Chinese infant admitted to ICU for toxicity after being fed vegetable juice formula

A three-month-old infant in China suffering from poisoning had to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) after his parents fed him with baby milk formula prepared with vegetable juice.The baby boy was rushed to Zhongshan Women and Children’s Hospital in southern Guangdong province when his body turned purple, his mouth turned purplish-blue and he was short of breath, Zonglan News reported.His parents said the symptoms appeared shortly after the baby consumed milk.A bottle of green smoothie and the ingredients needed to make it, above. The baby’s parents thought the juice would be nutritious. Photo: ShutterstockThey added that they had prepared the formula milk with vegetable juice, instead of water, because they thought the vegetable juice was more nutritious than pure water.Doctors at the hospital diagnosed that the infant had been poisoned with nitrite.After receiving medical treatment for two days, the baby was discharged from the hospital in mid-June, the report said.According to doctors, when vegetables are boiled for a long time, the resultant juice contains large amounts of nitrites. If parents use this juice to prepare milk, the baby will suffer.A mother feeds her newborn baby with milk from a bottle at home. Photo: ShutterstockBecause a three-month-old baby’s digestive system and kidneys are not fully developed, they are unable to cope with high levels of nitrates.Once nitrites enter the bloodstream, they blunt its oxygen-carrying capacity, say the doctors.That is the reason why the baby’s mouth, skin and fingernail turned purple.Doctors told parents to mix formula powder with warm water only. They should avoid using vegetable juice, rice water, fruit juice and other soup to replace water.Further ReadingCao Qi, a paediatrician at Nanning No 1 People’s Hospital in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, reminded parents to remember the symptoms of nitrite toxicity and send the baby to hospital as soon as possible.“Delaying for some minutes will possibly put the baby’s life at risk,” Cao said on social media.A newborn baby is tended to by a nurse in a hospital paediatric intensive care unit. Photo: Getty Images“I hope parents do not follow a trend or their own subjective judgment when raising a baby. Natural foods are not necessarily suitable for young babies,” he said.News involving families who adopt unusual ways of feeding young babies often captivate social media in China.Last year, a baby of only 52 days old was admitted to hospital in central China’s Henan province for being poisoned with allantiasisbacillus, a bacterium that causes botulism.His grandmother revealed that she had added honey to the baby’s water.