Diathesis in an infant: photos, symptoms and treatment

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Although diathesis in infants is not a disease, it is still heard by all young mothers who are faced with this feature. In fact, diathesis will not be found as a disease in any dictionary or reference book of childhood diseases. It is and is not, in fact. Then it is logical to assume that it does not need to be treated at all, and it is best to simply ignore it. However, not everything is so simple: if diathesis is not a disease and they are not hospitalized with it in hospitals, this does not mean at all that the complications after this condition are not terrible for the baby. Consider what is dangerous diathesis, what types are, and how to get rid of it.

The term "diathesis"

It is interesting that the very concept of diathesis of an infant during feeding or later does not exist in special terminology, as a pathology caused by bacterial flora, protozoan viruses or parasites. Although such casesknown. When, due to the ingress of pathogenic bacteria, a certain tendency to diseases develops and then affects the physique of the baby. Rather, it is an endogenous pathology, where the organism of the child and his mother plays a decisive role. It is important how the pregnancy went, whether there were any complications, how difficult the birth was, and in what environment the baby developed. The definition of diathesis may sound something like this:

"Diathesis is the tendency of the body to certain diseases, depending on the constitution of the child's body and care for him." It seems that it is rather complicated, but we will analyze it in order. Due to the influence of some conditions during pregnancy and after childbirth, there is a predisposition of the immune response to the simplest stimulus. This is akin to allergies, but just allergic reactions can be caused by one of the types of diathesis. Even the weakest virus, immune cells will attack especially severely, causing constant bronchitis and sore throats.

Feature or disease?

Answering the above question, we can say that diathesis in infants can be called a feature of the body to a greater extent. Since there are no people absolutely corresponding to certain types of constitution, it is clear that somewhere there are deviations from the given norms. This forms the individual appearance of each person.

That is, every person has such anomalies of the constitution, and if the child belongs to the asthenic type (thin tall people), then it is not at all necessary to have an elongated or long skull. Same with other types.physique. A girl can be tall and prone to obesity, or small and thin, although this is not spelled out in dogma.

The root cause of mothers' anxiety

Before you figure out how to get rid of diathesis in an infant and symptoms, you need to understand how you can avoid its appearance, and therefore, know the causes of its occurrence. Problems can be divided into two huge groups:

• Genetic base.
• Environment.

The first can be attributed to everything that the baby got from his father or mother. These are toxicosis during pregnancy, the abuse of allergen foods during breastfeeding, and even malnutrition of the mother or newborn in the first weeks of life. On the father's side - genetic diseases in the family, transmitted from parents to children (predisposition to diabetes).

The environment can have a strong influence, namely: dust, gas pollution, medication or pet hair cause an excessive immune response. Before birth, an endogenous factor in diathesis in infants can be mother's illnesses, her stresses, experiences. Often lactose intolerance in a child develops due to excessive consumption of animal milk by the mother during the last trimester of the disease.

Diversity of species

Due to the fact that even foreign doctors - from Europe or the East - do not recognize diathesis in infants as some kind of pathology, the classification of species is typical only for the countries of the former Soviet Union. And despite the fact thatthere are dozens of varieties of diathesis in infants, yet three of the most common with more severe symptoms can be distinguished:

1. Exudative-catarrhal. Such an anomaly suggests that the baby is prone to allergic reactions even to products that are not considered to be allergens. This type is also characterized by the frequency of inflammatory diseases - when any virus causes fever and cough in a child, and each wound rots, leaving scars. It is also called atopic or allergic diathesis.
2. Lymphatic-hypoplastic. The tendency to dysfunction of the lymph nodes and the endocrine system is characteristic of this variety in all its glory: enlargement, poor functioning of not only the lymph nodes, but the glands leads to certain features of the constitution, as well as the frequency of diseases associated with the above organs.
3. Nervous-arthritic. In the future, such children may suffer from atherosclerosis, various inflammations of the joints, such as rheumatoid arthritis or polyarthritis. Diabetes mellitus is also common and, although not necessarily, may predispose to obesity.

A photo of an infant's diathesis shows exactly how this reaction of the body looks like, since it is quite difficult to explain it in words.

Exudative catarrhal diathesis

This is a feature of the constitution, where the main symptom is allergy. Moreover, if in other types this can be seen from the general condition of the child, then here diathesis in an infant is visible on the face. Often there is redness of the cheeks when usedmilk, contact with a certain tissue or other factor - there may be thousands of them. A more specific reaction occurs - gneiss, strophulus or peeling of the skin at the border of the scalp and face. If such signs are ignored, then skin eczema, neurodermatitis, and not just hives may develop.

Bronchial asthma can often develop due to exudative catarrhal diathesis in an infant. The photo (although moms quickly recognize this pathology) depicts a pale child who cannot breathe out. This is a rather terrible complication, because you need to quickly figure out what kind of help you need to provide to the child. Since he cannot say where and what hurts him, the mother can determine shortness of breath by the sound, and understand that an attack has begun by the color of the skin. In the future, each respiratory disease will be complicated by attacks of shortness of breath, which end in the release of transparent glassy sputum.

