Low Iron

When the babies went in for their 9 month appointment the Doctor had us do a blood test to check for lead (because of the age of our house) and said since he was already doing a blood test he wanted to check their iron levels too. I didn’t think anything about it since we had done the same blood test with our first DS (although I don’t remember if we checked iron or not).
He called us with the results, the lead test was fine but Audrey’s iron level was very low and Blake’s was low but not too bad. He gave me a list of suggestions and then said if I was already doing them all (which except for the red meat I am already doing) then I need to give them iron drops for the next 3 months.
I got them the drops and have started giving them to them, but one of my friends made this big deal about how stupid it was to be concerned about a babies iron level. So I am just anyone else has experience with low iron levels and does anyone else think my friend sound as stupid as I do right now?

 

I don't have experience (we haven't checked though), but why does your friend think it's stupid. If their iron is low, it makes sense to me to give them iron drops if the doctor thinks it's necessary.

 

Mine have been on iron since they were in the NICU. We were told to keep giving it to them until their 1st birthday.

 

My girls started getting iron in the NICU & we continued to give it to them through 4 months. At their 4 month check-up, their Dr checked their iron levels & they were fine so we stopped. My MIL was a little concerned about them getting TOO much iron b/c I guess breastmilk has enough iron in it, but my girls are formula fed, so I think they're fine.

 

My son lost some blood during his birth and had been on iron for 2 months now. As for myself I have had problems with my iron levels for years so I would rather help my son out now then later. I always trust in my doctor, he is the one who went to med school for all those years. So tell your friends that your are taking your doctors advise.

 

I don’t know if this makes sense but my friend is one of those people who loves to point out problems with other peoples kids but hers are perfect. She loves researching stuff on the internet and then telling you what you should do to help you kid but if her kids have issues you dare not point it out to her.
She also doesn’t like to have someone else’s child to take the attention of hers. When I was pregnant with the twins she constantly made condescending comments and reminded me almost daily that ‘once they are older no one will even know they are twins’ (like that matters to me in the least) but at the time it really irritated me and she knew it. Now she says she doesn’t want to have anymore kids because she might have twins.
The last time she said it I snorted and said “trust me you couldn’t handle twins” I know it sounds mean but she is a work. Since my pregnancy with the babies I have pulled back from her a lot. I was just surprised that she actually said it was “a stupid thing to worry about.”
One of my nephews is anemic and the other is border line so I fail to see the “stupid” part.

 

Hi--I'm new here--I've been lurking for a while and wanted to join...my girls, Lena and Lara, were born on April 21 at 32.5 weeks. We had them on iron supplements until early August. We had some bloodwork done by their doctor and their hemoglobin count was normal, so we were able to stop it. But, I was told to give that and poly-vi-sol since they were preemies.

Looking forward to posting more!

 

We just had our boys in for their nine month check up and they did an iron level check on them. The pedi said at this point they have the smallest amount of blood volume they will ever have (in relation to their size I guess?) and that's why they check at 9 months. Anyway, DS2s iron levels were a little low. He told us to make sure he gets his vitamins with iron (Poly-vi-sol with iron) and to make sure he's eating his fruits and veggies. He didn't really get into why it was important and I didn't think to ask. If his iron is low, seemed appropriate to give him iron and food with iron.