Lactose deficiency in infants: symptoms and treatment

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 12:45

It's no secret that the best food for a newborn is breast milk. After all, this is a unique product that contains all the vitamins and minerals necessary for a small body. But sometimes the baby's body is not able to absorb mother's milk in full. In this case, they say that there is a lactose deficiency. In a baby, every mother should know the symptoms of this disease, since this is a rather serious pathological deviation.

Lactose is a milk sugar that is not absorbed by itself in the intestines. First, the body must break it down into galactose and glucose with the help of a special enzyme - lactase. If this enzyme is not produced in sufficient quantities, lactose absorption is impaired.

Lactose deficiency in infants: symptoms

You can identify the disease by the following main features:

• Foamy liquid green stools with a pungent odor. There may be white lumps in the stool. The number of bowel movements can reach 10-12 times a day.
• Because ofincreased fermentation and gas formation in the stomach, there is an increase in the intensity of intestinal colic.
• Increased frequency and quantity of regurgitation, vomiting.
• In severe cases, poor weight gain and developmental delays are diagnosed.

If there are signs of lactose deficiency in infants, it is necessary to see a doctor as soon as possible. With the help of special tests, the doctor will confirm or refute the diagnosis, if necessary, prescribe the appropriate treatment. Required tests include: examination of feces for the detection of carbohydrates, as well as determination of gas concentration, pH of feces, lactase activity.

Varieties of lactose deficiency

Depending on the origin, the primary and secondary forms of the disease are distinguished. Primary lactose deficiency can be congenital, transient, genetically determined. The secondary form of insufficiency appears due to intestinal infections, allergies and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

There is also the phenomenon of lactose overload. This problem occurs when a breastfeeding mother produces large amounts of milk, as a result, the baby eats more "forward" milk, saturated with lactose.

Lactose deficiency in infants: treatment

It should be understood that the treatment of this pathology is individual in each case. The baby should be treated only when the final diagnosis is made. If only one or two signs of the disease are detected, then, of course, it is necessary to take tests. Treatment of such a pathology as lactose deficiency in infants, the symptoms of which are clinically confirmed, must begin with the replacement of the mixture if the baby is artificially fed. If the child is breastfed, then the mother will be prescribed special medications that help break down lactose. The recommended dose of the drug is dissolved in previously expressed milk and fed to the child. In addition, mothers are encouraged to express lactose-rich fore milk before breastfeeding.

If lactose deficiency is primary, then, unfortunately, the body will never be able to absorb lactose. In the future, this will lead to a complete rejection of dairy products. If the symptoms of a secondary form of lactose deficiency are confirmed, then the digestion of lactose will improve in the baby when he reaches the age of one and a half years.

If there is a suspicion that lactose deficiency is present in an infant, the symptoms must be confirmed by a specialist, and only then can steps be taken to eliminate this condition.