28 weeks - low iron

[RLou3]

Morning all,

Wondered if anyone has any advise/ knowledge. I have my 38 week midwife appointment on Saturday - they done bloods. They've just emailed me to say that all is fine but my iron level has dropped to 107. They recommended that I start taking gentle iron - but I've already been taking this r the past 4 weeks. Does anyone have any advise? And is my iron level really low? I've been so tired and breathless for the past few days!!

Thanks so much!

I believe anemic is less than 110.

If you've already been doing this then tell your midwife.
She should be able to get some prescribed to you at a higher dose

You should discuss this with your midwife?!
Can you call her back to clarify?

They should be prescribing you iron tablets which if you take with orange juice or berocca will aid absorption. Tell your midwife you have already tried gentle iron as you are anaemic that won't be enough.

Disclaimer: not a GP.

107 isn’t super low, but it does make sense to try and elevate.

If you’ve been taking iron consistently but not seeing an increase it may be worth switching “types” (ferrous fumerate to ferrous gluconate, for example).

You can also buy a product called spa tone, which is iron-infused water and claims to be absorbed more easily than traditional pills.

Not sure if you are 28 or 38 weeks because your title and your post say differently. But in my third trimester with my last pregnancy I was asked to come into the hospital and be given iron via IV drips because I couldn’t tolerate it orally. My levels were low and of course it’s dangerous if you bleed a lot during delivery so they wanted to top me up. It gave me such a boost x