Poor Digestion
The root of all childhood illness
In TCM Paediatrics, it is believed that children are not simply miniature adults. Rather children are immature physically and functionally according to Chinese Medicine, and most of the common paediatric complaints are due to this immaturity.
Because of this weakness of children's bodies and organic function, it is said, “Children are easily susceptible to disease which transmit and change rapidly. In particular, Chinese Medicine holds that children are particularly susceptible to diseases associated with the three main viscera, the lungs, the spleen, and the liver. The Zhong Yi Er Ke Xue (The study of Chinese Medicine Paediatrics) says, “ Children's exterior defensive function is not secure, therefore, external evils easily enter the exterior and assail the lungs.”
This explains why children so often have upper respiratory tract complaints such as colds, coughs, allergies, and asthma.
The same book says, “Children’s transportation and transformation function (i.e., digestion or what is referred to as the spleen in Chinese Medicine) is not fortified and complete; therefore they are easily damaged by food.”
This explains why children so commonly suffer from colic, vomiting, diarrhoea, indigestion, eczema, earache, asthma, swollen glands and stomachache. There is also a close relationship between the spleen or digestion and the lungs, and even many upper respiratory tract complaints either begin or are aggravated by faulty digestion in turn due to improper diet.
In Chinese medicine, phlegm is nothing more than congealed dampness resulting from incompletely digested food and drink. The spleen or digestion is the source of phlegm production. How ever, phlegm, once it is produced, tends to accumulate in the lungs. If the lungs gather phlegm then it gets obstructed, resulting in respiratory problems such as cough, flu, runny nose and asthma. Phlegm can then be sent to other parts of the body where it can cause glue ear, earache, eczema and other illnesses. So poor digestion plays a part in all childhood illness.
When it comes to diet, babies and children should not be fed things like fruit juices, especially chilled, raw vegetables, too much cheese or peanut butter. Children and babies should not be given too much bread. All of these give rise to phlegm and harms the digestion. Children should not be given sweets and ice cream. Sweets damage the spleen and engender dampness, while ice cream is not only too sweet (the sugar); it is also too dampening (the eggs and cream), and too injurious to the spleen (the freezing cold)
When parents bring a sick toddler into my clinic, whether it is for a cold, tonsillitis, cough, eczema or earache, my first question is whether or not they went to a birthday party right before they got ill. 4 out of 5 times the answer will be yes. What do children eat at parties? Sugar and cold drinks etc! This is also why the weeks from Christmas to Easter are the busiest time of the year for paediatric complaints. So by watching the diet and not giving children foods that are too cold, too sweet, raw and chilled (room temp OK), too greasy, too much bread, peanut butter etc, they should stay healthy.