Real spoilage causes constipation in babies and young children

Constipation is not too strange for many parents. However, if you learn about the causes of constipation in babies and young children, you will get a lot of information. It is important to find out carefully to determine what is the exact cause and to have the right solution.

Constipation is a very common condition in children under 1 year of age. When seeing their children constipated, most parents are confused, worried, and do not know what to do. This confusion leads parents to easily believe the "rumors" surrounding the causes of constipation, such as hot breastmilk or formula that babies drink with many hot nutrients.

As a result, many parents keep listening to these rumors and implementing very wrong solutions such as not breastfeeding or changing formula, causing constipation not only to not improve but also to affect the problem. affect your baby's development. Let aFamilyToday Health review the following shares to better understand constipation and what is the real cause of this condition.

Constipation in children - A parent's "daily" worry

Constipation is a condition in which a child has difficulty with bowel movements, takes a long time to flush the stool, and the interval between bowel movements is longer than usual. Constipation not only makes children uncomfortable, but also makes the process of food metabolism in the digestive system slow, waste accumulates in the large intestine for a long time, easily leading to problems such as anal fissures, hemorrhoids ... Constipation in infants is generally divided into 2 categories:

1. Entity constipation

This type of constipation is caused by physical causes such as damage to the structure or function of the digestive tract. This type of constipation will be overcome by treating physical diseases:

Hyperthyroidism reduces intestinal muscle activity

Congenital enlarged colon, in which the large intestine lacks lymphocytes (a type of nerve cell) that prevent the large intestine from receiving signals from the brain to function properly.

Diabetes

Diseases related to the nervous system such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, spinal problems.

2. Constipation function

Constipation is not caused by any physical damage or physiological impact. According to statistics, functional constipation accounts for 95% of constipation cases in young children. The main reason is that the child's digestive system is incomplete, the mode of living is not reasonable or it can also be related to psychological factors and some other neurological manifestations. Functional constipation can be found in all subjects, but it is most common in infants and young children, especially those between the ages of 2 and 6.

Specifically, according to experts, functional constipation can form due to the following reasons:

Allergy

Children often refrain from defecating

Lack of nutrients in the diet

Neurological responses include stress, prolonged stress

Formula fed babies with ingredients that cause constipation.

Formula milk is not the cause of constipation, but why is it always "exposed" first?

With formula-fed babies, when their children are constipated, many parents immediately think that the "culprit" may be the formula. But the deeper cause sometimes comes from other reasons such as the immature digestive system of the child gradually adapting to the formula, the way to prepare and preserve the mixed milk  as well as the composition of the milk.

In the first years of life, a child's digestive system is still incomplete and vulnerable. When babies drink formula milk, there is a high risk of constipation because the sensitive digestive system and immaturity cannot absorb the protein in formula. In this case, the mother should give the baby more time to adapt to the new source of nutrients.

In addition, the mother's formula-making habit can also be the cause of constipation in children. If the mother mixes too thick, the high solids content in the milk mixture makes the process of dissolving and absorbing nutrients of the baby difficult. The undigested food will accumulate, causing the stool to have a thick texture and constipation in children.

Many parents think that formula is the "culprit" of constipation, but do not know exactly what scientific cause. Usually, children with constipation are caused by ingestion of a formula containing palm oil, which contains very high levels of palmitic acid. The infant's immature digestive system is not able to break down these molecular bonds for absorption, so when it enters the intestine, palmitic acid combines with calcium to form an insoluble calcium compound. These calcium-containing compounds will make a child's stools harder and make them more prone to constipation.

Potential harmful effects of palm oil in infant milk

Palm oil is a vegetable oil extracted from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Due to its low cost and flexibility, this oil "covers" more than 50% of products present in life, from foods such as french fries, fried chicken to cosmetic goods. Essentials like shampoos, lipsticks. In particular, palm oil is also an ingredient commonly used in formula products.

Palm oil can have many negative effects on the health of children, one of the most worrying effects is constipation. Constipation will reduce the ability of the child to absorb fat and energy and affect the microflora of the intestinal tract. Meanwhile, the intestinal tract has a great influence on the immune system and brain. Therefore, the consumption of palm oil also indirectly affects the immunity and brain development of children .

In addition, oil from palm oil also affects the growth of the baby. The composition of palm oil in infant formula has been shown to inhibit the natural increase in bone mineral mass and density in infants. According to the research results, in comparison, infants who are fed formula without palm oil will have higher bone mineral content than those who drink formula containing this ingredient.

More dangerously, palm oil formula products often also contain glycerol esters (a substance that is formed when palm oil and some other vegetable oils are processed or refined). Recent studies by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have shown that glycidol (the parent compound of glycerol esters) can be both genotoxic and carcinogenic.

Before concluding that the "culprit" that causes constipation for your baby is formula milk, parents should understand the causes of their child's constipation. In addition, when choosing a formula for your baby, you should also carefully consider the ingredients, especially the vegetable oil to avoid buying palm oil containing products that affect the child's development. The first two years of life are the first stage of life for brain development, you need to choose a nutritious milk for your baby to develop optimally and of course, when choosing, you need to carefully read the ingredients to avoid choosing. Dairy products contain palm oil.

Most people who first become parents look at their child's poop are surprised. The reason is because it has so many nuances and is inconsistent, even experienced people don't understand what's going on. To know how good a newborn stool is, please refer to the article: How is a  newborn stool?