9 month visit tomorrow

rainlily

I have read that some babies have blood drawn at the 9 month visit.  Is this because the pedi suspects anemia or are the parents requesting the blood work to check for it?  Did your LO have blood drawn at the 9 month appt?

e_b_r

yes, we did it. our pedi does it routinely at 9mos tho i'm sure we could have opted out.

her rationale was that the iron stores from birth deplete around 6mos, so 9mos is a good time to check and be sure they're getting the iron they need from dietary sources (BM or solids).

anna7602

I don't know about other states, but here anemia and lead testing before a year are mandatory. Our pedi actually gets audited for it by some public health agency.

Bloodwork is no fun, but wouldn't you want to know if your child is anemic or has lead in his/her blood?

webMistress0609

Our pedi does an anemia check, & it was just a finger prick. Ari was like "oh, can I get that? I want to put that thing in my mouth!" & that was it. The nurse said most don't know to cry over the finger prick this young.

caeliesmom

webMistress0609:

Our pedi does an anemia check, & it was just a finger prick. Ari was like "oh, can I get that? I want to put that thing in my mouth!" & that was it. The nurse said most don't know to cry over the finger prick this young.

We had the same thing done at 9 months. DD was more annoyed she had to sit still then b/c her finger got pricked.

rainlily

Thanks, ladies!  I just wanted to know if it was something that I would have to request or if the pedi would do it.  I am also glad to hear that it is a finger stick and not a heel stick with 5 minutes of heel squeezing!