I tried posting earlier but something was wrong with the site and I don't know if it ever posted...I haven't received any responses via my email so maybe it is just that no one responded but I wanted to repost in case anyone has advice :) My 7 year old son seems to be shedding hair at an alarming rate all of a sudden... his hair is long-ish and when I brush it I notice a lot of strands coming out... if I keep running my fingers through it I can get about 30 pieces...plus there is a little on his pillow also. It is not in a specific spot and it doesn't feel any thinner (yet) but it certainly wasn't doing this even like 2 weeks ago. He is completely healthy, free of any known health issues, full of energy, happy etc. I do not give them vitamins because I figured they eat a super balanced diet with plenty of variety and 90% unprocessed "real" food but maybe I need to start... we also don't eat red meat (which we used to at least occasionally) so now I am wondering if I have depleted his iron :/ He has had long hair before and I have never noticed this, although we usually would only keep it long for a month or two and then shave it.... I am so freaked out that something bad is going on in his little body :( Could it be something simple like the drastic change in temp? It went from cold to super hot a couple weeks ago... but like I said before he had long hair in the past and I never noticed this...
My friends son had a bout of stressed induced alopecia. His hair eventually grew back in.... but he looked like he was in chemo it was so bad.
Also - here is a link - http://www.americanhairloss.org/children_hair_loss/causes...
what's happening to his little body is the wrong diet - a vegetarian or vegan diet is NOT healthy...i know the media and such scream go vegan - but the proof is in the puddin' - lack of iron - put the red meat back into his diet. he is too young to go vegetarian in my opinion. It's NOT a healthy diet in my opinion....
have your pediatrician check his iron levels....have him eat more spinach, broccoli, beets and RED MEAT. PROTEIN and IRON!!!
You might not like my answer, but I'd toss the red meat back in. For several years I attempted to go vegetarian. It started in small degrees. I tossed red meat and only ate chicken/turkey and tried to do that limited. My goal was to eventually become vegetarian.
I ended up having some issues with my last pregnancy (complete placenta previa) and was at high risk for hemorrhaging (I promise I'm telling this story for a reason...hehe). My doctor told me to do everything I could possibly do to get my hemoglobin up to a high number due to the bleeding risk even from the c-section. So, I started eating red meat, and I ate it a lot. I also ate a lot of spinach. My doctor was very impressed with how high my hemoglobin got. The neat thing for me was I was shocked at how much strength I felt inside that I hadn't felt for 8 years or so (about as long as I had avoided red meat). I hadn't noticed it was gone, but now that it was there, it was a huge difference. I couldn't go back to not eating red meat after that. Mentally I changed my views and felt very strongly that our bodies need that red meat. And, it wasn't that I had low iron or blood levels prior to this. I was normal. I'm not sure what it is, but something in the red meat gave me more strength.
And, for what this has to do with your son's hair...
After I have babies, I also lose a ton of hair. A TON. I hate it. So, after my last baby, I did a lot of research in hopes of finding something that would help me not lose my hair so badly (beyond the initial hormone change). A friend of mine told me about fat and how important it is for your body and hair. She specifically mentioned fat in beef as being important (organic beef). So, as crazy as this might seem, I stopped draining the fat from my beef. I kept it in. Guess what...I didn't lose nearly as much hair. I had the initial post-pregnancy hair loss from the hormone change, but then it stopped. That was something it never did prior! It used to keep falling out. But it stopped, and I *know* it was from the beef/fat. It's honestly really changed my view around regarding vegetarian diets. It used to be my goal, and I was so close, but now I'm a lover of beef and far from wanting to go vegetarian.
Also, if you haven't watched "Fat Head", you might find it interesting. If you've seen "Super Size Me", it's similar to that, only I like it better;-) It has some very interesting info on fat and meat. Anyway, I'd try adding fat back in and beef if you feel comfortable with that. Hopefully that is all you need.
Doctor time. It could (as nearly always) be one of about fifty things. Nutrition only being one of the fifty. I know most of us HATE to 'go to the doctor for nothing'... but if the hair loss is a symptom of something very serious, better to find out now than in 6mo when other symptoms kick in OR you just go in and find out that 10 or 12 "normal" things in his life are actually symptomatic of the same disease or illness.
Sure... toss some iron into his diet if you're feeling suspicious... but there are a gazillion other sources of iron which I BET is already there.
Sudden hair loss is a "Go to the Dr" thing for me.
could just be new more mature hair follicles are forming and pushing out the last of the baby hair. I seriously doubt it has anything to do with meat, my sons family is totally vegan and none of their hair is falling out :)
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I agree with the other posters in two areas:
1) add the red meat back in - Grass fed/organic red meat is one of the healthiest things you can put in your body!! Or at the very least get some foods in there that can substitute for the lack of the red meat. Spinach, beans, eggs, etc.
2) Take him to the doctor to get it checked out
Good luck!
Kids need a well-balanced diet, which includes meat. Put the meat back in his diet and it should get better. Vegetarian and vegan diets are not healthy for kids because it keeps their mental and physical capabilities from growing. Even if your belief is vegetarian I wouldn't have your son following that belief because he needs those nutrients. Vitamins may not solve that problem because they can't exactly duplicate everything that is in meat.
