Iron supplements or formula adviced by HV to my 10 bf baby

[princessProudmel]

She said he was probably not getting enough iron in his diet. My iron levels are falling and herefore he's not getting enough.

I am bf him and he has about 5 bf a day. Plus 1 or 2 in the night. He eats 3 times a day and is doing BLW.

As he wasn't eating much cereal (doesn't like sppon feeding)or red meat she suggested iron supplements or to give formula as it has iron it apparantly.
(he has now started to eat a small amount of wheetabix, not sure if that contains iron..)

He does eat bread and bread products (crumpets, pitta etc), wraps, LOADS of different types of fruit (she said fruit has absolutely NO IRON in it), veg, some cheese, some eggs, has eaten mince , chicken (again some) , rice cakes, pasta, potatoes, baked beans etc etc

I was not keen on introducing formula. Would you give the supplements??

The other week he fainted whilst crying. That moment when they go quiet and sort of hold their breath (unintentionaly) before they let out a huge scream. Instead he didn't scream, he fainted. :( Took him to a and e and he was said to be fine. Anyway I googled it and it said sometimes low iron can make this problem worse. I don't even know if he has low iron levels though.
Am waffling now....

10 month ^

Can you get his iron tested? I posted previously about this as friend was forced on to formula by HV due to iron - was basically told her milk wasnt good enough and formula was better. I was shocked and thought this was a load of pish (considering the baby had got to above average weight in first 6mo exclusevly bf)

Hopefully someone will be along to help soon

His weight is just under the 50 percentile line.

I don't know how I'd go about getting his iron levels tested. Is it blood tests? I'm sure they'd only do that at my GP's if they were really worried about him. My HV told me about the formula/supplements at his 10m check.

Thanks for replying.

bumping so others see.

Yes assume blood. also the fainting thing look us reflex anoxic seiures, wee boy I used to look after had that and was misdiagnosed previously.

I think I read a few threads on here about that. I don't think this was that though, more like what they call 'breath holding', which is what toddlers sometimes do.... But his was not intentional. It was like he held his breath so long that he just couldn't help fainting.

Thanks for the bump.

www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/iron-supplements-for-infants.html see here for useful information about iron rich foods you can offer. This site is also good for info to help you boost your iron levels and his.

Your HV is misinformed (quelle surprise). YOUR breast milk iron levels are not falling - I assume that is what she meant? - your DS natural iron stores have been falling slowly since he was about 6m. That is why it is good to offer babies solid food with iron in from that age. They only actually need to eat a small amount of it though, and your BM still contains iron (even if you were a bit anaemic, your body would prioritise iron in your milk before your own needs IYSWIM?).

I see no need for formula - most of the iron in that is excreted by babies because it is not anywhere near as bio-available as the iron in breast milk, although the amount is smaller. Many HV have been duped into believing that formula is better after 6m because it contains 'more' iron, whereas in fact it just gives babies more iron rich poos and wees than if they were breast fed.

Personally I would not give iron supplements unless a blood test showed the need. Excess iron is not good for children.

You can offer your DS more iron in the form of dried fruit, especially apricots and figs, and also courgettes, peas, almond butter (from the health food shop - it's delicious)and peas.

Thank you .
Yes she meant the levels in my breast milk. She said that formula contained much more iron than my milk.

I feel slightly better now as ds2 eats dried apricots, courgettes (sometimes) and peas :) :)

You can get his iron levels tested quite easily - my GP referred my DS1 for testing because he was extremely pale (he was slightly anaemic as it turned out, but not enough to warrant supplements - the paleness is just inherited from me!)

Mild anaemia in toddlers is fairly common so I think your HV is not being unreasonable to think it could be an issue - but there's no need for you to supplement without testing if you don't want to.

Ask your doctor because you will probably have to go to hospital for testing as drawing blood from babies is pretty difficult - most nurses and doctors won't want to try if they don't have experience. At our hospital they have a specialist paediatric phlebotomy dept.

It's not particularly pleasant but it doesn't take long and the results might help you decide what to do - and maybe help get to the bottom of your son's fainting fit.

Oh in addition to Provincial Lady's good advice about diet, I was told that dairy can inhibit uptake of iron while vitamin C helps it, so you could offer dilute orange juice with iron rich foods, rather than milk.

He doesn't have any other milk as a drink apart from my milk. He hasn't ever had orange juice. Eats a lot of fresh fruit though.

