Low iron in third trimester - is GP’s prescription wrong?

[Circumlocutious]

I’ve just had my iron levels tested by the midwife at 31 weeks (it was meant to be a 28 week appointment but was pushed back a few times...) Haemoglobin has come back at 90, and the GP has prescribed Ferrous Fumarate, 210mg, one tablet a day, book another blood test in 4 weeks.

This doesn’t seem anywhere near enough to me in terms of getting my iron levels up in time for birth (I’d like to give birth in a midwife-led unit and they require iron levels of approx 105...) thoughts?

The dose is in keeping with the current guidelines so try not to worry. Eating high iron foods will help too
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjh.16221

Mine was higher than yours at 105 I believe and I was put on two a day. You can call them to query it and double check.

Mine was 106 but that was at 8 wks, I was prescribed 2 a day. Be warned that dose can cause constipation so you might want to also ask gp what they advise you to take if that happens.

Do you realise its take 3mths for red blood cells to replicate and regenerate? Replacing iron when you are already deficient is a slow game, its not a quick fix. The only things quicker are iron injections or a blood transfusion!

You can help the absorption by not having tannin rich food/drinks with your tablets, or when eating iron rich foods- avoid tea, coffee, grapes, blueberries, apples etc. Instead, eat vit c rich foods such as peppers and citrus when eating iron rich foods and having your tablet. Best of luck.

That’s a pretty standard dose. Hb should be rising by 4 weeks.

I'm sure you can take more... And poo it out. Or, worse, NOT be able to poo. There's only so much iron the body can absorb.

[quote LemonRizzle]The dose is in keeping with the current guidelines so try not to worry. Eating high iron foods will help too
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjh.16221[/quote]
Thank you, that’s reassuring. So more is not always better.