9 month old severely anaemic

[Ah5337]

Hello, my baby was born IUGR and prem (36+2).

At 9 and half months he was found to be severely anaemic through a blood test. He is very delayed in his development (does not roll or sit and always tired and wants to lie and watch everything from a distance). This explains why he has never been interested in playing however has anyone experienced this with their baby? If so how did it affect their brain development ? Will it leave mental or physical impairment. The fact that they never caught it and the doctors have concluded it is iron deficiency anaemia and chronic as it has happened over a long period of time. I am worried it will have caused some sort of damage effecting my son.

"has done it many times in the past he just chooses not to. He has the strength to do everything he just doesn't want to."

Well he may find it harder due to loose joints or low tone

What motivates him?
Use favourite toys to encourage him

Can he sit t propped up

“This explains why he has never been interested in playing however has anyone experienced this with their baby? If so how did it affect their brain development ? ”

These are great questions. Why don’t you ask the paediatric consultant???

I guess you will know if by putting him on iron supplements
Whether everything falls into place
Or if it s something else
Anyway ask fir input from slt physio OT on encouraging motor skills

@Embracelife

"has done it many times in the past he just chooses not to. He has the strength to do everything he just doesn't want to."

Well he may find it harder due to loose joints or low tone

What motivates him?
Use favourite toys to encourage him

Can he sit t propped up

I do use toys and YouTube and he does do it for a long time. It's just he won't choose it himself and do it. It's only when I help put him in the positions.

Yes he can sit unsupported but again as long as I am there behind him and he senses me then he will do it for a good 5, 10 min but it's not something he will do alone. He will push himself back and cry if I move away from him.

@SweetBabyCheeses99

“This explains why he has never been interested in playing however has anyone experienced this with their baby? If so how did it affect their brain development ? ”

These are great questions. Why don’t you ask the paediatric consultant???

I have asked them everything! I have a book full of questions and thoughts and worries. For some reason they don't like answering. They avoid questions and reply with "only time will tell". They also said it shouldn't have effected his brain but his development is delayed and they are unsure of the reason. They said there could be a genetic issue but again I have been referred and on the waiting list. It all takes time.

The physio and OT have both said he is delayed but they don't get involved with motor skills. They have only shown me different positions to try and expect me to do it and allow him to get there. They said they don't do Physio or OT for early motor skills.. they do a review every 2 months and check how he is getting on. As his anaemia was only detected last week they are saying it could take a few weeks to see a major difference.

@Shimmylikejoanholloway

Also meant to add my DS eats everything put in front of him and is still iron deficient so it’s definitely not something you’re doing or not doing OP! I was told it’s very common for young children and babies to be low on iron.

I did speak to the doctor about this. Iron deficiency and low haemoglobin are both different. Iron helps the haemoglobin blood count increase. If there was less Iron but red blood cell count was high then they wouldn't have worried. But because he had less haemoglobin (occurred over a long period of time) this was due to no Iron in the body hence why he wasn't able to produce sufficient blood count. Low haemoglobin is what has effected him. This is why he is always tired and pale and no appetite. They said as his count picks up his energy should also pick up. Iron will help him build it. If his haemoglobin count was normal and Iron was low then they wouldn't have hospitalised him

I might be completely wide of the mark but just something to consider - has he been checked for coeliacs?

I'm not sure how much coeliacs would effect a baby who is ebf but just in case!

I think you need a referral for a full investigation. Anaemia and hypoxia caused HIE in my child.

@CreepySpider

I think you need a referral for a full investigation. Anaemia and hypoxia caused HIE in my child.

What age was your baby when this happened? Did your child also have development delays?

How are they now?

What age was your baby when this happened? Did your child also have development delays?

When she was born.

How are they now?

She isn’t alive anymore. However, through contact with others who experienced similar and still have children who are alive, HIE is sadly quite common and many have delayed milestones.

The physio and OT have both said he is delayed but they don't get involved with motor skills

They do
That is their job
The NHS is pushed
And it is true that you may need to wait

clch.nhs.uk/services/physiotherapy-children

You may need to wait few months to see impact of more iron and how he develops
Try get into any local groups for babies with delays
If he graduates out and catches up
Then no harm done
But if he needs extra help longer term they will be useful

Have they checked for Pernicious Anaemia? The inability to absorb B12?

Any genetic chance of thalassemia?
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11727/

@CreepySpider

What age was your baby when this happened? Did your child also have development delays?

When she was born.

How are they now?

She isn’t alive anymore. However, through contact with others who experienced similar and still have children who are alive, HIE is sadly quite common and many have delayed milestones.

I am very sorry to hear that.

