Diathesis in newborns and infants

Many parents experience diathesis in an infant. And in order to be able to help your baby cope with this uncomfortable state, you should understand why diathesis appears, how to treat it and whether it can be prevented.

Diathesis is called such individual features of the baby, because of which the child becomes more susceptible to a number of diseases. The most common tendency of children to allergic reactions, however, there are other types of diathesis.

In an infant, diathesis is manifested by rashes, which, as a rule, itch very much and cause discomfort to the baby. Diathesis rash is wet (it is represented by bubbles with liquid, weeping areas of the skin), dry (the skin is very peeling) or a combination.

Rashes in the face can be represented by a point rash, as well as patches of redness with peeling. Usually, the child's cheeks turn red in limited areas, and the blush often has clear boundaries. In this case, the epidermis on the reddened areas is thickened, on top of the skin is covered with small scales and rough to the touch. Some babies have crusts or bubbles on their cheeks.

Buttocks of the baby can be covered with red spots as well as a small-aelucus rash, which causes severe itching. If the child combs the affected area, it will cause eczema.

In addition to various options of rash diathesis may occur:

• Diaper rash;
• Oily scales on the scalp;
• Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract - loss of appetite, frequent regurgitation, nausea, instability of the chair, pain in the abdomen;
• Irritation and inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose, throat, eyes or bladder;
• Bad baby sleep and restless behavior of the crumbs.

Among all types of diathesis, occurring in infants, the most common:

• Exudative-catarrhal. It is the most common variant of diathesis, which is manifested by skin lesions. Its development is associated with the impact on the body of the infant of different types of allergens.
• Neuro-arthritic. Its main cause is heredity. The baby has an increased risk of obesity, inflammation of the joints, nervous system excitability, and diabetes.
• Lymphatic-hypoplastic. A frequent factor in its appearance is the infection transferred by the future mother and the ingestion of a large amount of drugs. Manifestations of such diathesis in infants will be allergies and frequent infectious diseases. In this case, the baby noted problems with lymph nodes and the thymus gland.

The occurrence of diathesis due to:

1. Genetic addiction of the child. Baby inherits it from their parents.
2. The impact on the crumbs of environmental factors. Here, the effects on the infant during pregnancy, as well as the living conditions of the baby after delivery, are distinguished.

The probability of diathesis in an infant increases, if:

• His parents in childhood were manifestations of diathesis.
• In the period of gestation, the future mother used large quantities of allergenic products.
• The future mom has chronic pathologies or she had some kind of infection during pregnancy.
• Pregnant women were prescribed serious drugs.
• Pregnancy proceeded with severe toxicosis.
• Baby little breastfed.
• Parents actively use household chemicals, or on the contrary, rarely clean the room.
• We bought new furniture in the apartment or just made repairs.
• Animals live in the house.
• Relatives of the baby too often use air fragrances, perfumes and deodorants.
• Child buy substandard toys.
• The child is constantly overfed.
• Mom gives the baby a large number of drugs.
• The child spends little time outdoors.
• Baby too early began to offer food.

The degree of their manifestation and many other nuances also influence the treatment of manifestations of diathesis, therefore it is important that the specialist prescribes the therapy. It can include both medications and folk recipes, as well as the correction of the diet and conditions of the baby.

About what diathesis is, why this word is used only in our country and how to treat allergic diathesis, see Dr. Komarovsky’s program.

Children with diathesis can be assigned:

• Sorbents. Such drugs safely accelerate the elimination of allergens from the body of the baby. Among the effective sorbents enterosgel is very popular.
• Antihistamine facilities. Baby is prescribed zyrtec, suprastin, claritin, tavegil and other drugs of this group. Some of them have a sedative effect.
• Immunomodulatory drugs. Such medications affect the immune system of the crumbs and have their own contraindications, so they should be discharged only by a doctor.
• Probiotics. They are indicated if, simultaneously with a skin rash in a child, manifestations of dysbiosis are noted.

You can also use for local processing:

• Lotions with furatsillinom. Dissolve 1 / 4-1 / 2 tablets in a glass of water, hold lotions until the rash turns white.
• Lubrication with neutral oil or cream from a series of children's cosmetics.
• Lotions with soda. Pour a teaspoon of soda into a glass of cool boiled water. Do not rub the skin of the baby, but simply apply the lotion to the sites of inflammation.

Popularly popular such recipes against the manifestations of diathesis:

• Lubricate the rash paste, which consists of taken in the same amount of fat sour cream, zinc ointment, egg protein and medical tar. It is recommended to treat the skin of the infant with such a remedy twice or thrice a day. Cooking pasta is better every day - from fresh ingredients.
• Give the baby broth, prepared from bay leaves (per liter of water 10 leaves) and rosehip (chop a teaspoon of fruit). After boiling the bay leaves in the water for three minutes, add the wild rose, turn it off and leave to stand overnight. Strained broth, let's take a tablespoon of baby daily three times over several months.
• Make lotions on areas of rash and peeling, using black tea for them.

Bathing in the water, which added herbs, accelerates the healing of skin manifestations of diathesis. The duration of the water treatment should be 10 minutes.

Bathe the child most often advised with the addition of a decoction of the train. Pour in dry grass, taken in the amount of three tablespoons, 500 ml of boiling water, and after 30 minutes strain and pour into the baby bath. In the same way you can make a bath with sage, chamomile flowers, valerian root, nettle leaves, as well as a mixture of these plants.

A diet with the exception of allergen products is prescribed to both a nursing mother and a baby who is already familiar with complementary foods. From the diet should be removed sweets, honey, caviar, chocolate, eggs, seafood and other foods that can become an allergen.

All products are baked, boiled or steamed. Vegetables and cereals before cooking soaked in cool water for 10 hours. Meat need to boil for 20 minutes, then drain the water and prepare the dish further. When buying products, you should carefully study their composition and avoid harmful substances.

How quickly the child’s condition improves depends on various factors, such as the duration of the allergen exposure to the baby, the severity of diathesis manifestations, and the characteristics of the prescribed crumbs of treatment. Someone rash passes in a few days, and some babies skin cleansing occurs at least two weeks.

If the baby has diathesis, it is recommended:

• Often change the underwear, as well as baby bedding.
• Wear karapuz in clothes made of natural fabrics with a minimum of dyes.
• For washing all baby clothes use neutral products.
• Wash washed clothes from all sides.
• After each bowel movement and every urination, clean the skin of the crumbs.
• Daily bath. In this case, the mother should not take a bath together with the tot.
• For baby skin care, purchase cosmetics designed for children with sensitive skin.
• Cut baby's nails regularly.
• Try to minimize allergens such as dust, animal dander, aerosols.

To prevent the occurrence of diathesis is possible with the help of preventive measures that should be applied from the beginning of pregnancy and during the first year of life of the baby:

• In anticipation of the little ones, the future mother is not recommended to abuse allergenic products, for example, eggs, nuts, fish, citrus, berries, milk, chocolate and others. The same restrictions are appropriate for a nursing mother.
• Support breast-feeding. Let breast milk be the only food for an infant up to 6 months of age. If you have to transfer the baby to the mixture, you should carefully choose a food that is not allergic.
• Watch out for household factors that can cause allergies - synthetic clothing, household chemicals, low-quality toys, frequent self-treatment, excess dust, and the child’s interaction with the pet.
• It is also important to adhere to the diet, not overfeeding the baby. Introduction of complementary foods must be organized properly, starting to give hypoallergenic products.It is important not to rush and not to give the baby several new dishes at once, but to closely monitor all the reactions of the crumbs to the novelty in the menu.

For more information about diathesis, see the transfer of Dr. Komarovsky.