Treatment involves going to an allergist, pediatrician, pulmonologist, as well as the introduction of complementary foods a little later than the appointed time. It is worth introducing vegetable cereals, not dairy or fruit.

Lymphatic-hypoplastic diathesis

Similarly, this species also has characteristic features. Often children are apathetic, prefer quiet games to active ones, and when they learn to walk, they do it later than their peers. Lymphatic-hypoplastic diathesis in infants has common causes, and is not as rare as in children in the early 2000s. If the mother during the lasttrimester of pregnancy even had mild forms of respiratory diseases, there is a great danger that this form of diathesis will be in the child.

Such babies are shown treatment or removal of the tonsils, as well as observation due to frequent sore throats and hypertrophies. Recurrence of tonsillitis, especially those caused by beta-hemolytic streptococcus, can lead to pyelonephritis, rheumatism and the occurrence of heart defects. In addition to the latter, congenital heart defects, aorta can occur; less often - hernias.

For the purpose of treatment, vitamin therapy is often prescribed with special attention to groups C, E and B. Stimulants of biological origin - apilac, eleutherococcus, magnolia vine - can have a beneficial effect on organs that are "sluggish" working. Doctors prescribe glucocorticoids to stop the lack of hormones in small doses and only in special cases, such as infections or surgery.

Nervous-arthritic diathesis

Nervous-arthritic diathesis in infants has causes similar to the previous types of constitutional anomalies, but is manifested by several syndromes:

• Neurasthenic. It is observed in the majority and begins at an early age: fearfulness, nightmares, inexplicable panic and sleep disturbances. But against the background of everything else, the central nervous system is developing rapidly, and the child learns to speak, read, count and think better than his peers. The "bonus" is an excellent memory, both visual and auditory, and in addition - curiosity, which helps to learn.
• Metabolic. Occurs at two years of ageand is manifested by urination disorders at night and pain in small joints. An interesting feature is acetonemic cider: continuous vomiting accompanied by convulsions. It occurs against the backdrop of strong experiences bordering on stress.
• Spastic. It is expressed by the appearance of spasms of the bronchi, blood vessels and intestines. After such spasms, severe headaches and bowel dysfunctions (constipation, flatulence, colic) occur.
• Dermatitis Syndrome. Accompanied by a rash like hives, which is very itchy. Asthmatic breathing, coughing, obsessive sneezing will also be an allergic manifestation.

An extraordinary way of treatment

When all the methods are tested by parents, the question already becomes of how to anoint diathesis in an infant - if only it disappears. There are enough drugs, but they do not always give the expected effect. How then to get rid of diathesis of infants? treatment with folk remedies has been practiced for a long time, and this method has indeed been repeatedly tested by time.

Strange but simple recipe used by many moms. They give the baby egg flour on the tip of a spoon, which he then drinks with dill water. After a month of such treatment, it must be replaced by lubricating the affected areas with tar with suet. This will soften and moisturize the skin and ensure faster healing. For older children, diet therapy can be prescribed: delicious rice and buckwheat porridge will fill in the missing elements inthe body of a girl or boy. Olive oil as a seasoning would be appropriate, because butter is heavier and not all types of diathesis require its use. But the dishes do not need to be s alted: s alt will be deposited, and this will negatively affect the urinary system. Drink give half an hour after eating.

Diathesis in an infant. Photo and treatment

The most important component of treatment is the establishment of a balanced diet. Diathesis in infants can be treated not through medication, but through the normalization of nutrition. Breast milk has all the trace elements necessary for the baby to develop properly. At the same time, if the mother herself is on a diet, then breast milk will not contain allergens. The trend of recent years is to feed the child "on demand" - when he asks.

If the area gets wet, it would be logical to use baths with a decoction of oak bark, which will dry the damaged skin. Do not neglect creams that contain zinc. Such an ointment is Desitin. Antihistamines help to suppress active immune agents, removing allergies. To help them, sorbents can be prescribed. They will absorb unnecessary substances in the body and bring them out.

How to protect your baby?

Summing up, we can say that although diathesis in infants is not a disease, it can still have very serious complications that can be avoided. Actually, the diathesis itselfYou may not even know if you do the right thing. Among the most effective methods are:

1. If a food allergy occurs, figure out what exactly caused it, and then avoid eating it by the child. In addition, as beautiful as bright red apples may seem, they have absorbed pesticides more than ugly fruits. This can further irritate the immune system.
2. Introduce complementary foods to a child not at 6 months, as required by the calendar, but at 7 or 8. A child's body develops very quickly, and these two months of rest can be a real salvation for him, from an unknown new search.
3. Contact dermatitis minimizes attention to powders. If they are based on biosystems, then the tissue becomes stiff after them, and the microelements themselves act very roughly on the baby's skin.
4. After buying a new thing, be sure to wash it. It is worth buying not synthetic products, but natural fabrics, to which there will be less allergies. But here again it is worth looking at the reaction of the child's skin.
5. Often, hyperallergenic paint on clothes or toys is destroyed by heat treatment. Therefore, boiling can be a real lifesaver.

Thus, diathesis is not a reason for panic, but a completely normal reaction of the child's body, which can be very easily avoided.