Home birth and poor iron levels

[Robiloo]

Hello all

I am planning a home birth without pain relief... Anyway, my iron is low.. It's always low and I had anaemia towards the end of my first pregnancy and it caused breast feeding problems.

I'm 10 weeks away from giving birth with my second daughter and my iron reserves are becoming low, I'm taking supplements and working hard to have an iron based diet. Ut the midwife I saw at 28 weeks told me that I may not 'be allowed' a home birth if my iron levels do not improve at my 34 week blood checks.

Apart from the fact they irritate me by taking away choices likes that, does anyone have any experience of having low iron and a home birth, I'm trying to understand the dangers etc

Cheers guys

 

[lynnikins]

i am normally quite anemic when pregnant and had a homebirth last time around, my anemia wasnt caught with my second pregnancy in time due to a hospital mix up and I ended up with a blood transfusion when ds2 was a day old,

with ds3 they watched me close and took extra bloods to check my iron levels but nothing was going to get me into hospital, i was doing all i could to help my iron levels stay in the right levels and they were borderline when I gave birth.

at the end of the day its your choice if you want a homebirth and they legally have to send someone to you regardless if you have been " denied" a homebirth under their protocol,

from my understanding it becomes a problem if you have low iron if you hemmorage as your body will struggle to replace the lost blood quickly and you can end up really drained, i didnt PPH with ds2 but lost enough my body couldnt recover on its own hence the transfusion. and at the hospital they are more likely to have blood waiting for you if they know your levels are very low. It drained me alot the birth of ds2 and I couldnt actually get off the bed myself to shower or toilet till about 4 hrs after the transfusion was finished because i lacked the strenght. its really not good for quality milk production either having low iron.

Great news though you can do plenty about iron levels theres supplements out there that are easier for your body to absorb than the iron prescribed by the doctors and you can eat an iron rich diet to help too.
the big thing is wether its your hb levels or your ferritin levels so your active or stored iron levels they are worried about because it takes lots longer to build your stored iron levels

 

[pimento1979]

What supplements are you taking? Spatone and Floradix are more bio-available than some iron pills which are prescribed by GPs...

Here is a link with more info for you as well:
https://homebirthersandhopefuls.com/low-iron-levels/

I swear by dried apricots and pumpkin seeds! HTH.

 

[MrsAmk]

How low is your iron? If I also may ask, what did the anemia do to inhibit breastfeeding? I am a FTM and also anemic and worry about not being able to bf....was your milk just low?

 

[bevan88]

I had a home birth in october, my iron was 9.7 and stores ferritin were down at 8 at 30 weeks! but by 36 weeks i was back to 11 heamaglob and 12 ferritin (still low) I knew the risks, and as it turns out i ended up being transfered due to retained placenta after succssefully delivering my first baby drug free! (but thats another story) any how It is your choice and the midwifes have no right to prevent you from having your home borth for the low iron--I had the same probs in my view alot of community midwifes are out of practice when it comes to home births and feel ill prepared or equipped to deal with them, and prefer not to have home borths to take place due to work loads e.t.c (not having a go at midwifes just the resources and state of NHS).

Good luck, my point (sorry i have rambled) I took 2x spatone with a glass of fresh orange every morning 30 mins before food--this is what helped my levels,

 

[Robiloo]

Thanks for replies guys, some useful stuff.. My iron levels are the same as that.. 9 and stores are down to 8 currently! I'm taking two 14mg iron supplements with range juice galore and a massive craving of ice cubes lol... I'm taking a spa tone too when I can barest, they give me really bad stomach aches but I try and slip on I'm a day. I'm eating tons of red meat and Cheerios and greens.. Doing what I can, cut out caffeine completely aswell...
I'm not scared to fight for my homebirth my only worry is of course something going wrong and bleeding dangerously.. I guess as things progress over the next ten weeks a decision will be easier to make! I'm gonna keep plodding on and hope the levels rise at my next bloods in four weeks.
As for breast feeding I believe it was purely a lack of information given, I kept asking why my milk could be slow, why I would pump for hours and get half an ounce! And they'd say keep going it will come through, supplement with a bottle... No one bothered to check my iron levels and I didn't know anaemia during pregnancy caused more blood loss at birth and then subsequently lower iron levels after... So I concentrated on eating but not with regards to putting my iron levels up.. I also have a gastric band which probably contributes to my iron issues a long with everything else. I'm sure if you keep going its iron supplements and the iron focussed diet then breast feeding won't be an issue, this time I'm wiser to what I need to do and where I can get help.. So I'm going to give it a good go!

