Iron deficiency anemia is one of the most common diseases in infants. Iron is part of hemoglobin, which helps red blood cells to transfer oxygen from the lungs to tissues, so the deficit condition weakens the baby, reduces its resistance to infections, slows down the physical and psychomotor development. The reason for the lack of iron may be his insufficient intake into the child's body during the woman's pregnancy - for 9 months the baby has to accumulate 300 mg of an important trace element. This reserve is enough for a maximum of six months - and that provided that the crumb did not hurt at all. In infections (especially pulmonary and intestinal), the consumption of iron increases, and its reserves quickly disappear. Well, by 5-6 months, even from an absolutely healthy baby from them, there is almost nothing left - the period of intensive growth begins, the volume of circulating blood rapidly increases: all this requires additional supplies of iron. It is necessary to introduce it with complementary foods!
If they are late or using dishes that are unbalanced in composition, in which iron, or not at all, or there are no substances that contribute to its assimilation, a deficit condition is provided to the child!
A careful mom will easily detect signs of anemia if there is a lack of iron in the blood of the baby. Kroha looks pale, quickly gets tired, does not eat well, lags behind in development from children of the same age, looks sluggish, his muscle tone is lowered, white dashes appear on the nails. After listening to the baby's heart, the pediatrician can detect the muffling of his tones and systolic murmur. But the main diagnostic criterion is the hemoglobin content in the blood. Be interested in this indicator every time the baby is given the appropriate analysis! According to the WHO classification, during the first 2 weeks of life, the level of hemoglobin in the baby should be not lower than 145 g / l, until the end of the first month - at least 120 and then up to 6-7 months - at least 110 g / l.
The most important condition for preventing IDA in children of the first year of life is the preservation of breastfeeding. The digestibility of iron from milk of the mother is 50%! Mom should eat offal, meat, eggs, as well as vegetables and fruits containing substances that stimulate blood formation (copper, cobalt, manganese). These are carrots, cauliflower, beets, apples, figs, persimmons, dried apricots, black currants ... Well, if the crumb is forced to be transferred to artificial feeding, it is very important to use adapted milk mixtures enriched with the whole complex of vitamins and microelements. In the first half of the year, babies with signs of anemia should be given mixtures with an iron content of 0.7-0.8 mg in 100 ml of ready-to-eat foods, and in the second - from 1.1 mg. And on time (that is, on average 2-4 weeks earlier than with natural feeding) to introduce the child a lure!
Swimming lessons for crumbs
You can swim with the baby in the bath from the second month of life, while he has not forgotten, as it did with the mother in the tummy.
WHO recommends
Taking into account the advantages that the mother's mother gives to her baby, WHO and UNICEF signed the joint declaration "Protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding practices" in 1989. Ukraine joined it and even achieved serious success. to the child ". Here, breastfeeding is strongly supported, this is expressed in the early application of the child to the breast, the joint stay of the mother and child in the ward, etc.