Symptoms and treatment of dysbiosis in infants

If a child’s ratio of beneficial and harmful bacteria in the digestive tract is disturbed, this condition is called dysbacteriosis. Why can it develop in an infant baby, how is it manifested and should it be treated?

The following causes can lead to dysbiosis in infants:

• Birth injury.
• Prematurity
• Congenital diseases of the digestive tract, as well as acute pathologies of the digestive system organs.
• Antibiotic treatment for a long time (longer than 5-7 days).
• Adverse environmental conditions.
• Stress effects.
• Early transfer to the mix.
• Helminth infestation.
• Introduction of complementary foods before the recommended dates.

When dysbacteriosis in infants note:

• Regurgitation
• Attacks of vomiting.
• Insufficient weight gain.
• Smell from the mouth.
• Anxiety after feeding.
• Disturbed sleep
• Skin rashes.
• Liquefied frothy stools with a sour or putrid odor. Such a chair is often abundant, and its consistency is kashitsepodobnoy. In the fecal masses may be green or white lumps.

The composition of microflora in the intestines of an infant can be affected by the following factors:

1. Early start of artificial or mixed feeding.
2. Dyspepsia.
3. SARS.
4. Anemia, hypotrophy, rickets.
5. Infectious or somatic diseases.

In the baby in the womb, the intestine is free of bacteria. But already during the passage through the birth canal of the mother and at the first feedings, the first microorganisms get into the digestive tract of the little ones. If the mother is healthy, the child is attached to the breast immediately after birth and is breastfed, then the intestine is colonized by the correct bacteria - they are more than 90% represented by bifidobacteria, lactobacilli and E. coli.

These microorganisms must be in the intestines of the baby. They have many important functions for the health of the infant, including the synthesis of vitamins and amino acids, the effect on the immune system, the stimulation of food movement through the intestines, and the help in the absorption of nutrients.

In addition to the useful flora in the intestines of the infant, bacteria are presented in small quantities, which are called opportunistic. They can cause illness if their number increases significantly.

Clinical symptoms, on the basis of which a stool test is prescribed, are capable of bringing parents and doctors to the idea of ​​dysbacteriosis. Baby stools are checked with coprograms, and then sent for biochemical, and then for bacteriological analysis. About stool tests for dysbacteriosis read another article.

Based on the manifestations of dysbacteriosis and the tests done, the doctor will recommend the appropriate treatment.It rarely includes antibiotics, and more often is based on probiotics containing live bacteria normal intestinal microflora. To eliminate the pathological flora present in the intestine, the child is often prescribed bacteriophages. Also conduct symptomatic therapy, for example, prescribe enzymes.

Among the unsafe effects of dysbacteriosis for infants include polyhypovitaminosis, as well as reduced immunity. Impaired absorption of nutrients in the intestine can lead to serious problems with the health of the baby, and reduced protection of the baby against various infectious agents leads to frequent inflammatory and viral diseases.

ABOUT prevention of dysbiosis in infants read another article.