Pediatric malnutrition is a chronic consumptive disease caused by long-term inadequate food intake, multiple births, twins, and premature infants not paying attention to scientific feeding. The disease is characterized by weight gain that is not increasing or is decreasing, with subcutaneous fat gradually disappearing, generally in the order of the abdomen, chest and back, waist, upper and lower limbs, and cheeks. In severe cases, there is muscle atrophy, delayed development of motor function, low intelligence, poor immunity, and susceptibility to indigestion and various infections. Pediatric malnutrition falls within the category of "gan accumulation" in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This disease is often caused by improper diet, improper feeding of milk and food, damage to the spleen and stomach, loss of transportation function, insufficient nutrition, qi and blood essence cannot nourish the viscera, or the patient's deficiency of healthy qi, abdominal sensation of pathogenic evil, and prolonged illness, damage to the spleen and stomach, etc.
Milky food stagnation type: The child is irritable and restless, has difficulty sleeping at night, poor appetite, abdominal bloating with a thin physique, abdominal pain, teeth grinding, sparse hair, hot palms and soles, diarrhea with foul odor, and turbid urine; the tongue coating is thick and greasy, and the pulse is slippery and rapid.
Spleen deficiency and loss of nourishment type: The child has a dull and yellow complexion, a thin physique, sparse hair, aversion to food, a bloated abdomen with visible veins, undigested grains in the stool, and urine like rice washings; the tongue is pale, the coating is greasy, and the pulse is moist.
Qi and blood deficiency type: The child appears listless, with the eyes exposed during sleep, has a poor appetite, constipation or diarrhea with undigested food, a pale complexion, thinness, cold limbs, weak crying, and dry lips; the tongue is pale red, with little coating, and the pulse is deep and thin.
It is recommended to perform moxibustion once a day, targeting 2 to 3 acupoints each time, with each acupoint being treated for 30 to 40 minutes. Rotate the points treated, with a 10-day period constituting one course of treatment, and then rest for 2 to 3 days before continuing with the next course. (If time permits and there is a need, more acupoints can be treated with moxibustion. The specific duration should be adjusted according to one's own physical needs.)
1. Infants and young children should be fed with breast milk, not weaned too early, and complementary foods should be gradually added, adhering to the principle of starting with thin then thick, vegetarian then meat, and small amounts then more. 2. Take children outdoors regularly for activities, expose them to sunlight, and breathe fresh air to strengthen their physique. 3. Food therapy recipe: Digestion-Enhancing Spleen-Fortifying Porridge. Lotus seeds, Euryale ferox seeds, and stir-fried lentil each 15 grams, roasted hawthorn 10 grams, and Shenn Qu (wrapped in cheesecloth) 10 grams, all put together in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water and simmer for 30 minutes, strain, then add 30 grams of polished glutinous rice, cook into porridge, and take warm. It has the effect of strengthening the spleen and stomach, aiding digestion and eliminating accumulation, used for symptoms in children such as a sallow complexion, thin physique, irritability, restlessness, hot palms and soles, poor appetite, and abdominal bloating.