Rickets in children

The disease is common in children under 3 years old, mainly due to lack of sunlight, excessive abstinence and a diet poor in calcium and phosphorus...

Rickets in children is caused by a lack of vitamin D in the body, which affects the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorus.

The disease is common in children under 3 years old, mainly due to lack of sunlight, excessive abstinence and a diet poor in calcium and phosphorus; children who are not breastfed are more susceptible to rickets than breastfed children.

Rickets will cause the skeleton to become deformed. Illustration photo

Signs that children have rickets

- Children often cry, have trouble sleeping, are easily startled, and sweat a lot while sleeping.

- Hair loss appears at the back of the neck in a ring shape.

- Bone manifestations: wide fontanel, soft fontanel edges, slow fontanel closure, parietal hump, frontal hump (high forehead), flat catfish head.

- Severe cases of rickets with sequelae: rib beads, chicken breast, ankle and wrist rings, X-shaped and O-shaped legs.

- Slow teeth growth, weak muscle tone, constipation.

- Slow motor development: slow to roll over, crawl, walk, stand...

- In case of acute rickets: children may have convulsions due to hypocalcemia.

Children at risk of rickets

- Premature babies, twins.

- Children fed cow's milk.

- The baby is so chubby.

- Children born in winter.

Distinguishing between rickets and stunting

Stunted children: malnourished children, whose weight and height measurements are lower than normal children, may or may not be accompanied by rickets.

Rickets: can occur in even very chubby children, due to the need for calcium and phosphorus being higher than normal children.

What to do when children have rickets?

- Let your child sunbathe every day: expose the child's legs, arms, back, and stomach for 10-15 minutes in the morning (before 9am). In winter, when there is no sunlight, let your child take an electric bath at the physical therapy department of the hospital.

Under the skin there is pre-vitamin D, 7 dehydrocholesterol. Under the effect of ultraviolet rays from sunlight, the pre-vitamin will be activated and converted into vitamin D.

Vitamin D regulates the metabolism and absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Sunlight must be directly exposed to the skin to be effective. If it passes through a layer of fabric, it will have very little effect.

- Give children 4000 IU of vitamin D per day for 4 - 8 weeks. In case of pneumonia or diarrhea, increase the dose to 5,000 - 10,000 IU per day for 1 month, or give children 200,000 IU of vitamin D per day, repeat the injection every 3 months in the first year.

- Give children additional calcium supplements such as: calcium B1 - B2 - B6: 1 - 2 tubes/day, older children can eat calcium granules 1 - 2 teaspoons/day.

- Breastfeed your baby; supplement foods containing lots of calcium: milk, crab, shrimp, fish in daily meals (need to eliminate the notion that feeding children bone marrow, chicken leg bones will prevent rickets); add oil to your baby's daily meals: because vitamin D is oil-soluble, if the diet lacks oil, even if you give your baby vitamin D, he or she will not be able to absorb it and will still have rickets.

Preventing rickets in children

- When pregnant, mothers must work and rest properly to avoid premature birth. They can take vitamin D when the pregnancy is 7 months: 600,000 IU/3 weeks, 200,000 IU per week.

- After giving birth, both mother and child should not stay in a dark and closed room. The room should be airy and well-lit.

- 2 weeks after birth, let your baby sunbathe for 15 - 20 minutes/day in the morning (before 9 am).

- Give your baby 400 IU of vitamin D per day during the first year, especially in winter.

- When children eat supplements: feed them foods rich in calcium such as: milk, eggs, shrimp, crab, fish, green vegetables and fat.

According to Health and Life