Tips on increasing iron levels

[idri]

I’m 35 weeks pregnant.
Have had low (ish?) iron levels over the last few months (92 g/L). Midwife gave me 200mg Ferrous Sulfate.

I have been taking it for the last 6 weeks and had blood tests again which show it’s only gone up to 94.

She suggested eating more spinach, eggs, take tablets with vitamin C.

I’ve scared myself that something is going to go wrong!!

Any tips on how to increase my iron levels asap. I already take 2 normal iron tablets plus the Ferrous Sulfate.

Thanks

Red meat, chicken, eggs, pulses, green veg……taking vitamin C or eating vitamin C rich foods with it helps with absorption.

You need to try a different or increased supplementation.

food really won’t increase your iron levels- if you loook at the RDA it’s hard enough just to reach that!

but mainly, it seems more likely that you’re not absorbing it.

Are you taking the tablets with dairy? If so, avoid that as it hinders absorption. So if you take it at breakfast with some cereal and a milky tea, take it a couple of hour later with some vitamin C instead.

My iron was low at one point during pregnancy I had steak and broccoli dinners and drank fresh orange. I also had spatone I think it was called it was in little sachets from the health food shop.

that's your haemoglobin not an 'iron level'. It looks like the iron may be starting to work if you were deficient and your Hb has risen a bit at 6 weeks. Your team will have access to all the results though so they're the ones that should be advising if anything extra is needed.

Each ferrous sulfate tablet contains more iron than you can possibly absorb in one day.

Your Haemoglobin has increased a bit in only 6 weeks despite growing a baby at the same time so you are doing really well.

Do you have a ferritin level too?

Tannins in coffee and tea (even decaf) impair the absorption of iron from food, so don't drink tea 2 hours either side of eating.
Alot of other foods impair iron absorption (including dairy) so don't eat and hour before or 2 hours after taking your iron tablets, and take it with orange juice/ apple juice/ vitamin C to increase absoption.

Think about what time of day you’re best to take your iron i.e when you have an empty stomach and won’t be eating for a while afterwards and take them with orange juice. I once could not get my levels up despite taking ferrous sulphate for around 9 months but then researched and found that taking them with milk was really not helping! I had a massive improvement after taking them with orange juice

My iron levels dropped low in my first pregnancy. My midwife suggested I tried spatone sachets and to make sure I ate iron rich foods to try and avoid needing tablets. Worked really well for me, my levels went back up quite quickly. In my next pregnancy I just used spatone sachets from the start and my iron levels were really good. I used the sachets with the vitamin c in them too to help absorption.