The baby stretched his legs straight and exerted all his strength

If the baby stretches his legs and exerts his whole body, it may be due to calcium deficiency. We know that the baby is at a critical period of growth and development, the baby's metabolism is very fast, and the child's demand for calcium is also relatively large. If the child lacks calcium, he will often have poor sleep, sweat excessively, and be prone to symptoms such as teeth grinding and irritability. At this time, calcium should be supplemented in time and eat more foods that help supplement calcium.

Symptoms of calcium deficiency in babies

When a baby is calcium deficient, he or she is prone to symptoms such as poor sleep, excessive sweating, bald spots on the back of the head, and late teething, but these symptoms are not specific, and you cannot simply say that the baby is calcium deficient based on any one of them.

1. Restless, often crying for unknown reasons, having trouble falling asleep, and easily waking up even after falling asleep;

2. Sweating a lot, even if the weather is not very hot, it is easy to sweat;

3. The hair is yellow and sparse, with a hair loss ring on the occipital area and often on the back of the head;

4. Teething occurs later than children of the same age;

5. Delayed closure of fontanelle and muscle weakness;

6. The child has a dull look, few expressions, and his movements and language lag behind those of children of the same stage;

7. The forehead is high and protruding, forming a square head. Or there are often beaded ribs, where the cartilage of each rib prospers and is connected like beads, often compressing the lungs, making it difficult for the baby to breathe and prone to bronchitis and pneumonia. Severe calcium deficiency can lead to bone mineralization disorders and clinical manifestations of rickets.

What to do if your baby is calcium deficient

When your baby is calcium deficient, on the one hand, you need to find out the cause of the deficiency and take effective intervention measures. On the other hand, the first choice for calcium supplementation for babies is food. Only when they cannot get enough calcium from food should calcium supplements be used in moderation, and vitamin D should also be supplemented at the same time.

1. Make good use of dairy products in cooking: replacing flour with low-fat milk powder, and replacing water with milk are changes that chefs can make. Cooked milk can also alleviate the discomfort of people who are allergic to lactose.

2. Make more use of acetic acid: When cooking bone soup, you can add some vinegar or lemon to accelerate the excretion of calcium.

3. Eat more small fish and seaweed: Eat the whole anchovies, golden hook shrimps, striped fish, dried fish, or sardines in canned fish; they are full of nutrients and calcium.

4. Eating snacks can also supplement calcium: replace potato chips with almonds or dried fish, and replace chocolate or cola with konjac, sesame seaweed or pistachios. Eating snacks can also supplement calcium.

5. Don’t forget vitamin D: Calcium needs vitamin D to be absorbed by the small intestine and transported to the bones through the blood. A more practical way for babies to supplement vitamin D is to get more sun exposure. The best food sources of vitamin D are fatty fish, such as eel and salmon, followed by egg yolks and milk. In terms of fruits and vegetables, it is shiitake mushrooms. Before cooking shiitake mushrooms, you can expose them to the sun for 1-2 hours to produce a lot of vitamin D. You can then add them to different dishes to help calcium absorption.