Anemia in a 9-Month Old

[Knitting Mama]

Just got back from my 9 month old's well-baby visit, and they checked her hemoglobin. She is anemic. I don't know what normal hemoglobin levels are for 9 month old babies, but hers is a 9.8 on the meter used by the pediatrician (someone told me 12 is normal?). She said that Cece is "a little anemic."

1. Cecilia hardly likes to eat. I mean she's game to try anything I give her, but she barely eat appreciable amounts.

2. She gets donor milk, so there's no way to check the iron that the moms had. I could take an iron supplement, but she barely gets anything from me anymore. She's been on donor milk basically all her life.

Suggestions? I am fine with giving her lentils, egg yolks, meat, etc, but like I said above, she barely eats enough of anything to notice a change in poop, so I know she's not ingesting much. I guess I might have to give her an iron supplement.

[Buzzer Beater]

   I'm sorry you are dealing with this Aimee. I don't know what I'd do if I had to get something down Georgia in the way of food- it just wouldn't happen. I just wanted to give you hugs and hopefully somebody has some good advice.

Sara

[Oliver's Mama]

sorry to hear that

ds2 is 9 months and doesn't really eat much either- except cheerios; he will eat those like nobody's business, and I'm guilty to say I give them at every meal because it's so easy and he'll do it himself. Anyways, cheerios are packed with iron. I hear the multigrain ones are more than the regular.

ds2 was going to be checked for anemia at his appointment too, but after prodding in both arms for what seemed like an eternity, dh and I both snapped at the nurse and said we'll try some other time. OUCH! It was a new nurse who wasn't used to kids, but geez.

[Hannah32]

Would she chew on meaty bones? Some babies really like them. Also, you could try spoon feeding her. You don't have to force feed her or anything, but she may be more receptive to taking food off a spoon than embracing the process of getting the items to her mouth on her own.

[Knitting Mama]

Yeah, she has been really against being spoon fed in the past. I had planned on going the BLW anyway, but she made that choice easier for me because she never wanted me to spoon feed her. However, I got her to eat some of my soup that way just before she went down for nap, so I think one of the things I am going to do is make a batch of beef, bean and lentil stew with tomatoes and see if I can get her to eat some every day. I read that vitamin C makes iron absorb more easily, so I will try to find ways to get them both together for her. I just hope it's enough.

[dejagerw]

Are your daughter's results based on a prick or blood draw? I've read that the prick test is very inaccurate and the blood draw is much more accurate.  Also be sure to give her foods rich in vitamin C with foods that contain iron.  It helps it absorb better.

[Knitting Mama]

It was a prick test. I have also heard about the vitamin C as I mentioned in the previous post, thank you.

[Buzzer Beater]

 Aimee, did you decide what you will do?

I'm curious why you tested her iron, also... is that routine?

[Knitting Mama]

Yes, it is routine; my pediatrician's office does it at 9 months. Others, I have heard, do it at a year.

So far, I have decided to try to get her to eat as much iron-rich food as I can throughout the day. Yesterday she actually allowed me to spoon feed her, which is no mean feat, and she ate a bunch of vegetable beef soup, which was made with tomatoes. So that's iron and vitamin C. I also made some bean and lentil soup and will give her that. I didn't want to do grains before a year, but I am going to relent and do whole grain oatmeal since oats are iron rich too.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 
 I didn't want to do grains before a year, but I am going to relent and do whole grain oatmeal since oats are iron rich too.

the heme iron is better absorbed if i remember correctly, so avoiding grains if that is important to you (i remember your reasoning) and giving meat instead should still increase iron.