Is iron deficiency anemia dangerous for children?

Many children have irregular and picky eating habits, which leads to insufficient nutrition and can easily cause iron deficiency anemia. Iron deficiency anemia occurs in infants and young children, as well as in adolescents. What kind of harm will anemia cause to a child's body? What are the causes? Let us introduce in detail the dangers of iron deficiency anemia in children.

1. Iron content in the body at birth

The iron content in the newborn's body mainly depends on the blood volume and hemoglobin concentration.

Influencing factors: ① Blood volume is proportional to body weight. Therefore, the amount of iron in a child's body is proportional to his or her weight. Therefore, the lower the birth weight, the less total iron in the body and the greater the possibility of anemia; such factors may exist in premature infants and low birth weight infants. ②Blood transfusion between the fetus and the mother, or between the other fetus in a twin pregnancy. ③Whether placental blood vessels rupture and umbilical cord ligation are delayed during delivery.

In addition, there is no definite relationship between iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy and anemia in the baby.

2. Iron deficiency in diet

Human milk has a high iron content and iron absorption rate. If infants within 6 months of birth are fed with sufficient breast milk, their hemoglobin and iron storage can be maintained within the normal range. When breastfeeding is not possible, iron-fortified formula milk should be fed and complementary foods should be added in a timely manner.

3. Relationship between growth rate and anemia

Children grow rapidly and their blood volume increases quickly. Generally, infants use their iron stores to maintain their health and there is no need to add iron to their food. However, if obvious iron deficiency anemia occurs before the body weight doubles, it is generally not caused by iron deficiency in the diet. Premature babies need much more iron than normal babies and need extra iron in their food.

4. Long-term small amount of blood loss

If acute blood loss does not exceed 1/3 of the total blood volume, there is no need for additional iron supplementation and anemia will not occur. However, when chronic blood loss occurs for a long time, iron consumption may exceed the normal level by more than 1 times, which can cause anemia. For infants under 1 year old, stored iron is used to supplement the expansion of blood volume caused by growth. Small amounts of chronic blood loss can lead to anemia. In addition, children who drink more than 1L of unboiled fresh milk every day may suffer from chronic intestinal blood loss. Therefore, it is best not to drink more than 750ml of fresh milk per day, or use evaporated milk. In addition, gastrointestinal malformations, polyps, ulcer disease, hookworm disease, pulmonary hemosiderosis, and excessive menstruation in young girls can also lead to iron deficiency anemia.

5. Other reasons

In acute and chronic infections, children suffer from loss of appetite and poor gastrointestinal absorption. Long-term vomiting and diarrhea, enteritis, steatorrhea, etc. affect the absorption of nutrients.

The above content is an introduction to the dangers of iron deficiency anemia in children. I hope everyone can learn more about this aspect so that they can take some preventive measures. We should try our best to adjust our children to eat more nutritious food and not let them become picky eaters. If iron deficiency anemia occurs, we should go to the hospital for timely treatment.