Lactose-free blend: who, why?

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

Lactase deficiency is a rare disease, the main symptoms of which are increased gas production, insufficient weight gain in the child, frothy stools, refusal of the breast, and abdominal pain. Every woman understands that mother's milk is the perfect food for her baby. However, if your baby has been diagnosed with the above diagnosis, there are only two options: either the use of enzyme therapy while maintaining breastfeeding, or a lactose-free mixture, because the cause of the disease is the absence in the intestines of the child of the enzymes necessary to break down the sugar of milk - lactose.

Distinguish between congenital and acquired lactase deficiency. In the second case, the cause is an inflammatory process or an intestinal infection that occurs with complications. A partial decrease in the production of enzymes is called hypolactasia. In this case, the doctor recommends using adapted low-lactose mixtures. As you recover, the low-lactose mixture is replaced with the usual adapted one. If a relapse occurs, and the production of enzymes in the intestine again sharply decreases, then a lactose-free mixture is introduced. It is therapeutic and in no case should be prescribed by parents.on one's own. Even in the case of lactase deficiency, the pediatrician prescribes a strictly individual diet for a particular child, because lactose plays an important role in the development of the baby's body.

What's the difference between lactose-free formula and regular formula?

Mother's milk - this is the benchmark that manufacturers of adapted formulas are trying to get closer to. The vast majority of them are made on the basis of the milk of farm animals - cows or goats. It lowers the content of casein, s alts and proteins. Along with this, milk is enriched with vitamins, minerals and trace elements necessary for a person, that is, they are adapted. Lactose-free and low-lactose mixtures, in turn, should not contain cow's milk - it is completely replaced by soy. Minerals and vitamins are also added.

How is lactose-free formula administered?

The main rule of the transition is its gradualness, because a sharp decrease in lactose in the baby's daily diet is fraught with constipation. The pediatrician and parents should definitely monitor the presence of allergies, stools, weight gain and the general well-being of the baby.

Which mixture to choose? What does the Russian market offer us?

Undoubtedly, the choice of adapted mixtures is much wider than the range of lactose-free and low-lactose mixtures. However, the largest manufacturers did not disregard babies with such a problem and released their own food options for children of different ages. The most famous mixtures are "NAN" and"Nutrilon" - are available in lactose-free and low-lactose versions too. Also on the market there are such mixtures from other, less well-known manufacturers: Mamex, Nutrilak, Friso. Infant formula "NAN" is produced by the company "Nestlé", "Nutrilon" - by the Dutch company "Nutricia". All lactose-free formulas can be purchased at almost any pharmacy or supermarket, as well as in children's specialized stores.