9 month blood test?

[roseselene]

Hello all! DD is 8 months old and so will have to be going for her 9 month checkup soon. I know that they do a blood test for anemia at this time. DD is pretty much exclusively breastfed with a once a day serving of homeade fruit or vegatable baby food. Does anyone know if this test is necessary? I hate for her to go through something that is just someone's idea of what testing should be done on all babies. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Amy

[Acugirl]

We just had this test done at her 9mo check up-it was not really a big deal-just a tiny pin prick on the finger-really quick...

My dd's iron was fine. Your's probably is too-bm has a lot of good absorbable iron...but, anemia is serious and can cause long term problems, so you would want to know if your baby was anemic...

I think that the chances are probably pretty low, but in my mind, the test was not really invasive and dd only cried for a second..it made me feel better to know for sure that her iron was good.

[babybugmama]

Dd didn't cry at all & was quite enamored with the bandaid...Also she was borderline anemic. The ped & I discussed it & decided to try increasing her iron through iron-rich foods. If it's still low at 12mon then we may talk supplementing.

[LuvMy2Kidz]

They do a blood test at 9 mos? We've never been asked to do one for either child.

[kerikadi]

Expecting child #4 and have never heard of this. Is this something new? It seems like some docs might use this to undermine BFing, most BFed babes are anemic.

Keri

[phathui5]

We didn't have to do any blood tests at 9 months. I think though, that our ped. tested for anemia with the blood from the lead test we did around a year.

[Alieand the twins]

My childrens pediatricians office does not do an iron test on breastfeed bebies until 18 months (formula fed babies are tested at 9 months). The practice is very mainstream. Just for your info.