Baby does not feel well, weak? He does not feel very well and does not want to play? Or is he not confident in himself, overly passive and modest? All this can be manifestations of clinically pronounced iron deficiency anemia (IDA).
Causes
The lack of iron in the body, its increased loss or disruption of absorption of this mineral in the gastrointestinal tract - this is anemia. But so, the axis would say, a trifling reason, how iron deficiency leads to very serious consequences: slowing down the development of motor skills, disrupting coordination, delaying speech development, psychological and behavioral disorders.
In some children, iron deficiency arises from a violation of its absorption in the upper part of the duodenum, where it is mainly absorbed. This is due to poor food quality, low secretion of digestive juices, unimportant state of the intestinal mucosa.
Absorption of iron decreases with infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, with rickets, hypotrophy, congenital and acquired disorders of fermentation and absorption (malabsorption syndrome, cystic fibrosis).
How to treat?
The main goal of IDA therapy is to eliminate the lack of iron and restore its reserves in the body. Most often pediatricians prescribe iron preparations to quickly fill its shortage. But this, as it turned out, is not enough.
Diet
The most important thing in nutrition is the inclusion in foods of products containing the heme form of iron.
Hem iron is found in products of animal origin: meat of animals and poultry.
Non-heme iron is concentrated in plant products (cereals, vegetables, fruits), as well as in milk and fish.
Iron from heme products is absorbed much more easily and in larger quantities than from non-heme products. Therefore, a positive effect is often achieved only by increasing the share of meat products in the diet - liver of animals, poultry meat, beef, pork. Consult a dietitian about the menu!
Prevention
To prevent a baby from having a clinically significant iron deficiency anemia, prevention is needed. Basically, it consists in the proper nutrition of the mother during pregnancy and lactation. Well, if the future mother includes in their daily diet a sufficient number of meat products, fruits, vegetables, as well as products enriched with minerals and vitamins. Especially during the last two months of bearing a child, when his needs in iron sharply increase. If the hemoglobin content of a woman during pregnancy is below 100 g / l, the doctor will prescribe medications that contain iron.
We are growing!
To maintain the normal balance of the mineral in infants, it is desirable to feed them with breast milk up to 6 months. The concentration of iron in human milk is 0.2-0.4 mg / l. This baby is enough to meet the needs of his growing body, because iron from breast milk is well absorbed.
However, medical statistics show that in real life anemia occurs in every third babe. Why?
The main cause of anemia is the malnutrition of the nursing mother. If she does not include heme products such as liver, meat of animals and birds in her diet, the content of iron in her milk will be too low for the child she feeds to get the necessary amount. When breastfeeding is better to use a mixture with an iron content of 0.4 to 0.8 mg / 100 ml. This is quite enough, since the reserves of iron that were accumulated during the pre-natal period, have not yet been exhausted.
However, by the sixth month, they are getting smaller, and the body begins to need more iron, otherwise, if it is deficient, anemia develops. And then it should already come, both from the adapted mixture, and from complementary foods. It is important to ensure that the mixtures for the second half of life contain 0.9-1.3 mg / 100 ml of iron. That's why, as a complementary meal, doctors are advised to use porridges, fruit, vegetable juices and purees containing iron. It is these products that increase its amount in the body, bringing it to the necessary standard and hindering the manifestations of anemia.
"Iron" menu
Rabbit meat mousse
Take:
- 1 rabbit weighing about 800 grams
- 100 g melted butter
- 0,5 glasses of sour cream
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- salt
Preparation
Cut the meat into pieces and put it out with a small amount of water until soft. Pass through a meat grinder with a fine grate. Mix the minced meat with a mixer. Add yolks, sour cream, sour cream, oil and salt, beaten to a creamy mass. Stir forcemeat 10 minutes until smooth. Finish with mousse filled glasses and turn over on a flat plate.
Pudding from the liver
Take:
- 500 g of liver
- salt
- 0.5 liters of milk
- rusks
- 100 g of oil
- 4 eggs
- ground pepper
Preparation
Pour the liver with milk, leave for 1 hour. Soak the cooked liver and peeled onions through a meat grinder, add egg yolks, melted butter, parsley greens, salt. Mix everything, add the whipped whites. In greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, place the prepared mass, sprinkle with oil, bake in the oven.
Cutlets from buckwheat with meat
Take:
- 50 g of buckwheat
- 50 g of boiled meat
- 10 g of onion
- 1/4 eggs
- 10 g of butter
Preparation
Cook the crumbly buckwheat porridge, chill, add the meat passed through the meat grinder, mixed with toasted onion with butter and beaten egg, salt. Form the cutlets, roll in breadcrumbs and fry in butter.