As the weather gets hotter, drinking some cold drinks and eating some icy fruits has become our easiest happiness.
These delicacies, children are also greedy! However, it is difficult for many parents to eat iced food for their children:
Will eating ice freeze the child’s intestines and stomach?
Is it easy to have diarrhea if you eat ice?
Do you want to soak in hot water before giving it to your child?
……
The truth is: don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with it.
It’s warm in my stomach
Some people worry that the icy water flowing to the stomach will irritate the gastrointestinal tract and cause harm to the child’s body.
First of all, as a warm-blooded animal, we have a unique body temperature regulation center-hypothalamus.
Due to a short-term drop in body temperature due to external reasons, the body temperature regulation center will regain the balance of body temperature by reducing heat dissipation and increasing heat production.
Our body temperature and internal organ temperature will not change greatly due to a few mouthfuls of iced yogurt and iced fruit.
Secondly, ice water enters the body, passes through the mouth, throat, esophagus, then enters our stomach, and then our small intestine.
After a series of “heating”, when the food reaches the stomach and intestines, the temperature is already comparable to our body temperature.
I believe everyone has the experience of eating ice cream and popsicles.
The solid ice cream enters the mouth and melts into liquid due to heat absorption, and finally flows into the stomach and intestines. It has already become a sweet “warm current”.
Not to mention yogurt and fruit.
Children one year old or older can drink whole milk, such as refrigerated fresh milk.
As long as it is clean and hygienic food, water, or milk, it can be eaten or drunk directly by the child, regardless of whether it is winter or summer.
Temperature is not a big problem
Hygiene is the key
Some parents said, no, the child had a diarrhea after drinking cold yogurt before!
In fact, whether children are more prone to diarrhea and illness has nothing to do with eating cold water and food.
The most fundamental cause of gastrointestinal symptoms or vomiting and diarrhea is the invasion of pathogens.
According to the interpretation of the authoritative medical information query system “Clinical Consultant” (UpToDate), the main causes of acute infectious diarrhea include viral, bacterial and protozoal infections, among which:
Viruses mainly include norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, astrovirus, etc.; bacteria mainly include Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc.; protozoa mainly include Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
The inherent knowledge of “eating cold food” is not included in the factors that cause infectious diarrhea.
Therefore, temperature is not the cause of diarrhea, but hygiene is the key.
Whether it is ice water, ice fruit, or ice yogurt milk, as long as it is clean, it can be eaten directly by children, and there is no contraindication.
No problem eating ice
But there are 2 things to pay attention to
Since the temperature of food is not obviously related to health problems, whether to eat iced food or not, it is good to fully respect the children’s wishes.
If the child is not happy, he just doesn’t like to eat ice, and there is no need to force it.
After all, the best way to raise a child is to make a comfortable choice for you and your child.
However, there are two things to pay attention to when giving children ice.
1. Beware of possible functional gastrointestinal diseases
If your child does have diarrhea, abdominal pain and other symptoms after drinking clean ice water and eating clean frozen food, consider the possibility that the child has functional gastrointestinal disease.
Functional gastrointestinal disease is a large type of abnormal brain-gut axis disease, or because the gastrointestinal tract is too sensitive and the brain processes signals from the gastrointestinal tract abnormally, some normal perceptions are amplified into pain and other discomfort.
The familiar irritable bowel syndrome is a kind of functional gastrointestinal disease, which has the characteristics of abdominal pain first, and stool changes after abdominal pain.
This is not a “disease” in the ordinary sense. It is not that what we eat makes us sick and uncomfortable, but that the child’s gastrointestinal tract is more sensitive, and it may be necessary to observe and avoid diets that induce reactions.
If your child has abdominal pain or bloating for about 15 minutes after drinking ice water almost every time, accompanied by diarrhea and constipation, it is best to avoid ice water and other foods.
But if there are many diets that can induce symptoms, simply avoiding them is not the solution. It is necessary to seek medical treatment with the help of a doctor and intervene in the causes of hypersensitivity, such as psychosocial factors and intestinal microecological changes.
2. Pay attention to control the amount of intake
Although frozen food itself will not cause health problems for children, it does not mean that there is no restriction on the sugar intake of children:
You can eat iced water, iced fruit, iced yogurt, and iced milk; iced beverages, ice cream, and iced juices should be eaten less.
The calories and sugar of food will not decrease due to the decrease in temperature.
Of course, the amount of frozen food intake must also be controlled. Anything too much will cause discomfort, and the same is true for iced food.
Finally, I want to say:
If your child’s body and you can accept cold food, let the child also enjoy the exclusive benefits of this summer~
After all, summer without ice water, ice watermelon, or ice yogurt is incomplete~
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