Border line anemic toddler???

Question

While i was at school my mother in law took my son to the doc. for a checkup. They told her he was borderline anemic. His hemoglobin is 11.7 My son is 2 years old. How worried should i be? Whats the chances of him becoming full blown anemic? They gave us iron drops, i mix it with juice but he just doesnt drink it all. Im trying to feed him foods that will help but hes so stubburn and wont touch it. Also, what hemoglobin level is considered anemic for a toddler? ( im asking this because the doc. isnt answering phone and im a nervous wreck)

Answer 1

did the dr give you a follow up for a few weeks or a month? if not  make one. I dont know what levels are "normal" so I can not help you there. Try to give him some green veggies.. if you can not get him to drink the drops have him eat them.. put it in a bite of ice cream.. i you cant get him to eat certain foods sneak them in in small amounts in other foods..

Answer 2

the hemoglobin for anemics is 11.0 for toddlerrrrs

Answer 3

Well first of all, have you tasted those drops? They are disgusting! I had to take them when I was pregnant with my first and they made me sick to my stomach.

Start with research.  Find every single Iron rich food that you think your son will eat and make him multiple meals with that included.

Continue to call your Doc.  Ask if you can have another appt to have the dietary needs explained to you better.

In the mean time, feed him every Iron rich food possible (if it's a veggie that he doesn't love, mix it with his Mac & Cheese) Also, make sure his vitamins are Iron Rich or More Iron...etc.

(You may need to add a little bit more juice to make sure he doesn't suddenly become constipated! Careful!)

Good luck!

Answer 4

I suspect he is a milk baby. Does he prefer to drink milk over eating food?  Calcium nutrients wins every time in your body.  If you give him cheerios for iron, don't put milk on it, or let him have milk for an hour.  OJ helps your body absorb iron.  My son was like that at 2 as well.

Cut his dairy consumption waaaaay down.  He doesn't need as much as you think.

Raisins, broccoli, beans, all types of meat are great sources of iron.

Answer 5

okay, first, relax.  getting stressed about his eating isn't going to help matters.  he'll be FINE.

first off, the drops:  you mix them with juice and he doesn't like it.  does he normally drink the juice?  if so, maybe the drops have an unpleasant taste. you could try going with a frozen concetrate juice and just mixing it a bit stronger.  give him only a little bit that he can easily drink at once - not a full glass when he might not be thirsty.

if he still has a bottle, put them in that but not with formula or milk or other dairy-based product.

you could also mix them in his food but NOT with dairy.  calcium blocks iron absorption.

good food sources of easily absorbed iron are dark meat:  beef, lamb, goat, duck, and dark chicken meat.  the best is liver - many little ones like liver if it's cooked in tomato sauce with fried onions.  the tomato helps kill the funky taste of the liver, as does soaking it WELL before use.

avoid spinach - it contains oxalic acid, which also block iron.

do not give him raw legumes and avoid soya/tofu.

make sure he's not getting more than 3 glasses of milk a day.  too much cow's milk is very hard on a tot's GI tract.  it causes intestinal bleeding which leads to - you guessed it! - anaemia!  it's actually the number-one cause of anaemia in toddlers over 12mo.

there IS a slim (***microscopic***) chance that this is an indicator of a larger underlying problem but for now, focus on getting his iron levels back up.

Answer 6

He really is ok.  Normal hemoglobin levels in children are 11-13.  My son was 10.7 they told me to encourage iron rich foods.  This is very common, kids this age are picky.  The drops taste terrible.  I wouldn't worry at all.  I don't think there are any chances of him being anemic.  What you can do is ask the doc to check his hematocrit level to see.  He probably won't do it because it is bloodwork and his hemoglobin isn't really low.  Anyway when someone is anemic they look at both numbers this is the h&h (hemoglobin and crit, (hematocrit) levels.  I sneek some V-8 fusion juice watered down in the kids cups

Answer 7

my Son did this and all his hair fell out.

There has to be a new rule about food.

I see this all the time...

1st Rule: you need to make sure he eats veggies.

Whether you personally like them or not, alot of parents say I hate green beans so I am not feeding them to the child, WRONG., Slap some cheese sauce on those greenbeans to make them more appealing and make them sit there until they eat atleast half.

2nd Rule: You have to try EVERYTHING ONCE. if you hate it then you don't have to eat it again.

3rd Rule: Some kids are what we call TEXTURE eaters.

They don't like the way it feels in the mouth or the way it looks.

Too bad. Try it anyway. you don't know if you like or not until you do. Find ways to get them to eat it.

Candy Carrots> Saute Canned carrots in a pan with a little cinnamon and sugar (splenda works too) and you can use a teaspoon of pancake syrup also.

Eggs> I would not eat eggs much, My mom made eggs inside of toast, She pulled the center out of the bread and scrambled an egg in a bowl and poured in the hole, and

cooked on both sides like french toast (make sure the egg is cooked through, kids tend to night like the slimy egg part)

Be Creative in coming up with ways, Mix Peas with Mac &Cheese and a can of Tuna... add extra cheese on top and bake for cheap, easy and tasty Tuna noodle casserole, that most kids will eat if you try it, you can also use cut up Chicken or Ground Turkey.

Answer 8

I would not worry too much. Just feed him some iron rich foods for a while and he will most likely be OK. My youngest was anemic for awhile...I basically used it to justify giving him cheeseburgers a few times a week. Meatloaf or meatballs would work too. I believe that broccoli  is high in iron...I steam it and my son eats it right up. You could even do spaghetti-o's with meatballs.

You can hide veggies in things and they never know. I used to slip a medium sized jar of green veggies in my meatloaf with an egg. My family thought it was awesome. you can add a small jar of pureed carrots to mac-n-cheese...the color matches.

you could still do smoothies for him. Just do soy milk and lots of ice and fruit to make up for the lack of ice cream. Or freeze the fruit and just do frozen fruit with just enough soy milk to make it liquid.