Anemia Issues In Case Of New Born Babies

Shortage of red blood cells in our body leads to anaemia. They are cells carrying oxygen from the lungs to various tissues of the body. This leads to various symptoms like pale skin, and heartbeat. With proper supplementation of iron in the body.

The reasons for low iron content in babies?

From diet sufficient amount of iron is not achieved- for babies who are known to have enough reserve of iron in their bodies and this can be gained for breast milk for 6 months. To reduce anaemia during pregnancy they should be given plenty of iron rich foods. Babies who are in the bracket of 9 to 24 months are at an advanced risk of this disorder and not consuming iron rich foods can lead to this disorder.

A premature baby

A full born baby has iron reserve in their body which serves that can serve them for 6 months. In case of premature babies these reserves can serve for two months or so.

Diabetic mothers

For a diabetic mother, chances of babies born with anaemia are higher as they have not taken care of things properly.

Low haemoglobin levels contribute to low birth weight of a baby Morning Sickness  and if a mother had anaemia in third trimester of pregnancy chances of babies having them also increase.

Before 1 year introduction of cow milk

Any baby who is introduced to cow milk before a year of feeding has a higher chance of anaemia. Cow milk has low content of iron which toys with the absorption of iron in the body. Cow milk also has an impact on the inner lining leading to considerable bleeding

Preventive measures to deal with anaemia

Anaemia in pregnancy needs to be addressed early. The focus has to be more towards preventive measures. A series of measures can be adopted to cure anaemia in babies as follows

• If a baby has low birth weight at the time of birth, discuss with your doctor about iron supplements and come out with a long term treatment plan.
• Cow’s milk should not be feed to be baby before the reach one year. Breast milk would suffice in most cases
• Once the baby becomes 4 months old and is into breastfeeding. Till this point of time introduction to solid foods have not occurred an AAP recommendation is 11 mg daily iron till the point of time they start to consume iron reach foods. To cut down on anaemia in breastfeed babies this is a viable solution.
• Once the baby starts to consume solid foods they should be introduced to iron rich foods. Meats, fish and green leafy vegetables are the best foods to provide babies.

To detect anaemia in babies a series of tests are advocated. First is the RBC test where blood samples of your baby are viewed under a microscope. A counting is undertaken of the new and old RBC to figure out whether count is normal. Through internal bleeding small sample sizes may be observed to check out RBC loss.