1-yo baby anemic?

[bigbabyblues]

Does anyone have any experience with this? My now 15-month old went for his 12-month checkup back in June; his iron count was low, 9.8 I think. Doc said it was common for babies to get a little low at this age, but usually not below a 10. I think that's what he said, it's hard to remember now. It was just a shade below the bottom range for low but common. He recommended vitamin drops and recheck in 3 months. He said it could possibly be something else, or not, he didn't know yet. Isaac hadn't been eating normally for a couple days before the appt because of a cold and cutting teeth. I don't know if that could have affected it or not.

Fast forward to today. Our doc has been called up to serve in the military (he was in the reserves), and Isaac's appointment with his new ped is tomorrow. I'm so scared tonight, I can't sleep. I'm afraid of what will be found tomorrow and in further testing. I don't know why. Celiac's was mentioned as a long shot in our last appointment; my neighbor has it, and I don't want Isaac to have it. I don't know if it's worse because it's a new, unfamiliar doc or not; other doc was awesome, like a friend. You could tell he really cared, never felt like we were rushed or anything. Isaac seems fine to me. He eats like a little piggy, walks, tries to run, says a few words, etc. I was also anemic as a baby, up until I was about 3. I don't know why tho.

Can anyone help me? I'm scared for my baby.

Steph

 

[phillybeth]

I am sure your baby is fine. Take a few deep breaths and go give him a hug!
If he is acting, sleeping and eating fine then he IS fine. He might just naturally be low-normal.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Anemia is fairly common in past the age of 1. A baby has a stored up amount of iron from in the womb. After 12 months the supply is gone and babies can become anemic.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Neighbor has a son that was anemic. He also had sores that would heal very slowly and then he began at 2 to "hate the sun". Then it started to swell him up.
Well she finally got him to someone to help him and they found he had a blood disease.
Now what he has is very, very rare and he is one of only 3 kids in the USA to have this right now.

Do you notice any other "things" that might connect? If not, I would just keep your eyes peeled and make sure you get him to normal levels. Too much or too little iron needs to be monitored.

Being a parent can be scary sometimes.

 

[momof2inPA]

and found out iron deficiency is a common problem in toddlers who drink lots of milk and can be exacerbated by growth spurts.

When my son was little, they thought he might have celiac's. If your son's stools are normal with no blood and he tolerates wheat, oats, and other grains fine, I wouldn't worry about the celiac's. My son's doctor on the last visit said to make sure he eats beef several times a week to keep up his iron.

Edited to add: I'm sure your son is fine and healthy if he seems healthy, and if your doctor suspected any big problem, he would have sent your little one to the hospital for tests. Try not to worry.

 

[dg39]

When my dd was 1yr.old. She hardly ate. I mean maybe a french fry or 2 for the day. She was still on the bottle and drank at least 8-9 bottles a day. All I did was complain to the dr. But he said it was ok for her to eat little, that the bottles were just fine. My older dd didn't feel good one day and I brought her in to her dr. They had diff. drs. at the time. Her dr. told me my little one didn't look to good, she had a greyish color to her skin. He took her blood and at first thought the machine was broken, he took her blood 3 times. The count came out as a 4. She was rushed to the hospital and within a few min. was in intensive care. Yes, she had the lowest blood count they knew. They wanted to give her blood transfusion. I had everyone I knew of get tested for the same blood as she incase they were going to do it. Luckily she didn't need it. After tests and tests they found that she was indeed extremely anemic. To make a looonnng story short, she was in the hospital for almost a week, in the meantime they put her on some kind of iron medicine and then was released. She had to follow a stict diet of iron afficiency foods, shrimp, liver, beef etc. I had to have her blood tested every week for a few months, slowly but surely her count went up and now she eats normal and her count is normal. I remember when her count went up to 10 we celebrated, because she was out of the woods, when it finally reached a 12, all I could do way cry out of sheer happiness and thank everyone in my path. I'm sure your ds is fine. At the time when we were going through this the drs. had said a count of 10 is what we're hoping for.

Sorry for such a long post, but, I even shortened it,as there's so much to say on this subject, I'll never forget it.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Thanks to all, I feel better reading the other stories. DS' appt is in just a couple hours, I'll update when he gets back. He doesn't seem to have any problems that i can tell, so I'm hoping it was a 1-yo thing and it's gone now.

As far as the milk, he drinks a lot of it. I never thought about it in relation to his iron, but he does drink a lot of milk.

dg39-I can't imagine how scared you must have been, I'm glad your dd was able to recover.

Steph

 

[browneyes]

I bet you're right and the teething had something to do with it.