Preventing iron deficiency in preemies and low-birthweight babies

by Jenifer Scharpen (Subscribe to Jenifer Scharpen's posts) Aug 30th 2006 11:32AM

Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Teens & tweens, Health & Safety, Eating & Nutrition

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My fourth child was born seven weeks early and spent fifteen days in the NICU.

By the time we brought her home, I thought we'd learned everything we needed to know about how to take good care of her. We hadn't: we were unaware that she was at risk for iron deficiency anemia.

It's a long story, but the upshot is that by the time she was eleven months old, she was severely anemic and had to spend ten days in the hospital.

This article at keepkidshealthy.com has great advice for parents of low-birthweight and premature babies, and offers advice for toddlers in general:

"Toddlers who drink more than 16-24 ounces of milk are also at risk for developing iron deficiency. In addition to not having much iron in it, cow's milk decreases how well your body absorbes iron from other foods. And toddlers who are drinking a lot of milk are likely getting filled up and probably aren't eating a lot of foods with iron in it anyway."

Does your child get enough iron?

Source

Comments (4)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fath 8-30-2006 @ 11:50AM

I'm young father and I think that your information help me in upbringing my son.

Tamyu 8-30-2006 @ 3:19PM

My son was also very prone to anemia.
In our case, he was so very premature to begin with that the doctor played it safe and had us give him iron supplements for a long while after he came home. We are still monitored now, and have been directed to not give him normal cow`s milk until after he turns 3 - just to be safe. We give him the iron fortified follow-up formula instead...
Anemia can be really frightening and have all sorts of unpleasant effects. I think every parent should be aware and make an effort to be sure their child gets enough iron.

Susan 8-30-2006 @ 5:50PM

My first son was six weeks premature and spent ten days in the NICU. For various reasons, he was never able to latch on correctly, so I pumped breast milk; because I wasn't producing enough, he had formula from the very beginning as well.

When I was lamenting this to my pediatrician (because I felt guilty about not being able to breastfeed) she gently reminded me that the iron-enriched formula put my son at less risk for anemia.

The same son is six now and still takes a daily multivitamin, specifically because we STILL worry that he might become anemic. Because you know, I don't have enough to worry about every day . . .

Amanda. 8-30-2006 @ 8:00PM

I am so sorry that you were unaware of the risk of anemia secondary to premature birth and that your daughter was so sick.

My kids have never been anemic but than again they were both full-term birth and my daughter is still breastfeeding at 14 months, my son was on iron fortified formula until 16 months, I limit their number of servings from the dairy group daily to 3, and I also encourage iron rich foods beginning at 6 months. It doesn't hurt that I'm a dietitian, either.

I watched two of my best friends go through premature labor, bedrest, and birth at 30 weeks to twins and I was AMAZED at what little information their health care providers gave them regarding nutrition. One friend was having trouble gaining weight and her doc told her to eat candy bars. Candy bars!!! Never mind the fact this woman was growing two babies who were going to be born premature and needed plenty of the nutrients they were going to be missing out on during the last trimester (namely iron and essential fatty acids). Now, both sets of twins are almost one and since I have been their personal dietitian (LOL!), as of yet there have been no problems with anemia.

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