Why worry about a low iron in an infant, you ask??? The answer is somewhat complicated. Iron is necessary to carry oxygen in the blood. If your Iron is low, so is your blood's oxygen carrying capacity. This then results in the brain, which is still growing in an infant, to be starved of oxygen. When this happens, the child is at increased risk of permenant learning disability and mental retardation.
The body recognizes that it is low in iron, so it attempts to hold on to all dietary iron. Unfortunately the body does not do such a good job of distinguishing between Iron and its close chemical cousin Lead, a poison. As a result, iron deficient children are at increased risk of lead poisoning. Lead intoxication causes lots of problems but the most profound is brain damage (made worse by the low oxygen carrying capacity of the low iron blood).
How to we prevent this? We check your child's blood for iron and lead at 12 and 24 months. If the blood is low in iron, we can begin oral iron supplementation and fix the problem before there is damage to the brain.
I hope that this sheds some light on what we do.
Kevin M. Windisch MD, FAAP
Sparks Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
(775) 359-7111
975 Roberta Lane, suite 101 B, Sparks, NV 89431.
www.facebook.com/sparkspeds.nv
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