 

[Nikki_d72]

I want to wish you all the best - my iron levels were also low, stores down to 8 at 32 weeks, I took 2 spatones in a glass of OJ every morning, along with a 1000mg ester C tablet an hour before food, especially dairy (as calcium stops absorbtion) and managed to get my stores up to 22 in a month, and I'm a vegetarian as well, so it is possible. My Midwife told me that the biggest concern was blood loss as your blood may not clot effectively with low hemoglobin. I ended up having a natural VBAC and physiological 3rd stage in a wee birth centre and my blood loss was minimal with no problems since, I hope you can get your levels up but in the end it is your choice where you birth, so push for the support you want.

Good luck! xx

 

[flubdub]

What is your iron level ATM? My iron has always been awfully low and my MW said it needed to be 10.4 to have my home birth. I'm a vegetarian and my diet is awful. I can't take the iron tablets that the doctor gives you because they make me sick. Last time I was pg, I took Spatone sachets, a couple a day, and got my iron up to 10.3 when LO was born. Anyway, this time, I'm so determined for a home birth, I gave up all cups of tea (tea inhibits iron absorption) and it is the best thing I did. Last time I had my Bloods taken, my iron was 12.4!!!! The highest it's ever been!! Up from 9.4. Although my stores are still low at 9. I have also been having 3-4 Spatone a day.
Anyway, my best advice is give up cups of tea (if you drink them) it seemed to work miracles for me, and drink RLT in its place

 

[flubdub]

There's another iron supplement you can buy, like Spatone but not, called Floradix I think. Maybe that would be easier on your tummy? x

 

[MrsAmk]

What is your iron level ATM? My iron has always been awfully low and my MW said it needed to be 10.4 to have my home birth. I'm a vegetarian and my diet is awful. I can't take the iron tablets that the doctor gives you because they make me sick. Last time I was pg, I took Spatone sachets, a couple a day, and got my iron up to 10.3 when LO was born. Anyway, this time, I'm so determined for a home birth, I gave up all cups of tea (tea inhibits iron absorption) and it is the best thing I did. Last time I had my Bloods taken, my iron was 12.4!!!! The highest it's ever been!! Up from 9.4. Although my stores are still low at 9. I have also been having 3-4 Spatone a day.
Anyway, my best advice is give up cups of tea (if you drink them) it seemed to work miracles for me, and drink RLT in its place

What kind of tea? even herbal? And what is Spatone??

 

[pimento1979]

Spatone: https://www.nelsonsnaturalworld.com/en-gb/uk/our-brands/spatone/

Herbal, non-caffeinated teas are fine. Caffeine inhibits iron absorption.

 

[Robiloo]

I don't drink tea Or coffee really and pretty much apart from the occasional cheeky coke in a restaurant all I have is orange and water now in the hope it will help!
I have been eating so much red meat and cereals it surely has to make a difference, I will definitely give the spa tone another go.. Maybe I can just grin and bare it seeing as there's so much in the cupboard but thankyou I will seek out the other brand!

 

[special_kala]

My iron was 8, my mw once said to me "if your irons don't come up we will have to look at your home birth" I just said I'm having a home birth. My iron never moved from 8

 

[special_kala]

Low iron from what I remember won't increase your chance of bleeding heavily it just means your recovery would be longer

 

[flubdub]

It increases your risk of hemorrhaging x

 

[mumandco]

I'm in the same position though my iron isn't that low really it's 10.7 but it has effected me as I have been fainting and feeling dizzy and spaced out a lot.
I've been taking iron tablets with fresh oj for a week and can already feel the difference.

I was originally going to fight for homebirth if I needed to providing their was no risk to baby but after thinking about it I can't take the risk as I have a family to look after. So I just hope my iron rises enough x

 

[Lina]

Feroglobin is pretty good and available everywhere. For me a litre blood loss equated to iron levels going from 11 to 9, so not terribly bad.