[loveandgarbage]

my 9 month old supposedly has borderline anemia according to a blood test. ack! he was given this diagnosis after a well baby visit that consisted of the ped telling me my breastmilk was losing its nutritious value and it's really time to push solids. just yuck, yuck, yuck. i wasn't planning on doing full-on solids until at least 11 months, as i did with my older guy. the ped told me to start giving him a liquid vitamin. any other options? any thoughts? i gave my older boy the trivysol once and he gagged for a minute strait. i usually remember to take a prenatal vitamin, and eat a TON of spinach, so i'm confused.

 

[kalamos23]

You could use blackstrap molasses - it has a lot of iron in it. I mixed some into sweet potatoes and a little brown sugar and it tasted really good. DD ate it right up - she loved it!

 

[kalamos23]

I just looked at the back of my molasses bottle - blackstrap molasses has 15% of the daily value for a 2000 calorie diet for 1 tbsp. Since babies don't eat 2000 calories, even 1/2 tbsp would have a decent ratio of iron to calories for a baby.

 

[SaraLe6]

Just so you know, you can't up the amount of iron in your breastmilk by eating more iron yourself or taking an iron supplement yourself. There's really not any way of increasing the amount of iron in your breastmilk UNLESS you yourself were iron deficient, then becoming non-deficient would raise the levels to where they should be.

How was the blood test done? Finger/heel prick or blood draw? Finger and heel pricks are NOT good indicators of iron levels, you will not get an accurate result with either of these methods. Only a blood draw including testing the ferritin levels will give you an accurate result.

If you can't get baby to eat iron-rich foods and need to use a supplement, seriously consider Floradix.. it has a much higher absorption rate than those formula-company vitamin drops or other supermarket drops.

 

[loveandgarbage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaraLe6 Just so you know, you can't up the amount of iron in your breastmilk by eating more iron yourself or taking an iron supplement yourself. There's really not any way of increasing the amount of iron in your breastmilk UNLESS you yourself were iron deficient, then becoming non-deficient would raise the levels to where they should be. How was the blood test done? Finger/heel prick or blood draw? Finger and heel pricks are NOT good indicators of iron levels, you will not get an accurate result with either of these methods. Only a blood draw including testing the ferritin levels will give you an accurate result. If you can't get baby to eat iron-rich foods and need to use a supplement, seriously consider Floradix.. it has a much higher absorption rate than those formula-company vitamin drops or other supermarket drops.

i think i might be iron deficient. i've started to feel a little woozy/unwell. this happened around the same time of the nursing relationship with my older son. i should probably get tested to know for sure.
the blood test was technically a finger prick, and then droplets of blood were squeezed out my my poor baby's finger into a vial. is this how all finger prick tests go? what's the difference between this and a blood draw?
thanks for the suggestion of floradix. i will definitely check it out.

 

[ernalala]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loveandgarbage i think i might be iron deficient. i've started to feel a little woozy/unwell. this happened around the same time of the nursing relationship with my older son. i should probably get tested to know for sure. the blood test was technically a finger prick, and then droplets of blood were squeezed out my my poor baby's finger into a vial. is this how all finger prick tests go? what's the difference between this and a blood draw? thanks for the suggestion of floradix. i will definitely check it out.

As far as I experienced proper testing for iron defficiency is done by a blood draw. The experience may not be that pleasant for your baby (or worse, tbh), but if there is suspicion the benefit may outweigh the inconvenience for your baby. I gave iron supplemenation to both of my babies, both because I have the tendency to get anemic so not sure ı could always provide them the full dose by bm, and because they needed it too. As a matter of fact, I have been giving them iron supplementation during part the first year (starting between 4-6 months, I am not exactly sure about the age) and a blood draw was done to assure their iron levels were up again so we could stop the supplementation (between 9-11m? again not sure but ds1 was taking it longer because he was an more at risk because of prematurely born). They didn't like the full-iron taste supplements (I can't stand those either they taste so so bad) and we gave them a sweetened/flavoured brand (Ferrum). Ds1 even liked it

. Taking it together with orange juice/vitamin c foods helps the absorption of the iron. I also mixed some iron fortified non-sweetened baby rice flakes in their solids. And I made sure to start vegetable solids first because they're a better source of iron than fruit. Ped and dietician (one free 'consult' and it was rubbish

!) wanted us to get dss on egg/meat as soon as starting solids but no way I would do that before they would be between 9-10 months! Just my personal view.
I 'wanted' ds2 to start solids btween 6-8m of age, but he gave the cue to start him close to 6m, fine then. I did 'start' ds1 (premature) on solids close to 6,5m (corrected 5,5m but ped said that didn't matter - well yeah it did obviously in my child) and it was clear that he wasn't vey much interested and he just grew into it on his own pace, whatever the ped and dietician thought was best in 'theory' (lol, 3 'full solid meals per day' almost from the start and ??? what about bm then all of a sudden

).
Also you may spot physical signs of anemia in yr baby: paleness, lips have little colour, tiredness, less appetite, ... .
If there was any doubt I would personally rather give iron supplementation and make work of iron rich solids than not. Iron is just so important in (small) children. And supplementing is not the end of the world.
If you'd rather start supplementation first in combination with bm rather than starting solids already too, be sure to have your baby wear a bib and if he/she has the tendency to still spit some milk, protect your clothes too, because the iron stains are pretty bad.

Now, as an adult, I do not get myself tested every time I suspect anemia

. That would be crazy because it occurs x times a year if I do not watch my diet carefully, and it's also menstrual cycle related. I take supplementation when I feel a wave of unexplained exhaustion coming up again.

 

[thepeach80]

My yds and odd have always been on the really low end of normal iron, always. They were both ff till 2 (started formula at 12 and 9.5 mos) and were still low, it's just how they are. I tend to be lower as well. Unless it was extremely low and getting lower, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[kalamos23]

If you EBF to 7 months, then your risk of having an anemic baby is actually very low. I tend to run anemic (my whole family does) but the study showed taht even though a mom might be anemic, it didn't necessarily translate into her baby not having the iron stores for the first year.

Here is a link that talkes about iron supplementation and the BF baby.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron.html