Anemia in 15 Month Old

It's nothing to be too worried about unless the number keeps dropping. My son's pediatrician told me to give my son polysobe drops with iron (don't remember the exact spelling) but it was an enfamil brand with children's multivitamins. And just getting that extra boost of iron got his levels up to where they should be.

My son, who was also breastfed had the same issue, he was around 12 months of age. His doctor did not think it was a huge issue. She just wanted us to introduce more iron rich foods into his diet. I started giving him YoBaby Yogurt enriched with iron, and other iron rich foods. There is also liquid vitamins by Enfamil that are available for babies but my son hated the taste so I just continued to give him the iron rich stuff. He hasn't had an issue since. Hope this helps.

Breastmilk is the perfect food. If you are still nursing the child then don't worry. Hemoglobin counts can change easily. If your child is acting healthy with energy, he is fine. AF

I have been moderately to severly anemic my whole life and eat tons of greens and take my vitamins. I breastfeed my one daughter and formula the other and both are mild too but as long as they get their vitamins and leafy veggies all will work out. It's mostly a matter of nutrition and sometimes can't be all that controlled but your doctor knows so much more. For the most part I am extremely tired if not on top of my game which gives me a reality check to fuel back up on the heathly stuff. Not sure if I helped but just wanted you to know it will be okay.

R.,

You should follow your doctors advice. Get the additional blood work to rule out lead poisoning (lead leaches iron from the body) or anything else. Then put him on iron supplements or whatever the advice of your doctor is. Long term iron deficiency can lead to serious problems. Look it up on Google so that you are more aware of how to tackle the problem. Hopefully your son is not too picky about food so you feed him some things that are higher in iron - meat is the best source but you can find info on other high iron foods on line as well. My son is now 2 1/2 and had anemia on and off since he was one. He's an extremely picky eater so it really made it a lot more difficult. As of 26 months old, we finally had him well within the normal range.

Giving too much of an iron supplement is not good either so please, go with your doctors guidance.

I wish you the best of luck!

Since he is breastfed, it could be that you are slightly anemic - common in women -, and that the milk doesn't have enough iron in it. I suggest looking at your diet to see where you can increase your iron intake. Also, since he is probably on or starting table foods, there are good, healthy, iron-rich table food that can help. Another thing to consider would be pedia-sure. Its mostly for picky-eaters, but its rich in vitamins and should be able to work for your son too.
Good luck.
M.

9.5 isn't so low it will cause any serious problems at this point, but you want be concerned about getting it where it needs to be. Most breastfed babies should be on a poly-vi vitamin, which contain iron. Ask your doctor if you should start a vitamin, or anything else to work on this. Iron is what carries the oxygen in your blood. If your iron levels are low it can make you more sleepy and can start to inter in your life (if it gets bad enough), so it's not something to ignore. Good luck!!

Was it a blood draw or a finger stick? The finger sticks are notoriously inaccurate. I would get a blood draw to get a more accurate result and go from there.

One thing you can do to help increase his iron levels is to pair iron rich food with foods high in vitamin C. The vitamin C will help his body absorb the iron better. Meats, green leafies, and sweet potato are all good sources of iron. I'd try that before supplementing with iron drops because the iron drops are not absorbed very well. Plus, I've heard they taste horrible and it's hard to get kids to take them.

Also, does he drink cow's milk? Too much cow's milk can hinder the body's absorption of iron. I think it's recommended that toddlers get no more than 24 oz of cow's milk a day. I could be wrong about that, though, my DD is still BF and does not drink cow's milk at all.

Good luck!

9.5 is really not as bad as it sounds. I have had anemia my entire life. The doctor saying that it is mild is true. You can google "foods for anemia" and gets list after list of foods to help bring his iron level up. Just keep in mind that some people are always anemic. Even if he eats a lot of the foods on the lists it may not go away. Honestly I don't have any symptoms most the time I forget until the doctor reminds me at checkups. I have tried eating a week straight of nothing but the foods on the list and all that happened was I just came a little bit closer to the lowest magic number. I wouldn't stress too much. Anemia is not a big deal if it is really mild and only being 1.5 off is really mild. If his level drops off more I would say to sart really working on diet and be concerned but I would just try to add in a few more iron foods for now. Good luck.

You should continue to take your prenatal pills the entire time you are nursing. I nursed each of my kids for 2.5 years and that was the advice I was given. I also had to take a product called Slow Fe which is an iron supplement when I was pregnant and I might have continued while I was nursing as well. Some people are just prone to anemia and your son might be one of them. Don't worry too much or you'll produce "nervous milk"!

Good luck

R. M

R. -- I was diagnosed with anemia as a toddler. I'm now 44 years old and still anemic. Life - long for me. I think you should just rule out everything to know that it is only anemia.

If it is just anemia -- I took iron supplements as a child and continue to take them every day. As a child I would get my blood checked about once a year for the level -- now it's really about every three years now that I am an adult.

What you want to find out if it is anemia as a child is if it's a certain type of anemia called milk anemia - that's what I have -- where milk attacks the blood cells. As a toddler that's what the doctor told my Mom I had. Milk anemia. They had to get me off milk immediatley -- cow's milk that is. I take calcium supplements and can use soy milk instead.

They thought I would grow out of it. And when I was a teen they said I could have cow's milk again. It still didn't work. I started to drink milk like I was a milk alcoholic. It's tough cuz as a child you want them to drink milk for healthy growth. I was so low for my age as a teen that they gave me iron shots right in the dr. office one time. So they took me off milk again at 13. And made me eat liver once a week as an evening meal. Tough at 13 but I grew to like it.

It's just a fine line. Get a good doctor who can really help you determine what kind of anemia it is - if that is what it is. Get a second opinion if you aren't feeling like the doctor is really helping. My parents just kept taking me to specialist after specialist because no one was diagnosing me properly. So stay vigilant.

My baby pictures I look so sickly from about one year to two years as my parents struggled to find out what was wrong with me. I'm grateful they kept searching. I was severly anemic. Not mildly. That's over 40 years ago -- so times have changed, and I think they can find out tons now just from a full blood profile. Get that done. The full blood profile (I think it's called an H and H -- for something like hemoglobin and hemostat -- something like that) anyway....it's done by the arm -- not by finger.

I will always be anemic in some way. So iron pills are a constant for me as a woman who still menustrates. At least boys don't do that. Losing that blood iron on top of the anemia was hard for me as a young teen girl. Your son won't have that to contend with.

The good news is it can be controled -- thru vitamin supplements and monitoring the blood count with the dr. I don't drink glasses of cow's milk to this day. I take supplements for bone health. That's the only way it impedes on my daily life -- once it's diagnosed properly to see if it is anemia. I can't ever give blood either because of my anemia. And as a choice, I no longer eat liver. Good luck.