Multiple gastro-intestinal disorders

Multiple gastro-intestinal disorders

For each infant trouble or a combination of troubles,
Novalac offers an adapted nutritional solution.

Regurgitations, colic, constipation are all frequent functional gastro-intestinal disorders (FGIDs) in infants but one do not prevent from the other.

Multiple-GID

Many infants present with a combination of several FGIDs with a reported prevalence in the literature ranging from 4.2% to 78% 1–4.

In a multicenter cross sectional study conducted in Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands, the reported prevalence, according to Rome IV criteria, of at least one FGID in infants aged 0-12 months (n=1,698) was 24.7% and 4.2% with more than one FGID 4.

In a French observational study involving 2,757 infants aged 0-6 months, 78% of them were diagnosed with multiple FGIDs, among them 63% presented with two FGIDs and 15% with three or more FGIDs 2. In this study, regurgitation was the most frequent symptom seen in infants presenting one FGID (63.8%) and was often associated with other symptoms such as constipation, colic and/or gas, in infants presenting multiple FGIDs 2.

Moreover, infant colic was the most frequently diagnosed concomitant symptom occurring in association with other FGIDs (78.6%), the association of gas/bloating and colic being the most common 2.

Parental reassurance and nutritional management are the first-line strategies for most infants with FGIDs 5,6. Nutritional advice given to parents will depend on the type of FGID the child is suffering from where special formulas may be considered 5.

  1. Bellaiche, M. et al. A large‐scale study to describe the prevalence, characteristics and management of functional gastrointestinal disorders in African infants. Acta Paediatr. Oslo Nor. 1992 109, 2366–2373 (2020).
  2. Bellaiche, M., Oozeer, R., Gerardi-Temporel, G., Faure, C. & Vandenplas, Y. Multiple functional gastrointestinal disorders are frequent in formula-fed infants and decrease their quality of life. Acta Paediatr. Oslo Nor. 1992 107, 1276–1282 (2018).
  3. Beser, O. F. et al. The frequency of and factors affecting functional gastrointestinal disorders in infants that presented to tertiary care hospitals. Eur. J. Pediatr. 180, 2443–2452 (2021).
  4. Steutel, N. et al. Prevalence of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in European Infants and Toddlers. J. Pediatr. 221, 107–114 (2020).
  5. Salvatore, S. et al. Review shows that parental reassurance and nutritional advice help to optimise the management of functional gastrointestinal disorders in infants. Acta Paediatr. Oslo Nor. 1992 (2018).
  6. Vandenplas, Y., Hauser, B. & Salvatore, S. Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Infancy: Impact on the Health of the Infant and Family. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. Nutr. 22, 207–216 (2019).