What symptoms does potassium deficiency cause in children?

When children are deficient in potassium, parents should certainly pay attention to it and supplement their children with potassium scientifically. When children are deficient in potassium, they are prone to general weakness, fatigue, weakened heartbeat, or nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other problems. If children are deficient in potassium, parents should pay attention to supplementing them with potassium correctly and give their babies more bananas, strawberries, citrus, yams, edamame and other foods.

1. Symptoms of potassium deficiency in babies

1. When the body lacks potassium, the baby will suffer from general weakness, fatigue, weakened heartbeat, dizziness and severe potassium deficiency can also cause paralysis of the baby's respiratory muscles and death.

2. Low potassium will slow down the baby's gastrointestinal motility, leading to intestinal paralysis, aggravating anorexia, and causing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and abdominal distension.

3. Tachycardia and irregular heartbeat, muscle weakness, numbness, irritability, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, mental confusion, and psychological apathy.

2. Why do babies lack potassium?

Reason 1: Long-term fasting or insufficient food intake, or insufficient potassium supplementation in fluid replacement leads to potassium deficiency.

Reason 2: Vomiting, continuous gastrointestinal decompression, and small intestinal fistula cause potassium loss through extrarenal pathways, leading to potassium deficiency.

Reason 3 - Excessive excretion of potassium from the kidneys. For example, the use of diuretics such as furosemide and uric acid, potassium loss due to renal tubular disease, and excessive mineralocorticoids can cause continued potassium loss when blood potassium is not high, leading to potassium deficiency.

Reason 4 - Metabolic acidosis. Treatment with glucose and insulin or cellular water and nutrient intake can cause potassium to enter the cells from the extracellular fluid, leading to potassium deficiency.

3. What to do if your baby is deficient in potassium

The key to preventing and treating low potassium is potassium supplementation. Oral administration of 10% potassium chloride solution can be used clinically, but the safest and most effective method is to eat more potassium-rich foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Fruits rich in potassium include bananas, strawberries, citrus, grapes, grapefruit, watermelon, etc. Vegetables such as spinach, yam, edamame, amaranth, and onion are also rich in potassium. Soybeans, mung beans, broad beans, kelp, seaweed, yellow croaker, chicken, milk, cornmeal, etc. also contain a certain amount of potassium. Various fruit juices, especially orange juice, are also rich in potassium and can replenish water and energy. It is determined that tea contains 1.1% to 2.3% potassium, so it is the best cooling drink in summer.