I is for Iron

So at our house Noelle has become obsessed with what letters different words begin with. She has an alphabet board book that is sort of a search and find different things that begin with the letter of the page and has it with her all the time. In the book, I is mostly for ice cream. Sure you have icicles and igloos in there too. But at our house right now I is for Iron. This is because yesterday we got a call from the doctor that Kellen's bloodwork came back and he has an iron deficiency.

Over the weekend, Bryan took Kellen to get blood drawn for his state-mandated lead test. In MD, based on your zip code, kids in licensed childcare have to get a lead test. Bryan and I have sort of an unspoken agreement. Since I do all the doctor appointments and immunizations that go with them, he does blood draws. Sort of ironic given his tendency to pass out when blood is involved, but I guess wrangling a toddler keeps him busy and on his feet. So B and K went off at 7:30 Saturday morning and my brave boy hardly cried at all when they took his blood. So while I think it is somewhat ridiculous my kids have to be lead-tested given the fact that our house was built in 1992 and our daycare's house is even newer, since Kellen's blood tests came back with a problem I am glad for the test.

Anemia in toddlers is not super uncommon. Often it is assoicated with malnutrition, but in our case it is most likely genetic as Bryan and I both have to work hard with our diets to keep our iron levels up. Kellen's iron counts are a little low and his red blood cells are a bit small so at this point we are putting Kel on an over-the-counter supplement. He'll take 2 mL of the stuff daily with some orange juice (oh how that kills me as I think you all know I am sort of anti-juice for children!) and we'll retest him in a month or two. My hope is that since he is a good eater (he gobbled up his salmon and his chicken as well as his veggies at dinner the last two nights) that the combination of the supplement and his diet will be enough to correct his numbers. The kids' regular doctor is out of the office for a few weeks right now so we are working with one of the other doctors who doesn't really know my kids. He is nice and super knowledgeable but I would feel a little better if Dr. Burke was on the case. I also am convinced that this is at least partly because of the problems he is having with whole milk. While he likes milk fine (he chugs it in the morning), cow milk can make iron absorption difficult for some people. Maybe that is why he throws it up often (although that does seem to be getting better!) We'll have to see how things go and talk to Dr. Burke about it when she returns. Obviously if we have any concerns we'll call right away, but thankfully our little guy seems to not show any of the outward signs of anemia in babies or toddlers! Hopefully this means he is developing on the inside just like he should be. I know I am biased, but he seems super smart for almost 13 months to me!

The good news? Red meat is pretty much required in our house right now! I try to keep it to 1-2 times a week for both health reasons and cost, but this certainly means that I won't be cutting it from the Saxton diet!