Anemia in the baby is a decrease in the number of red blood cells in the blood and a decrease in the level of hemoglobin. Our task is to understand what is dangerous for an anemia in infants, and how to deal with it. The main danger lies in the fact that the organism of the child at this age does not yet have compensatory possibilities as in the adult. Therefore, any failure leads to more pronounced consequences.
Causes
The causes of anemia in infants include the following conditions:
- lack of iron in the body of a woman during pregnancy and lactation;
- Inadequate intake of folic acid and vitamins, especially B12;
- blood loss during pregnancy, which causes anemia in the mother;
- placental dysfunction, placental abnormalities and circulatory disturbances;
- rhesus-conflict during pregnancy ;
- often anemia occurs in premature infants;
- intrauterine infection;
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in the child, in which the absorption of iron is impaired;
- severe kidney diseases (they secrete a substance that stimulates the formation and maturation of erythrocytes).
Signs of anemia in the baby often arise if it is on artificial feeding. This is especially true when fed with cow or goat milk , which, although useful, but not balanced enough for essential nutrients.
Main manifestations
For timely detection of this pathology, it is important to be guided in the main signs. So, the symptoms of anemia in the baby will be the following:
- Astheno-neurotic syndrome, which manifests itself in general weakness and psychoemotional disorders. The child is inactive, emotionally labile, crying, irritable. The dream is broken. With prolonged course, there is a delay in development.
- Decrease or absence of appetite, as consequence, absence of an increase and decrease in body weight.
- Pale and dry skin. Hair becomes weak and dull, and fingernails easily break.
- From the cardiovascular system there are nonspecific symptoms, such as heart palpitations, dyspnea, auscultation is possible noise.
- The activity of the immune system decreases and as a result - frequent colds.
- Often there are stomatites, characteristic presence of cracks around of a mouth.
If there are any of these symptoms, you need to contact the pediatrician and donate blood for clinical analysis. And with the confirmation of the diagnosis should begin to treat anemia. To suspect this or that type of anemia and its cause help shape and size of red blood cells.
Therapeutic tactics
Treatment of anemia in infants should be based on the elimination of the cause that caused this condition. If the child is on artificial feeding, then it is necessary to use the mixtures enriched with iron (since it is the deficiency of this element that most often causes a decrease in the level of hemoglobin).
When breastfeeding correct your diet, eat more iron-containing foods (liver, vegetables, wheat bran and others). When the baby has reached the age of six months, it is time to introduce complementary foods. And in some cases it is done even earlier.
Now let's look at how to treat anemia in a baby, and what drugs can be used. After all, it is not always possible to raise the level of hemoglobin and red blood cells, just correcting the deficiencies in the diet.
In medical practice, to combat iron deficiency in infants, use Ferrum Lek in syrup, drops of Maltofer and Aktiferrin. For greater efficiency, ascorbic acid is additionally recommended. To correct the deficiency of folic acid and vitamin B12 take appropriate medicines.