Anemia in children, proper selection of products, diet

Baby Diet for Children Under One Year

To cure iron deficiency anemia, you should approach the problem comprehensively:

• balanced nutrition containing a sufficient amount of iron-containing foods;
• eliminating the causes of iron deficiency in the child's blood;
• prescribing iron-containing drugs and eliminating the accompanying symptoms of anemia.

So, let's pay attention to the first point of eliminating anemia - a balanced diet. To prevent iron deficiency in a baby in the first months of his life, breast milk as a complete food will perfectly saturate the child and fill his body with iron, and in an easily digestible form. Later, when introducing complementary foods, the absorption of iron from other products improves due to the primary feeding with breast milk.

The need to replenish iron reserves is especially noted in premature, sick or underweight babies.

Complementary foods for anemia should be adjusted - it is preferable to give the child millet, barley, buckwheat in the form of porridge, and practically refuse rice or semolina.

Children's diet after one year of life

Since the meat of animals, poultry or fish contain a special form of iron (heme), such products have better digestibility. They should be given to the baby in the amount of 80-100 g daily.

If we consider iron from vegetables and fruits, it is absorbed minimally, about 3% of the total amount found in the products consumed. It is better to combine vegetables or fruits with meat (fish) dishes.

Meat and fish dishes, poultry, seafood, products with a high content of vitamin C improve the absorption of iron. The same applies to some foods made from yeast dough, since it reduces the amount of phytin, which prevents the absorption of iron.

However, there are a number of products that hinder the absorption of iron. These include phytin and its derivatives (cereals, white flour dishes, nuts, seeds), tea and coffee, combination with calcium, especially when drinking milk.

Dietary nutrition for the treatment of anemia

The main goal in creating a diet for children suffering from anemia is to provide young patients with iron, qualitatively combining products containing it.

You should adhere to several general rules for building a diet:

• achieve effective absorption of iron from a certain set of products;
• achieve a balanced intake of heme and non-heme forms of iron, taking into account its content in the products consumed by the child;
• restore the balance of substances that impede the absorption and assimilation of iron from food;
• restore the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in food;
• select the necessary consumption calories.

The standard therapeutic diet for children prescribed by a pediatrician is diet No. 11, but for a baby it is necessary to prescribe its version with a higher protein content. However, with a very low level of hemoglobin in the blood, iron preparations are additionally prescribed.

Sometimes anemia occurs even in healthy babies with good nutrition. This happens due to the reluctance to eat meat products. Naturally, the benefits of fresh vegetables and fruits are great, but they do not contain enough iron, although they improve its absorption. Therefore, the baby should be fed meat and fish dishes daily.

In a full-term healthy newborn baby, when fetal or fetal hemoglobin breaks down, a reserve of iron is created, the amount of which will be enough for the first six months. Breastfeeding also replenishes it. Then there is a loss of iron, which must be compensated for with complementary foods.

If the baby is premature or underweight, born to a woman with anemia, it has a limited supply of iron, due to which anemia can occur in the first months of life, so they are sometimes additionally given iron-containing drugs and vitamin E, which prevents excessive destruction of red blood cells.

Children who are bottle-fed are more prone to anemia, despite the fact that manufacturers saturate the mixtures with additional iron. But due to competition with calcium or milk protein, it is absorbed worse. Excess iron in the mixture can also provoke anemia.

Since babies are given porridge from processed grains, feeding milk and semolina porridge should be reduced to 1 serving per day. It is useful for older children to eat bread made from wholemeal flour and whole grain cereals.

Children under one year of age who are fed animal milk, especially instead of a special formula, are especially susceptible to anemia. These types of milk do not contain iron, and what children could get from other products, it removes from the body.

Necessary products and dishes from them for childhood anemia

Firstly, no more than 300-400 ml of milk or dairy products should be given per day to children over one year of age. At the same time, chicken or quail eggs, various dishes from meat, poultry and fish are useful: goulash, jellied meat, pancakes, casseroles. Derivative products such as sausages and hot dogs are not considered useful.

Secondly, meat should be combined with vegetables - various greens, spinach. At the same time, heat treatment does not cause harm, iron is preserved in products.

However, you should not overdo it with the amount of iron in the child's body - excess iron compounds are deposited in organs and tissues, which can lead to hemochromatosis. It is necessary to maintain a balance in everything.

Vitamins C, E and B12, as well as folic acid, obtained from cereals and meat products, play an important role in hematopoiesis.

To prevent anemia, it is important for a child to have a properly balanced diet, which involves the use of animal products and excludes vegetarianism, weight loss diets and fasting.