Anaemia - bit of a rant

[emilyp83]

Hi

What happens if LO is anaemic? Will he need treatment etc?

Louie had a full blood count yesterday which has showed he was anaemic. I had a voicemail at 9:30pm last night to say he needs the test repeating today and to ring the hospital today to organise it. So I've done that and now I've had a call back from the junior doctor at the hospital to say she doesn't think he needs a repeat test, she asked me a load of questions which she would know the answers to if she took a second to look at his notes and then has gone away to talk to a registrar. Why can't they get their act together before they ring me? If one registrar last night thinks he needs a repeat test and another registrar this morning doesn't think he needs it what am I supposed to do?

All I want is for him to be healthy, if he needs some treatment then fine but now I'm just cross, worried and frustrated.

Don't these doctors talk to each other? And who does this junior doctor think she is overruling a decision that was made last night by a more senior doctor!!

Grrrrrr!

 

[Wantabean]

hey dint want to r n r. cam had severe anemeia and had 4 transfusions but that was really really bad when he was first born, wish i could be more help. maybe call for another opinion? xxx

 

[ALI]

Hi don't worry , the condition "anemia of prematurity" is not uncommon in babies born before 40 weeks, due to a low or diminishing Red Blood Cell count and just require a blood transfusion. Our prem had around 7 or 8 in her first 2 or 3 weeks. After the first few we realised that it was pretty routine and they soon start to produce more Red blood cells so it is only a temporary condition. We just thought of them as topping her up when she needed a bit of help. I think by the time she was a 5 or 6 weeks old her RBC count was high enough again and she was never aenemic again.

 

[emilyp83]

In the end they have put him on Sytron and Abidec. His levels are quite low but he's pretty well in himself so they're not gonna give him a transfusion at the mo. He was so well the whole time he was in scbu and never had any meds so its a worry now that things start to be coming to the surface now when he's 9 weeks old!

 

[toothfairyx]

J was anaemic and despite being told by the nurses that they would be amazed if he got away without having a transfusion, his consultant said that there was quite a bit of evidence that being anaemic stimulated prem babies to produce more rbc's, and transfusing them seemed to remove that stimulus. Meaning that babies who had been transfused often needed more than one transfusion. So that's why your doctors may have differing opinions - depend on how up to date they are with the current research.
Because Jamie didn't have clinical symptoms from his anaemia his consultant decided not to transfuse him, although his hb levels were monitored and he left hospital still slightly anaemic and is also on sytron but only 1.5mls daily.
So just because they are anaemic doesn't automatically mean a transfusion, it will depend on the degree of anaemia, the presence of clinical problems relating to the anaemia and the hospital policy which will be different from centre to centre.

 

[Srrme]

It's very common for premature babies to become anemic. Elias was, and he had 3 blood transfusions during his stay in the hospital -- the last one he had a few days before being discharged. Depending on the degree of the anemia, your LO might or might not need a blood transfusion -- at the NICU my LO was in, they said 99% of their premature babies have at LEAST 1 blood transfusion.

The downside of a transfusion, is that it makes their bodies stop producing red blood cells temporarily, which will most likely result in needing more than one transfusion, however, babies perk up quite a bit after transfusions, and by the time they're full term, they should be producing enough red blood cells of their own.

The only reason we consented, is because Elias was having a lot of desats and bradys because he didn't have a lot of energy due to his anemia.

 

[stargirlll]

Our baby had one blood transfusion due to anemia. He was fine when born but count went lower and lower and around the time his body should have started making its own, it was at an all time low. The doctors weren't sure whether to give transfusion or not, but when checked again a few days later it was below borderline so they gave transfusion. It did him the world of good - he had so much more energy. I was a bit worried about the downsides as srrme mentioned, but I shouldn't have been as he was ok and didn't need anymore transfusions. He is on 1ml of sytron at moment and abdiec also.