Watermelon mother:
It is said that breast-fed babies are prone to iron deficiency at 6 months. My family has been fed with milk powder. Will there be an iron deficiency problem?
Mother is most afraid of hearing that her baby is short of calcium, iron, zinc and various trace elements. To tell the truth, it is generally nonsense to say that the baby lacks calcium and zinc. But there are quite a few babies with iron deficiency and even anemia! Many babies are found to be iron deficient after 6 months of physical examination and anemia screening.
After working in pediatrics for so many years, I found that compared with calcium, parents don't pay much attention to the baby's iron deficiency, but iron is equally important to the baby.
We have talked about this topic before, so I will give you a good stroke today.
First, how important is iron to the baby?
Iron is extremely important for the growth and development of babies. Iron participates in the synthesis of hemoglobin, which is responsible for the transportation and storage of oxygen in the human body, and it is it that makes our blood appear red.
If the baby lacks iron, hemoglobin can't deliver enough oxygen to the organs and muscles of the body. Not only will it cause symptoms such as listlessness, irritability and loss of appetite, but it will also lead to iron deficiency anemia, which will affect brain development and damage cognitive development.
Terrible is that even if the baby's iron deficiency is less than iron deficiency anemia, it may have an irreversible impact on the development of the nervous system. For older children, iron deficiency can also lead to inattention, decreased understanding and slow response, which will affect children's performance in school.
Second, the harm of iron deficiency to the baby
1, the baby's iron deficiency leads to the decrease of hemoglobin content and concentration, which also reduces the oxygen carrying capacity and the oxygen supplied to the brain, which affects the baby's growth and development.
2. When there is no anemia in the early stage of the baby, iron deficiency will make the IQ of the baby 7-9 points lower than that of the normal baby, and the damage of iron deficiency to the baby's early cognitive ability is irreversible.
Third, which children are prone to iron deficiency?
(1) Infant fed with formula milk has extremely low iron content in dairy products, and milk protein will damage the infant's gastric mucosa and affect the absorption of iron, so infant fed with formula milk is more prone to iron deficiency than infant fed with breast milk. It is best to use fortified iron formula before adding complementary food.
(2) For babies who don't add complementary food in time and breast-fed babies, the iron reserves from mothers are basically exhausted in 4-6 months. If complementary food is not added in time after 6 months, it is easy to cause iron deficiency anemia.
(3) Premature infants are prone to iron deficiency. Premature babies need more iron than full-term babies. Premature infants who are exclusively breastfed and weigh less than 2.5 kg need iron supplements after the second birth.
Iron deficiency, food supplement or medicine supplement?
Many mothers are worried about the side effects of drugs. Even if the baby is diagnosed with anemia, they don't want to take medicine, but choose complementary food. Commonly used are red dates, spinach, red beans and black beans. However, the content of iron in food is very limited, and it is easily influenced by many other factors, such as phytic acid in plants, which will reduce the absorption rate of iron and thus fail to achieve a good iron supplement effect.
Therefore, when the baby has iron deficiency anemia, it is recommended to take the medicine according to the doctor's advice and continue to supplement it for 2 months after hemoglobin returns to normal to supplement enough iron stored in the body.