I think HIE is identifiable straight away. My son has not changed since having anaemia so I don't think that has occurred. He has had all oxygen levels checked which were 100% and the doctors were certain it's not caused any effect that they can see right now anyway. Only time will tell I guess.

The only difference I can tell from before he was anaemic until now is the tiredness and less energy to do anything. Now that he has been taking iron for a week, I have seen progress in activity. He is starting to play a lot more.

@Embracelife

The physio and OT have both said he is delayed but they don't get involved with motor skills

They do
That is their job
The NHS is pushed
And it is true that you may need to wait

Yes I have asked many times but when they have assessed they say they cannot possibly intervene or do anything different that the exercises I already do with him at home. They say at this point it's waiting until he picks up his motor skills in order for them to help with the big things such as crawling, walking.

Again it's not a matter of if he can do it. He can. He has many times. He just doesn't want to. So I'm not sure what that means

@Sonata13

Have they checked for Pernicious Anaemia? The inability to absorb B12?

Yes they have checked this and his B12 Vitamin levels were fine. They checked all vitamin levels which came back fine.

[quote Embracelife]Any genetic chance of thalassemia?
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11727/[/quote]
Again something they did test for but came back negative. They done all the testing for all the possible blood disorders but the only thing that came back was low ferritin levels and severely low red blood count which was due to lack of iron (apparently he didn't have one trace of iron in his body)

@Sunshinegirl82

I might be completely wide of the mark but just something to consider - has he been checked for coeliacs?

I'm not sure how much coeliacs would effect a baby who is ebf but just in case!

They have not checked this but I dont think it will be as he does not eat any type of food. He is only on breastmilk but he has done so well since being born with it. He has always fed well gained a lot of weight and never had any issues in terms of reflux, vomiting, bloating, diarrhea. It has just been recently that his weight gain has not been great as he is still only breastfeeding and not gaining enough nutrition from foods as he refuses to eat.

Has Prader Willi been ruled out?

OK first of all I wanted to echo what others have said which is to get a much testing done as you can even if it's just for ruling things out.
Secondly, as pp have said it can take several months before you see a difference. The fact that you've already noticed after a week is great.
And finally I wanted to share my own limited experience with iron deficiency. My DD was diagnosed with a mild kidney issue at the age of 1 and as part of her tests at the time had a blood test that showed she was severely anaemic. She had mild symptoms (very cold hands and feet, she was a late walker, talker, sitting up etc) much of this we attributed to laziness as she got her big brother fetching things for her. She was also really small (7th centile) full term baby, good healthy weight at birth and a brother on the 99th centile so it was obvious. She was prescribed oral iron supplements for 3 months which have completely restored her iron levels. She's nearly 3 now and absolutely on track with her development and on the 50th centile for height. It took 2 months before we noticed a difference in her. Fingers crossed your DS will also catch up.

He is only on breast at 9m?
My dd was in breast solely until 7m and suffered lack of iron. Probably as a result. You need salt involved and possibly dietician if he won't eat.

They have no started testing yet so haven't checked into prader willi.
But from my knowledge it means the baby over eats and puts a lot of weight on. My son doesn't eat anything and not interested in food so I don't think I will have that issue. Also he is tall for being a prem baby who stopped growing. It says they are short in stature but he definitely isn't a short baby. His height has has the biggest increase.

@Namele

OK first of all I wanted to echo what others have said which is to get a much testing done as you can even if it's just for ruling things out. Secondly, as pp have said it can take several months before you see a difference. The fact that you've already noticed after a week is great. And finally I wanted to share my own limited experience with iron deficiency. My DD was diagnosed with a mild kidney issue at the age of 1 and as part of her tests at the time had a blood test that showed she was severely anaemic. She had mild symptoms (very cold hands and feet, she was a late walker, talker, sitting up etc) much of this we attributed to laziness as she got her big brother fetching things for her. She was also really small (7th centile) full term baby, good healthy weight at birth and a brother on the 99th centile so it was obvious. She was prescribed oral iron supplements for 3 months which have completely restored her iron levels. She's nearly 3 now and absolutely on track with her development and on the 50th centile for height. It took 2 months before we noticed a difference in her. Fingers crossed your DS will also catch up.

Thank you very much for sharing.

This gives me some hope.

Did your DD eat well during the time of being anaemic? Also did she put any weight on?

I think because my DS is so young it's effected major development skills. Things like rolling and crawling and I think that's why he is overall delayed mentally aswell. If he isn't able to go explore then he can't learn either. He has started to play more which I'm so happy about as he was never interested. And he seems a lot more alert.
Still no active rolling or trying to crawl but he has only been on the medicine for a week and a half so I should definitely give it some time before panicking.