Very often during pregnancy, we can hear from their mothers and grandmothers: "Eat more fruits and vegetables, or else the baby will be rickety." And they are in some ways right, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition during pregnancy at times increases the risk of signs of rickets in newborns.
Rickets is a disease caused by a lack of vitamins and trace elements in the body, for the most part vitamin D, calcium and phosphorus salts.
How is rickets diagnosed?
This disease usually affects only children up to a year, because at that time their growth rates are most intense, and a very small deviation of the balance of microelements can disable the organism. The first signs of rickets in premature babies appear already in the first month of life, and in babies born on time, for 3-4 months.
Symptoms of rickets in children
If you notice some of these signs from your child, you need to seek advice from a specialist as soon as possible and take action if necessary. So, let's list the signs:
increased nervousness of the baby (he constantly cries, restlessly behaves);- weak sleep;
- loss of appetite;
- fearfulness;
- intense sweating (especially sweating head);
- baldness of the occiput (this is due to the fact that the sweaty head itches, and the child, trying to cope with it, rubs it and the surface with all his might);
- diarrhea or constipation;
- frequent colds, possibly with severe complications;
- urine, like sweat, acquires a very sharp unpleasant odor.
But the signs by which doctors can diagnose this disease:
- large, flattened "froggy" abdomen;
- rachiocampsis;
- enlarged liver and spleen;
- the fringes on the head become soft;
- because of the softening of the bones of the skull, deformation of the head (flat occiput) may appear;
- sometimes there are deformities of the chest;
- there is a curvature of the legs in the form of the letter "O" or "X" (in the advanced stage);
- there is a decrease in muscle tone and joint looseness;
- progression of anemia.
How is rickets determined in a newborn baby?
If the size of the large fontanel is more than 3x3 cm, and the small and lateral ones are completely open or the seams of the skull bones open, doctors diagnose congenital rickets. This is confirmed or refuted by additional tests. For example, a blood test can show a low level of calcium and phosphorus. And ultrasound reveals a reduced mineralization of bones.
Classification of rickets
This disease is classified according to several signs. For example, in terms of severity. There are three degrees: mild (initial stage), moderate (at this stage, pathological changes occur in the bone system and internal organs) and severe. The latter is characterized by a serious lesion of the internal organs, several departments of the bone and nervous systems. A child in neglected form of rickets usually has external signs of illness, such as bending the legs and spine or deforming the head.
Rickets are also subdivided with the flow. It happens acute, subacute and recurrent (recurring). By the way, it happens, and very often, that rickets pass in a latent form. Sometimes his parents do not even notice him. But after a while it still makes itself felt. Let's say a kid turned a year old, he started to stand on the legs, and they began to bend under the load. This example is nothing more than echoes of a transferred disease.
To prevent pregnancy rickets, you need to eat right, go to the sun and eat vitamin D. And in the end I would like to wish you and your children good health.