Intro and a question

kcbv123 · July 2014

Hi- I've been lurking for awhile and figured I should introduce myself. Until I started doing research and reading here, I had no concept of the complexity of allergies. You ladies are some strong mamas!

I have 2 boys, ages 2.5 and 1. Long story short my 1 year old breaks out in a crazy red raised rash when he has raw apples, sweet potatoes(!), peaches and prunes. It took us a lot of trial and error to get here, but his rash is finally clear! Now it's a matter of giving him food without apples or sweet potatoes. (Seems like every single baby food uses one or the other!)

At his 1 year checkup, his hemoglobin was very low- 7.9. We started a vitamin- poly vi sol, and will recheck in 2 weeks. The doc thought it could be because, until recently, he hadn't had a wide variety of solids and maybe hasn't been getting the nutrients he needs. He's been on alumentium formula, which has plenty of iron, so I had thought it would be enough. He's the oatmeal king but hates meat.

I also worry about celiac with him, because it runs in my family- my sister is officially celiac, and my mom can't tolerate any gluten but hasn't been tested. DS had a skin test for wheat and hasn't seemed to have a reaction to any wheat in his diet, but of course I'm always on the lookout. Any celiac mommas run into low hemoglobin as a symptom?

Anyway, has anyone else run into low hemoglobin issues? Suggestions on foods to try?

Thanks in advance- sorry for the novel!

Salemkitty13 · August 2014

DS is 11 months and anemic. He is BF and has a lot of allergies (dairy, soy, egg, wheat, nuts, oats, rice) anyway I was told to try red lentils for iron. They are supposed to be easy to process and absorb. Good Luck

Thankfulforwine · August 2014

DD1 was severely anemic due to a milk allergy we didn't know she had because her symptoms were silent until she became really sick. Food allergies do such weird stuff. We had to give her a straight up iron supplement, it was discusting! But, once we cut milk out and replenished her iron she has been fine since. It does seem odd that you have been doing an iron fortified formula and eating oatmeal and LO is still anemic, did you ask your doctor if that was normal?

shotzie · August 2014

That does seem odd his hemoglobin would be low while on an iron fortified formula. Has his poop been tested for blood?

As far as the pedi saying the low iron might be due to a lack of variety of foods - that seems like kind of a dumb theory, IMO. The main source of nutrition for kiddos up to 1 year is either breastmilk or formula. If your LO is having formula with iron, and oatmeal with iron, I'd suspect something else is going on. I would have his poop tested for blood to see if he's losing blood through his GI tract, and I'd have him tested for Celiac since that runs in the family.

Sometimes, if a kiddo has low iron, it's because they drink too much cow's milk. The calcium inhibits the absorption of iron. Vitamin C, on the other hand, helps you absorb iron. Since your LO is on alimentum, I'm assuming he has a dairy allergy or intolerance, and is not consuming dairy, so those wouldn't be the culprit.

Anyway, just my two cents.

I hope you can get some answers soon!

kcbv123 · August 2014

Thank you guys for the advice- we've been upping the iron and added an iron supplement. (Which smells to high heaven but he eats like candy!) I'm not really buying the "lack of different foods" stuff- I'm going to make an appointment w a GI to get him tested for celiac. Hopefully we'll get some answers!

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