How to supplement the baby's severe zinc deficiency?

My baby is eight months old now and has always been breastfed, but as complementary foods were added, I found that he didn’t particularly like them. After going to the hospital to check for trace elements, it turned out that the baby was severely zinc deficient. How can we supplement the zinc deficiency of babies? Let's take a closer look! Babies with zinc deficiency will have symptoms of physical discomfort, but young babies cannot speak, but it can be observed from their behavior, which requires parents to carefully observe their children's actions. Of course, zinc deficiency will also delay the growth of children. For young babies, this can be analyzed from the weight gain of the child each month.

How to supplement the baby's severe zinc deficiency?

In fact, food supplementation is the best way to supplement zinc for babies, and it is most in line with human metabolism.

If zinc deficiency is not serious (symptoms are not obvious) or to prevent zinc deficiency, dietary supplements can generally be used.

For dietary supplements, you can eat foods rich in zinc, such as raw oysters, herring, dried shrimp, seaweed, fish meal, sesame seeds, peanuts, pork liver, etc.

Infants rely on breast milk for zinc supplementation

Breastfeed your baby for at least 3 months, and then gradually switch to cow's milk or other milk substitutes. The absorption rate of zinc in breast milk is high, reaching 62%. In particular, colostrum is high in zinc, with an average concentration 4-7 times that of serum zinc.

Add zinc-rich food after weaning

Such as beef, mutton, lean pork, animal liver, peanuts, soybeans, carrots, oysters, etc. According to measurements, the zinc content in animal foods is higher than that in plant foods, and the amino acids produced after the decomposition of animal protein can promote the absorption of zinc, with the absorption rate generally being around 50%; while the zinc contained in plant foods can combine with plant acid and cellulose to form water-insoluble compounds, thereby hindering human absorption, with an absorption rate of only around 20%. Bottle-fed babies should start adding easily absorbed zinc-rich complementary foods from 4 months old: minced lean meat, egg yolks, fish paste, animal liver, oysters, peanut rice flour, walnut kernel powder, etc.

Children's zinc supplementation depends on a balanced diet

Children over 5 years old can get enough zinc from food. Therefore, children should be educated from an early age to develop good habits of not being picky or partial eaters, and should pay attention to a reasonable and balanced diet structure, and a mixture of coarse and fine grains. In this way, children generally will not be zinc deficient. In daily life, you should also be careful not to let your children eat too much white sugar and sweets, so as not to affect the absorption of zinc. Zinc drugs should never be regarded as universal "nutritional supplements" and used for a long time.

The above content is about how to supplement babies with severe zinc deficiency. If the babies are still breastfeeding, the mothers need to eat more zinc-supplementing foods, such as beans, peanuts, walnuts, etc. However, babies who can eat food can add some zinc-supplementing foods to their usual diet. Such food supplements are healthy, safe and reliable, so it is recommended.