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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.

@dojo: How low was it?
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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

@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.

@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!