https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:27:53 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1462165 Sun, 02 Mar 2014 20:23:09 +0000 Sparkler 1462165@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dojo: I don't remember the levels, but we dealt with this around the same age? Are you still breastfeeding? I think I got lazy with my diet and vitamins and didn't give my LO the vit d with iron since at a younger age it seemed to cause a lot of stomach distress. Anyway, we did Fer-In-Sol in apple sauce (I think Vit C helps absorption), tried to make the diet changes others discussed, and started giving iron fortified formula and cereal even after 1 year. Our LO #2 didn't have an issue at all, even though I didn't learn my lesson and give a vitamin supplement (due to fussiness). Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1462125 Sun, 02 Mar 2014 20:09:46 +0000 regberadaisy 1462125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dojo: Hm. Maybe your doc is more cautious than ours. Because we even asked at one point if we would have to see a specialist and he said he wanted to try tackling it first.<br /> My brother is a carrier of thalassemia. It is genetic and if your you're a carrier there is a risk of certain birth defects if both parents are. So when we were TTC I took the blood test and am not a carrier. So I brought it up to our ped when we found her to be severely anemic. Turns out she has thalassemia trait. Doctor thought it was was weird since neither DH or I are carriers. </p> <p>Anyone in your family have it? When my brother tested positive for it I didn't know the English name was thalassemia since he told me in Chinese. I had to describe the symptoms and effects to my primary! Lol</p> <p>Anyway, it's just a blood test so might be worth bringing up to your hematologist. Because if your LO is it'll be futile to get her up up to a 12. 9 is normal for carriers and next to impossible to get her to a 12.</p> <p>I don't know if there's a correlation between pregnancy anemia and LO being anemic. But given our history I'm not taking chances. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1461040 Sun, 02 Mar 2014 02:47:21 +0000 Boogs 1461040@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dojo: I don't know if there's a correlation between a mom being anemic and her LO, but I'm normally always borderline/slightly anemic, like where I'm not allowed to donate blood. During my last pregnancy it got worse and caused a bit of an issue during delivery and before they let me go home they were trying to get me to do a blood transfusion. Don't want to scare you, you just don't want any complications so bump up that iron and hopefully things will get better for your LO. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1461013 Sun, 02 Mar 2014 00:54:53 +0000 dojo 1461013@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Boogs: @Mae: thanks! It's helpful to hear your experiences! Sounds like it hasn't caused too big an issue! </p> <p>@locavore_mama: I think at his appt it was about 6 (when it should have been more like 12). How did you know about the thalassemia - the doc asked us if that was in our family but I didn't know anything about that. Green smoothies and Chinese greens are a great idea! I think I was anemic later on in my pregnancy I had no idea that it would mean LO might be :sad: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1460427 Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:49:30 +0000 regberadaisy 1460427@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dojo: How low was it?<br /> My LO was tested at her 9 month appointment and her levels were extremely low. Around a 3. It took us 9 months but at her 18m appointment we we finally got it up to around a 9.6. Average levels are around 12. But because she has thalassemia trait a 9 is very good for her. </p> <p>At the beginning I felt like we were at the doctors pretty much every two weeks then 4 weeks for a finger prick to monitor her levels. At one point our ped threatened that LO might have to be admitted if we didn't see an increase. The hardest was the third visit. At the second visit we saw her levels increased a bit. At the third they literally did not increase at all. LO was increased her scrip for iron drops. The pharmacists actually questioned and called my ped to confirm the dosage because it was the highest allowed for her age group.</p> <p>Among the drops we also greatly altered our diet to include 1-2 iron fortified items in each meal. Green smoothies with iron or Kale. Spinach or Kale eggs. Meat closer to the bone has more iron. Most cooked in iron has increased iron content. Leafy greens. Are you Asian? So much Chinese green are leafy and dark green so amazing in iron. </p> <p>Feel free to PM me with any questions. It was super stressful time. The first time we got a huge level spike we almost cried and our ped let out a big whoop!</p> <p>LO showed no signs either. I I was borderline anemic during pregnancy. This time around I am bring and had my levels checked in the first tri. Getting the results and if I'm even a bit low km going to start on iron supplements. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1460426 Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:47:17 +0000 Mae 1460426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not my LO but me! I didn't have any crazy symptoms except being a little more tired than usual. Then I had a totally insensitive doc who was all "WOAH this is the 3rd lowest iron level I've ever seen in my career!" which ummmmm docs should never say "woah" imo. They put me through the ringer with tests trying to figure out if I had some unseen source of bleeding. Never figured out WHY I was anemic but it was bad enough that I needed an iron transfusion and for the last decade I've been just fine. So.. meh? Honestly it was sort of scary at the time bc the docs seemed to be making a big deal of it (I had to go to both GI docs and also a hematologist), but it's almost 10 years later and I've never had any related health issues and not had any further problems with anemia after the transfusion and some low level iron pills. So I'd try not to worry :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1460417 Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:40:02 +0000 Boogs 1460417@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO is anemic, but we just have him take Flinestones vitamins daily (the only ones I could find with iron), and I try to be better about giving him more iron rich foods. He hasn't been checked in almost a year, so I'm hoping what we are doing is actually helping. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-deficiencyanemia-in-your-lo#post-1460145 Sat, 01 Mar 2014 11:29:28 +0000 dojo 1460145@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At LO's 12 month well child appt. our pediatrician did a finger prick blood test to check his hemoglobin levels for anemia. The instant results were significantly low and she was skeptical that they were accurate given that he has not shown any related symptoms (fatigue, paleness...). She recommended we return to do a full blood draw to re-check.</p> <p>I took LO to do the blood draw yesterday morning and then at about 8pm DH got a phone call from a Dr. (I am assuming from the lab since it was not our pediatrician) telling us that L's levels were very low and we needed to take him to the ER. We took him into the ER and since they were unable to attain the lab results, (we went to an ER closer to our home than our regular clinic network) they did another blood draw confirming the low hemoglobin and hematocrit values. The ER doc prescribed iron drops and referred us to a pediatric hematologist.</p> <p>Has anyone else dealt with iron deficiency/anemia in their LO? From a bit of Google searching (I know... not a great idea) it seams fairly common in young ones. All of LO's other CBC levels were completely normal. We are going to start the drops today and I am planning on consulting with his pediatrician on Monday to get her input. I guess the referral to the pediatric hematologist is what is kind of freaking me out and I am wondering if it is completely necessary. </p>