Iron Defenciency

We had to give it to our son. If the doctor who doesn't give medicine wrote you a prescription, I would think the child needs it. I'm not a big proponent of medicine, however, this is really more like a vitamin.

My Dr. told me breastfeed babies use up their own iron they are born with and breastmilk doesn't contain enough if any to help infants and that I needed to feed cereal with iron to give my babies the iron they needed. (I took prenatal vitamins while breastfeeding too, but iron doesn't pass through to breastmilk.) Or the Dr. told me I could give my baby the iron supplement you are referring to, but they also mentioned it didn't taste all that good and could become difficult to administer. The Dr. recommended and we started at 4 months with cereal and eventually I gave them cereal 3 times a day(breakfast, lunch and dinner). As they got older, they started eating foods containing iron naturally. Here's another list of foods with iron that you may already have, but I thought I would add. Asparagus, green beans, lima beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, dark green leafy vegetables(spinach, turnip greens, collards), peas, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, berries, peaches, plums, prunes, raisins, dried beans, turkey, tuna, and meat in general. If you can, I would try to add these foods and hopefully that will keep you from having to give the iron drops.

I did not like the ICAR supplement. They have to be upright for so long, not eat during the time they take the meds. It didn't work out for us. Total cereal has elemental iron- if you take it, it absorbs in your bloodstream fast.

There is iron in breastmilk, but my understanding is that your own intake won't cause it to vary greatly. But, you might want to consider getting your own ferritin levels checked. Iron is best absorbed from foods, so that's probably not a bad idea to add some of the foods on the list from the doctor. And, giving the supplement isn't really a bad idea either - it's not like a prescription drug - it is something our bodies need. I and both my sons have issues with low iron and I have always had to take extra and my older son does as well.

Hi, B.. I have suffered with iron deficiency my whole life-- combined with a specific type of genetic anemia, which makes it even worse. When my daughter was just a baby, we had her tested and learned that she had the same thing. We placed droplets of the liquid iron vitamin in her milk for about a year. However, because of the type of anemias we have, the iron doesn't make that much of a difference, so I eventually stopped. I did continue giving her iron fortified cereal after that. However, if all your child has is low iron levels due to a lack of intake, then go ahead and give the vitamin in liquid form as prescribed. Then continue on high iron varieties of cereal and such. Good luck. (This is fairly common and often undiagnosed).

We had to do this for my son when he was still breastfeeding. My iron levels are very good and I was still taking extra iron but his iron was still low so I'm not sure if you taking a supplement would give him enough. I wasn't excited about the idea but it went well and was temporary. Our doctor prescribed ICAR iron supplement and our little guy loved it. Iron is so strong and hard to cover up. His was grape flavored (it's the strongest children's flavoring they have and covers the iron taste well. We had to give him the full dose for a month and then a half dose for another 2-4 weeks and he has not needed it since. It's a vitamin vs a medicine. Good luck