Parents often supplement their babies' nutrition out of fear of getting sick. The most common way is to supplement calcium, because calcium deficiency can cause many diseases, such as infantile rickets. This is also known as osteomalacia, and the early symptoms are mainly mental symptoms, manifested as excessive sweating, crying, lack of sleep, and easy startle, making it difficult to detect in a timely manner. So, can infantile rickets be cured?
What is infantile rickets
Rickets, commonly known as calcium deficiency, is more common in infancy. Its main cause is a lack of vitamin D in the body, which is a bone matrix calcification disorder that can cause metabolic disorders of calcium and phosphorus in the body, leading to poor bone calcification. Insufficient exposure to ultraviolet radiation, inadequate or disproportionate calcium and phosphorus content in food, rapid growth and development, insufficient demand for vitamin D, chronic respiratory infections, chronic diarrhea, and chronic diseases such as liver and kidney diseases that affect calcium and phosphorus absorption are also causes of rickets in infants and young children.
Due to the slow onset of rickets, it is generally difficult to detect in a timely manner and not easily taken seriously. The main characteristic of rickets is the growth of long bone epiphyseal cartilage plates and incomplete calcification of bone tissue. Insufficient vitamin D leads to incomplete calcification of mature bone. Rickets is not contagious, but if infants and young children suffer from rickets, their immune system will be weakened, and they are prone to complications such as pneumonia and diarrhea, which can affect their growth and development. Therefore, the importance of actively preventing and treating rickets is particularly prominent.
Rickets in infants and young children can be cured
Children suffer from vitamin D deficiency rickets, mainly due to a lack of vitamin D in the body, which prevents calcium and phosphorus from properly depositing in bone growth sites, resulting in insufficient bone calcification. So if you suffer from rickets, don't worry. You should take timely measures, actively cooperate with treatment, and there is still a chance for recovery.
Treatment methods for infantile rickets
1. Active rickets: Active treatment should be given based on clinical manifestations, with the aim of controlling disease activity and preventing deformities.
(1) Mild rickets during active period: Vitamin D 20-30 million IU, once orally or intramuscularly, with an interval of one month, can be given 1-2 times, and calcium supplements can be given 0.5-1 gram each time, 2-3 times a day, for 1-2 months.
(2) Moderate to severe rickets during the active period: Vitamin D 20-30 million IU, once orally or intramuscularly, with an interval of one month, can be given 2-3 times, and calcium supplements should be given 0.5-1 gram each time, 2-3 times a day, for 2-3 consecutive months.
2. Rickets in the recovery period: For infants and young children with rickets in the recovery period, vitamin D is generally not needed. They can spend more time in the sun and improve their nutrition. But in winter and spring seasons, to prevent recurrence, vitamin D can be administered at a dosage of 30-300000 IU orally or intramuscularly. The above-mentioned vitamin D treatment dose can maintain its effect for 2-3 months, so there is no need to give a maintenance dose orally to prevent vitamin D poisoning. Just expose yourself to more sunlight.
