my dd will be a year in a few weeks. she just had a well-baby visit, and they poked her finger and took a little blood to test for lead and so on. her iron is very low, and i'm worried because she's a tiny baby. she's so small she's not even on the curve.
i'm really concerned. she's been eating solids for several months now, but her primary source of nutrition is still my breastmilk. i had a horrible time breastfeeding when she was new because she was a preemie and kept in the hospital for 3 weeks, and i just couldn't let down to a pump. i had a very low milk supply at first and we had to supplement with the special preemie-formula to get her out of the hospital. even the lactation consultant told me it was ok to give up, but i stuck with it, and she has had almost exclusively breastmilk since she came home till about 7 or 8 months. after going through all that, i'm now worried there may be something wrong with my milk. maybe i'm not getting enough iron. i've had a tendency towards anemia, even as a teen when i was eating red meat regularly. we're lacto-ovo vegetarian and i'm afraid i'll be told she'll have to eat meat, or i will.
i've been trying to make sure she's eating naturally iron-rich foods, because the doctor cautoned me about it when she started solids. she really loves spinach. she gets organic infant cereal, and i've been buying the multi-grain because it's more iron-rich than the plain brown rice. she likes tofu, and we've been adding blackstrap molasses, nutritional yeast and kelp in tiny quantities to her food. she likes egg yolk and whole-grain pasta. we've been giving her prune juice in a cup, with a little rosehip tea or orange-carrot juice for vitamin C to improve iron absorption.
the nurse practioner i spoke with suggested i try to find natural infant vitamin drops with iron. i'm concerned about non-food-based iron supplements because fortified formula caused a real problem for ds when he was a baby, and iron supplements made me sick as a teen. i've started taking blackstrap molasses and brewers yeast daily in milk or soymilk. should i go back to taking prenatal or another vitamin with iron? what about the baby? i've been soaking iron-rich dried fruits and rosehips in water and adding the mineral-infused water to her food or juice, but it's too soon to tell if it's doing any good.
i'm concerned because yesterday she vomitted once after dinner, and we can't figure out why. she was constipated for several days. at first i thought she was still adjusting to solids, but now she's been to the doctor i wonder if it's because her iron's low. she had no bowel movements for at least a day, and then this morning with mush grunting, crying and squeezing, she finally passed a stool that was hard and balled up and barely stuck to the diaper at all. the poor thing, i'm sure she was in pain! this morning she had 4 hard stools, one right after the other, and then her poop finally returned to something resembling normal this evening.
what am i doing wrong? i don't want to go back to eating meat. it never really helped me when i was an anemic teen, anyway. is there a better way for me to prepare or combine her food to improve iron absorption? is there a gentle, food-based supplement i can give her? i'm calling the doctor again in the morning. i'm really worried.
peace,
i'm really concerned. she's been eating solids for several months now, but her primary source of nutrition is still my breastmilk. i had a horrible time breastfeeding when she was new because she was a preemie and kept in the hospital for 3 weeks, and i just couldn't let down to a pump. i had a very low milk supply at first and we had to supplement with the special preemie-formula to get her out of the hospital. even the lactation consultant told me it was ok to give up, but i stuck with it, and she has had almost exclusively breastmilk since she came home till about 7 or 8 months. after going through all that, i'm now worried there may be something wrong with my milk. maybe i'm not getting enough iron. i've had a tendency towards anemia, even as a teen when i was eating red meat regularly. we're lacto-ovo vegetarian and i'm afraid i'll be told she'll have to eat meat, or i will.
i've been trying to make sure she's eating naturally iron-rich foods, because the doctor cautoned me about it when she started solids. she really loves spinach. she gets organic infant cereal, and i've been buying the multi-grain because it's more iron-rich than the plain brown rice. she likes tofu, and we've been adding blackstrap molasses, nutritional yeast and kelp in tiny quantities to her food. she likes egg yolk and whole-grain pasta. we've been giving her prune juice in a cup, with a little rosehip tea or orange-carrot juice for vitamin C to improve iron absorption.
the nurse practioner i spoke with suggested i try to find natural infant vitamin drops with iron. i'm concerned about non-food-based iron supplements because fortified formula caused a real problem for ds when he was a baby, and iron supplements made me sick as a teen. i've started taking blackstrap molasses and brewers yeast daily in milk or soymilk. should i go back to taking prenatal or another vitamin with iron? what about the baby? i've been soaking iron-rich dried fruits and rosehips in water and adding the mineral-infused water to her food or juice, but it's too soon to tell if it's doing any good.
i'm concerned because yesterday she vomitted once after dinner, and we can't figure out why. she was constipated for several days. at first i thought she was still adjusting to solids, but now she's been to the doctor i wonder if it's because her iron's low. she had no bowel movements for at least a day, and then this morning with mush grunting, crying and squeezing, she finally passed a stool that was hard and balled up and barely stuck to the diaper at all. the poor thing, i'm sure she was in pain! this morning she had 4 hard stools, one right after the other, and then her poop finally returned to something resembling normal this evening.
what am i doing wrong? i don't want to go back to eating meat. it never really helped me when i was an anemic teen, anyway. is there a better way for me to prepare or combine her food to improve iron absorption? is there a gentle, food-based supplement i can give her? i'm calling the doctor again in the morning. i'm really worried.
peace,
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