DS anaemic - need good news stories

[ilovemydogandMrObama]

DS (12 months) has been back and forth out of A & E at Children's Hospital this past week. He is severely anaemic, and they are trying to find out the underlying cause.

Am definitely not googling it, but need to know that other moms have come out the other side with anaemic babies!

anyone?

Don't have any personal experience but there was a little boy in the toddler group I go to who was severely anaemic. The first time I met him, I thought what a weird colour he was! He literally was just deathly yellow/white. It was weird as the colour was the same throughout (even his lips were that funny colour). Once he got diagnosed and put on medication (his mum was told he was 3 months from dying as he was so severely anaemic), he became a completely different child. He was so lively and the colour just came back into him. He really looked and acted like a different child altogether.

Have you tried putting him on Floradix. It tastes really nice and was recommended to me when I was pregnant. Good luck to you!

Sympathies, ilove, sorry your son is not well.
Not much I can say that would be of any practical use; he will just need lots of tests to come to the bottom of this.

Hope he gets a proper diagnosis and treatment v soon.

Has you been given a reason as to why he is amaemic?
Is it the low iron content in the haemaglobin?
Or is it being caused by something else?

Has the GP not put him on a low dose of ferrous sulphate?

poor baby - I can only speak from my own experience as a very anaemic child - I was diagnosed with spherocytosis and had to have my spleen out, but I remember how I felt and being carried up stairs because I was so weak...am fine now and ds who has the same condition is fine and healthy. Try not to fret and really hope they make a diagnosis asap

Does he drink alot of Cows milk? its a poor source of iron especially if his diet isnt balanced.
Keep him on formula if possible as it contains iron.

Iron-rich foods include:

iron-fortified infant milk formulas
iron-fortified cereals
legumes (such as lentils and beans)
meat (red meat, chicken and fish)
egg yolk
green vegetables
crushed sesame seeds (such as tahini, halva).

There are a few reasons for anaemia in little ones.
some are easily correctable and sme less so.

People will probably come up with all sorts of diagnoses on here- but do rememebr that your hospital is onto it and they will find out waht is going on. it jsut takes a bit of time for tests to comethrough.

Stay strong and calm and try not to get too stressed.
Some of the things re really easy to fix, there's good suggestions so far

Yes try not to get too anxious if someone on here says something that scares you. You dont need to google it. Just wait till they give you answers.

I am a medicine counter assistant qualified by the National Pharmacutical agency and I would recommend you just keep him to a high iron content diet. No supplements until your consultant says so.

They need to find out how anaemic he is and how much iron he really needs.

And also to put your mind at ease, it is quite common for older babies and toddlers to be anaemic.

Was hoping that it isnt diet related, as I take extraordinary measures to ensure that both DD and DS have healthy diet (broccoli/lentil surprise!)

It was only a recent blood test that revealed he was anaemic, which was a huge surprise, especially as he's been under a Consultant for low weight gain

Am trying not to stress, and will deal with whatever the diagnosis is, but it's the not knowing and that the Consultant was happy to take DS case as she specializes in 'blood disorders'....

Consultants have a way of making you feel SHIT!

My consultant told me when I was 20 weeks pregnant that DD had echogenic bowel so severe that she most likely has down's syndrome. oh yes and a cleft palate.
She asked me if I wanted a termination!!!!!!!

DD was born fine! milk intolerant I should say but no downs and no cleft palate.

Oh yes did I mention cystic fibrosos aswell.

I worried myself stupid before deciding to go private for one scan. I met a fantastic consultant who also worked at my local hospital and instead of me having to pay he referred me and I was able to be under his care which was great.

DD was anaemic when she was 3 yrs. There appeared to be no known cause for it and it took ages to get a diagnosis.

I think it was a combination of things that triggered her anaemia - she's been under the weather with a few viruses etc from nursery, hence she had gone off her food for a while, then she became more run down, more antibiotics, things became a vicious circle. She was getting infection after infection and the GP became a bit worried and mumbled things about 'leukemia'

DD ended up being admitted for 2 days to our local hospital after she had yet another virus - again, no-one knew what was causing all the illnesses. Finally, a blood test was done, revealed that she was quite badly anaemic. They put her on iron supplements (a weird, orangey-brown liquid thing that looked awful but which she thankfully took quite happily). She was on the iron for around six months, her anaemia disappeared and now, aged 8 in two weeks, she's been fine ever since (touch wood).

Hope your DS gets better and that it turns out to be a minor thing.

try not to fret ilovemydog - didn't mean to cause any alarm about my diagnosis if that's the case - if it is anything like spherocytosis then it can be managed perfectly well and me and ds (and my mum and brother) are living proof of healthy folk ! It is a hereditary thing but can pop up without any family links too. Best not to google or read to much stuff about anything as it isn't really helpful until you know what your child has, if anything. Hope it's all ok,am sure it will be.

My ds was anaemic when little and had poor weight gain. For him it wasdue to malabsorption which they thought was caused by coeliac disease (means you have to cut out gluten). It turned out not to be and like with your ds he was in and of hospital with infections when he was little. However ds is now a lovely and stroppy 12 year old and nothing like the frail thing he used to be. I hope they find out what it is for your ds as I know how awful it can be but wanted you to know it can turn out well.

Thank you for sharing good news stories!

DS was admitted back in Children's Hospital yesterday and he's being tested for a whole range of things, so hopefully will have a diagnosis soon.

Coeliac seems fairly likely as he was getting better, gave him a piece of toast and went downhill again

fingers crossed for him

Just spent a week at Children's Hospital, and he's been on a drip, gs tube and has had various tests -- not coeliac disease...

He's on iron at the moment, and goes back tomorrow for yet more tests...

Oh, the one positive thing is that he seems to have a dairy intolerance, and has perked up since he's been dairy free...