Blood and iron

[mmcirvin]

Jorie had her 12-month checkup today, and tonight they called back and said she's anemic. This is not that surprising, since she's so reluctant to eat solid food; most sources say innate iron stores plus breast milk only get most kids to about 8 months.

Still, I'd been hoping that the little bit of fortified cereal she deigns to eat would be enough. Evidently not so, so we'll be giving her iron drops from now on and trying harder to get her to eat.

It's frustrating sometimes; it seems like she'll put anything in her mouth as long as it is not food. Today I tried to get her to eat some yogurt, and she took great pleasure in smearing it all over the high chair and herself but showed absolutely no interest in eating it. I ate some of it myself, which got her interested in feeding me. I got my own spoon so she could follow along, which got her interested in grabbing my spoon.

I did verbally mention licking the spoon at one point, which caused her to lick the spoon, once (she understands a lot!) I think that was all the yogurt that went into her. It didn't work a second time.

Comments

[jinni-x.livejournal.com]

Not even teething biscuits?
Tough crowd...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

She seemed interested in gnawing on them a little the first time I gave her one, but it hasn't really developed into an abiding affection. A lot of things are like that; she'll eat them once or twice and lose interest.

The main foods she really seems to like are bread, crackers and bran flakes, but even those, she eats in much smaller quantities than the normal one-year-old's diet. Sometime I wonder if Sam should be withholding breast milk, but that seems wrong.

[jinni-x.livejournal.com]

Applesauce? Fruit? Sweets? *scratches head* Really tough crowd! I'm guessing she's too young for chewable vitamins? And you tried the baby cereal flakes with breast milk trick?
Do it scientifically: lay out stuff with different textures and see if anything works. Admittedly, I've no idea what I'm talking about, since my son has been happily on solids since 5 months old. He's still vehemently anti-vegetable, though, although apparently it doesn't extend to All Things Green since he drinks Odwalla Superfood.
On the other hand, it's altogether possible that the next phase is just around the corner and Mommy will look back on this time with nostalgia...

[stacebass.livejournal.com]

Kids like this grow up to clean the fridge out when they're 14. Enjoy it while it lasts! ;)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

She refuses applesauce and fruit of all kinds we've tried. Baby cereal with breast milk worked all right for a while, but she became increasingly unwilling to be fed with anyone else holding the spoon, and if she's got the spoon, playing with the spoon is the main event and the food mostly goes all over creation.

She will sometime nibble on broccoli and meat, but, again, in microscopic quantities.

We may just have to get more repetitively insistent; some say you sometimes have to present a baby with the same stuff for weeks on end before she'll eat it.

[jinni-x.livejournal.com]

At this point, I have nothing else to suggest, but I did want to offer a big thumbs up on your #1 (alphabetically) interest.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

My mother did a thing where she ground up every food in the blender, which apparently got me to eat it.

I'm sure you've already tried this, though.

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

How they survive their first three or four years is a mystery. I think every kid goes through a stage where they'll eat only one thing. Lucky for you and Jorie it's not bread and jam.

I'm NOT a pediatrician, but I think: babies are pretty variable, and pretty resilient. If the anemia shows up in her behavior, activity level, alertness, etc., then I'd try harder to get iron into her. If not, and it's just that her blood iron numbers are lower than average, I'd not worry. Eventually she'll start grabbing stuff off your plate.

Which reminds me that messing with her mind is permitted: I noticed that our kids got a lot more interested in particular food items when I made a show of trying to take it off their plate and eat it myself (they might have been older than Jorie at the time). They'd scarf it up to keep me from getting it.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

By the way, when I mentioned licking the spoon, I was actually sarcastically muttering that she'd better not lick the spoon or she might accidentally ingest some of the food. And, lo and behold, she licked it.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...The red count wasn't just below average; what I took from the phone call was that it was low enough to be a little alarming. Yet she hasn't shown any signs of ill health. She is pretty pale, but so am I.

They also wanted to get us back to do some more tests, I think to determine if she's been poisoned somehow or has various genetic conditions that it's extremely unlikely she has (with mostly north European ancestry). The overwhelming likelihood is that it's just diet.

Blut und Eisen

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

History tells us that the best thing for deficiencies of Blood and Iron is a large North-Sea battleship force with a sub-monarchic authority-level for initiating unconditional submarine warfare, and also invading France.

I leave it to you and Sam to figure out how to afford both a new house, a child, and two fleets, one of dreadnoughts and one of heavy cruisers, plus the odd hundred destroyers, but I recommend a property tax on the gentry.

Also, I think it's great that your sarcasm meets with success. If you manage to raise that child using only sarcasm, Mr. Skinner, I greatly look forward to reading the books she'll go on to write.

[megmimcg.livejournal.com]

Have you tried pureed carrots or sweet potatoes? Greta preferred those to fruits for many months as an infant. We found that we would have to try the same food for 2 meals a day for a week at least in order to get her to eat it. Be persistent and see what happens...she may come around.

[jinni-x.livejournal.com]

This might sound a bit granola, but if there were any foods the mother ate a lot of during her pregnancy, it might be worth a try on her.
Of course, my kid likes tofu...