well yesterday we found out that Gryffin has anemia, caused by an iron deficiency. The anemia test is standard at the 1 year check up, but before we even got to that point at his check up yesterday the doctor knew she wanted a full panel workup done on Gryffin's blood.
About 5 weeks ago Gryffin fell and hit his chin pretty hard and has had a nasty bruise ever since, that combined with some bruising on his hips (lots of tiny broken capillaries) and the fact that he has lost weight signalled some warning signs. Up until now, Gryffin has been above the 90th percentile in weight and above 80th in height at each check up. This visit showed only a 1/2 inch growth in height and an 11 oz drop in weight in the last 3 months. The dr said that she actually isnt extremely concerned about the weight because he was very sick last week which made him basically not eat for 3 days, and she also said babies tend to stop gaining or even lose weight when they start to crawl. The fact that I am working on weaning him may also be playing into his weight loss.
What she was mostly worried about was his bruising. So, after a really crazy day, 3 shots, 2 toe pricks, and 2 blood draws in two seperate arms, we now know that he is pretty severely anemic. She said that for his age his hemoglobin should be at or above an 11, usually when she sees an anemic kid they are at a 9, and Gryffin is at a 7.
The good news is that his white blood cell count and his platelets are perfect. So there is absolutely nothing else going on. She said that she and the tech both looked over his results and the tech actually looked at his blood under the microscope and there were zero "bad" cells and everything else was in normal range. So this problem is purely nutritional. Anemia in breastfed babies this age is not uncommon. The iron stores that a baby is born with begin to run out around 6 months, so after that they should be getting their iron from other food sources. Well, Gryffin is a notoriously bad eater so that explains most of the problem. Also, any iron that he should be getting from my breast milk, is honestly probably not there. I do not eat much iron rich foods (no red meat for me, thanks) and the dr was actually concerned that I may be anemic also; and that is not the first time I've been told that....I bruise like an old peach.
What we have to do now is give him an iron supplement daily, up his iron rich foods any way we can, offer food all day long instead of just meal and snack times, and give him pediasure milkshakes to increase is iron, vitamins, and weight gain. He took the supplement really well today and really loved the strawberry milkshake he had at lunch. I think most of the weight loss happened last week while he was sick. He was feeling so bad he wouldnt even nurse, and that is one of his very favorite things.
The dr seemed really pleased by his blood work and we are all relieved because anemia can be fixed, the alternatives that we were looking at were much more serious. I am trying to not completely freak out because I know he is a super happy little dude. Despite the lack of physical growth over the last 3 months, mentally he has grown leaps and bounds. Every day he is smarter and more intune with what is going on. He has several words now including, "bye, hey, mama, daddy, ok, up, go" and he shakes his head "yes" and "no" when we ask him something. And he is crawling around the house figuring things out like putting his toys up and getting things out that he wants to play with. He is also a huge mimic, which is hilarious.
I just hope we can turn this around as soon as possible and get him off the supplement and back to 100% healthy. For now, I will just be thankful that it is "just" anemia. God has blessed me with a healthy life thus far, and a healthy happy baby boy.
