Lactase deficiency in children is the inability of the body to digest milk sugar (lactose), due to the deficiency of the enzyme lactase in the small intestine.
Forms of lactase deficiency
Lactase insufficiency happens:
- primary or congenital - lactase is not produced at all (it is very rare);
- transient - occurs in premature babies and gradually as the intestines mature, passes;
- secondary lactase deficiency - occurs very often against the background of intestinal infections, dysbiosis, malnutrition of the child or improper attachment to the baby's chest, when he does not get a back fatty milk, and only sucks the front of carbohydrate-rich milk.
Important lactase deficiency has in the first months of life, when the child eats only the mother's milk. After two years, the production of lactase gradually decreases and the adult person is practically not produced.
Symptoms of lactase deficiency in children
Signs of deficiency of lactase in a child are as follows:
- liquid, frequent (more than 10 times a day), foamy stool with slices of mucus and undigested milk with a sour smell;
- if the child has constipation, at first the lumps come out, and then the foamy water;
- frequent and profuse regurgitation;
- pronounced rumbling and colic in the abdomen;
- the child is not gaining weight or gaining altogether.
It is worth noting that only these signs of lactase deficiency in a child can not be reliable.
How to get rid of lactase deficiency?
Nutrition of the child with lactase deficiency becomes proper and the treatment of this condition. It should be remembered that the decision on the complete transfer of the baby from Mama's breast milk to the lactose-free mixture is taken only by the doctor. Most often, the replacement occurs in part, since breast milk already contains lactase and the child's state smoothly returns to normal. With dysbiosis, probiotics are additionally used.