a child’s diet. If the baby is breastfed, then you need to feed him only with expressed milk, after dissolving in it a tablet or powder containing the enzyme lactase.