Iron deficiency - lack of concentration????

[Roshven]

Hi! Just joined; my first post - here goes!

My 8 yr old son has a real problem with concentration and attention span, especially at school but not exclusively.

I know this isn't unusual, but in his case, it seems to be well above and beyond the norm.

He's a skinny wee thing, not a great appetite, and rarely eats meat - red meat hardly at all.

A friend suggested that lack or iron in his diet could be contributing to this, and I just wondered if this situation is familiar to anyone?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Roshven

Not sure if the two are linked but any kind of deficiency in diet I suppose has the potential to affect behaviour - certainly lack of iron can cause tiredness. There are other ways to get iron though (other than red meat), green leafy veg etc. Maybe take him to docs and get a blood test and they can advise if there is anything lacking - can't hurt him to make sure he's getting the right nutrients and at least then you could rule that out as a cause if there's no improvement.

Oh, and welcome to MN!

Thanks ChessyEvans, great to get a response so quickly!

Yeah, he gets enough veg I think, but from my quick online research, iron from veg is more difficult for the body to absorb - red meat by far the best source.

You're right, visit to docs probably the simplest thing to do - sure he'll love that suggestion!

Thanks again. Roshven

I give my son SpaTone an iron supplement you can get from Tesco. I hide it in a concentrated drink of ribena. He also gets some Omega suplements as these have shown to improve concentration in children.