Thank you. It seems a bit drastic him having blood tests. I wasn't worried about his iron levels. But then he did the fainting thing...but on here a lot of people said that their baby/child had done that.
Maybe I could speak to the gp.

When I saw the HV he hadn't fainted. That happened a few days after. She just suggested the formula and supplements after hearing about him not eating red meat. (he's eaten the odd bit of mince but it's not been a regular thing)

He had blood taken (a lot) when he was in hospital at 6 weeks. It was awful to see. Poor mite .

I would speak to the GP.

I think the fainting warrants getting advice (even if it's just to say "it's fine") and there may have been something else behind your HV's feeling that his iron levels were low.

I know we all love to dismiss HV's advice, and I did the same when my HV said "oh your child is anaemic" and was very . (He was also still breastfed and I felt it was an implicit criticism - though she actually didn't suggest formula).

But the GP concurred that he was unusually pale and actually they were both right - he was anaemic. Only slightly - but I'm glad I knew early enough to get his diet sorted before it became a problem.

what I mean is - she might well be speaking horseshit - but it sounds like you are going to worry about this so hopefully speaking to the GP will either reassure you, or get you a concrete answer.

I think it's pretty well documented that iron in formula is not absorbed anywhere near as well as iron in BM or solid food. So the HVis talking bunkum (as usual).

This is something I worried about with DS. Needlessly I think. But I make sure he gets lots of green veg - he loves broccoli and cabbage - lentils, beans, eggs etc and offer diluted fresh orange juice with meals to help iron absorption. As for red meat, I don't think many 10 month olds eat much of that. But making meatballs, burgers or meat loaf might be an idea - DS loves these.

I do think that there's a bit of scaremongering around though. Don't get me started on that bloody Cow and Gate ad!

I did take him to Childrens A+E straight after he fainted and they said he was fine and it's normal for children to do that. They didn't mention his iron atall. And neither did I. it hadn't even occured to me until I searched children fainting on MN.

He is not pale and has loads of energy. I don't know why else the HV would think he was aneamic. I might still go to the GP though. I am a worrier.

While you're here to help could you answer a question about my dd!?? She is 5 (just) and gets pins and needles (fizzy legs) all the time. Every time she crosses her legs or they are bent under her for a period of time. I;d say she gets it every day. Do you think that is normal? I have raynauds which is to do with bad circulation, so maybe it's to do with that. Does iron have anything to do with circulation? (dim question alert)

urgh I may projectile vomit if I see that Cow and Gate ad again!

Also, it may be just me, but I find the children weird and scary! Their laughter is NOT like the way my two babies laughed - more like they're possessed!

I have offered burgers and meat and he doesn't really eat it. He does like sausages.
I wasn't keen to give orange juice as I didn't want him to start rejecting plain water which at the moment he loves. He eats a lot of fruit with vitamin c in . At mealtimes.

Just another though - at that age DS would happily tuck into slow-cooked beef or venison stew. Loved it in fact!

I was going to cook a steak pie. And cook the steak slowly to make it soft. I had forgotten about that, thanks for reminding me. I have the meat in the freezer.

I worried about this loads with ds at that age as he wouldn't eat hardly anything and certainly no cereals. However when I looked up what foods have iron in I found that actually he was eating lots of stuff that had iron in (like dried apricots, broccoli etc) so think I was worrying unnecessarily. I did in the end start introducing formula at 11mo but that was because I was going back to work when he was 12mo so wanted him to be not bf during the day.

Sounds like your ds is doing absolutely fine, if you're worried then go and see your gp and ask about the blood tests. Iron supplements can have nasty side affects iirc so don't think they are generally recommended unless there is a real need.

Get a blood test before considering supplements!
Nutrition advice that I've come across is pretty definitive - don't take iron supplements unless a blood test has shown a deficiency/insufficiency. Excess iron can be dangerous, as the body doesn't excrete it easily once absorbed, so it's very easy for small children to get too much if supplements are used without tests first.
See www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/vitaminsandminerals/iron/ for food sources of iron...

This is all making me slightly . How can she tell me to do something that is not actually that safe :(

This is the same HV that reduced me to tears during my pregnancy. She made a loud , shocked gasping noise when she saw me arrive at the clinic. In full view of a packed waiting room. She was in shock at the 'size of my bump'. She asked how long I had to go and when I said 8 weeks that was what she did.