Iron supplements for preemies

[Ice Cold Cube]

Hi all

Ella was 7 weeks early, so when we came home from hospital she was given cytron (iron) to take 0.5ml twice a day. I give it to her in a syringe, but she spits all or most of it back out! She won't take a bottle so I don't really have any other option.

I just worry that she's maybe not getting enough iron She is alert and gaining weight but I still worry. I was badly anemic for a short while in the last month of pregnancy, due to mega bleeding, but was also on triple iron myself to rectify it so I don't know if she would have had more of a deficiency or not when born because of that?

Are all babies early prescribed iron like this? Could Ella get ill by not getting enough? We'll be weaning in a month so I can make sure and give her iron rich foods but what do I do in the meantime if she finds the taste of the iron foul and spits it right back out?

Laura x

 

[AP]

Yep, the majority of them do come home on iron!

Have you tried blowing in her face to make her swallow?

You can only do what you do hun, our dietician said that to us when we couldnt get her to keep it down

 

[labmommy]

We came home on 1ml of poly vi sol with iron. The Munchkin company makes a pacifier style medicine bottle. We could give it to him straight, mix it with BM or formula. It was a lifesaver be ause Jonathan hated the syringe and we had quite a few medications. I have found them on amazon and, strangely, at Marshalls.

 

[dextersmum]

My baby girl is on 1ml of iron medicine each day and it smells like cherry's I put a teat in her mouth just before her feed and syringe the medicine into that you could do this with a bit of expressed breast milk to make him think it is milk

 

[misspriss]

I was not given any supplements when leaving the hospital. My old pediatrician suggested a Vitamin D supplement (suggested for all EBF babies) but no iron and nothing specific for being a preemie. I help LO get his vitamin D from limited sun exposure though, so I don't give him any supplements.

 

[jandksmommy]

Yes, we were iron and vitamin D. I haven't had too much trouble getting her to take the iron but I found she has to be hungry or she won't swallow it. The nurses at the NICU suggested squirting it along the inside of the cheek instead of straight onto her tongue as its harder to spit it out that way, then quickly get her feeding so she swallows it.

 

[Foogirl]

Iron is a very common supplement. Babies build it up in the womb in the last few weeks of pregnancy and so most will need supplemented for the first year. If you can get her to take it so much the better. Try mixing it with your breastmilk in the syringe. Put it right into her cheek and drip it little by little.

Other than that, the only thing you can do is make sure your own diet is super rich in iron. Lentils and Pulses, green leafy vegetables, a good juicy steak and as much dark chocolate as you like! You could even take an iron supplement yourself although they do have some pretty nasty side effects!