How does your childs digestive system work?

How does your child's digestive system work?

Getting to know your child's digestive system is essential to establish a good Peristeen® Plus routine and the special care needed.

Your childs digestive system

Besides learning to understand your child’s medical condition, it is good to know what happens to your child’s food intake.

The digestive system, or gut, is a complex system that starts at the mouth, where food is broken down and ends at the anus, where waste exits. When food is swallowed, it passes through a long narrow tube (oesophagus) into the stomach. Along the way, the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, gall bladder, large intestine (colon) and rectum work together to process food and turn it into the nutrients that every cell in your child’s body needs to work properly.

When the food arrives in the stomach, digestive juices help to break it down before it is passed into the small intestine. Nutrients needed by your child are absorbed from the food in the small intestine. This is why the small intestine is important. Later, your child’s digested food passes into the large intestine (colon), where water is absorbed, and stool begins to form. The further stool travels down the small intestine, the more water is absorbed and the thicker it will become. The stool is stored in the rectum, where it leaves the body through the anus.

Oesophagus:
an organ through which food pass into the stomach, aided by peristaltic contractions.
Liver
produces bile that neutralizes the acidic content from the stomach and helps digest fats and store some important vitamins.
Stomach
muscular, sac-like organ located in the upper part of the abdomen - between the oesophagus and the small intestine. In the stomach, the food and liquid is mixed with digestive juices, before emptied into the small intestine.
Colon (large intestine):
the large intestine absorbs water and changes the remaining stool from liquid into a more firm consistency. Peristalsis - a series of wave-like muscle contractions - help the stool to move further into the rectum.
Ileum (small intestine)
the small bowel is about 4-6 m long and 3 cm wide. It mixes food with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine, and push the mixture forward for further digestion in the large intestine. The walls of the small intestine absorb water and digested nutrients into the bloodstream.
Rectum
the lower end of the large intestine, which stores stool until it is pushed out of the anus during a bowel movement.
Anus
The external opening of the rectum. The primary function of the anus is to control the exit of feces from the body, which is managed by two muscular sphincters.

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