I LOVE being a mom, but I have to say sometimes certain decisions are very difficult. We try to do the right thing, I completely lean on The Lord for wisdom. Yesterday my baby had his 1st check up since he was 1 month old (he is 7 months now), I have avoided the doctor's office because the more I read about vaccines I loathe them more and more. Ultimately deep down inside I know that my children need to be vaccinated - I have peace about it plus my husband insists it be done. So at his appointment the doctor asked if I have given him solids yet, I explained that I am going to hold off and that I am strictly breastfeeding him. She gave me a puzzled look, but it's my heart's desire to only nurse him. I did it with my last child and everything worked out perfectly. So she wanted to test his iron, OK I agreed. He came back anemic. UGH! So she told me to give him iron drops. OK, this is where is gets hard - I breastfeed my baby, cloth diaper him, use natural products, etc. now I have to give him some iron drops with ingredients I can't even say!?!? So I headed to Whole Foods in hopes to find a natural product - guess what they do not carry it! So I called a friend up that is very knowledgable about raw foods, natural remedies, etc. The solution juice wheatgrass but I would have to go to Whole Foods daily to have it done. (Jackie - thank you for the suggestion, I can't do it) With 4 kids in tow everyday going to Whole Foods - not possible. So I get home and explain it to my husband - his response you either feed him solids our give him the recommended iron drops. RATS! So I went an bought the iron drops. Not only does the baby HATE them, they smell and I HATE them too! As a mom I want to do what's right for him, decisions are so hard. This is the part I dislike about being a mom! On another note my little guy is a "little guy", he is only in the 10th percentile. 16.45 lbs and 26"! She said he is going to have a small frame just like my 2 oldest son who is 4 years old and wears 18 months to 2T!
Has anyone had the same situation? Did you give your baby the iron drops?
(Please if you do not agree with vaccines and/or the iron drops be kind with your comments, I am not looking for ridicule but encouragement from other moms)
Thank you!
I took iron drops as an infant and I'm 54 now and haven't had cancer. My eldest granddaughter took them and her mother breast feed her, she's 6 now and she's always been a picky eat even while being breast feed. I know when my daughter was born I was always worrying about what she ate, watched, read. I didn't allow her to drink Coca Cola's or tea I thought the caffeine would be bad for her. By the time she was in college she was trying to score a coke cola while the other kids were out trying to score a beer. But now on looking back I wish I'd gave her tea to drink, she still doesn't drink it today and now they come out and said it's full of all these wonderful anti cancer causeing vitamins and minerals. By the age of 30 she had a colon cancer scare, everything was ok but she'll always have to keep up with the checks for the disease. When I heard about the HPV virus shot to prevent it I knew I wanted my daughter to have it to prevent getting cancer. I constantly checked with the doctor's office to see when it would come out. My sister who has 2 daughters and I had a terrible fight about this she was against the shot my argument was if your daughter marries a man who comes in contact with the virus she risking her life. Well they didn't come out with the shot until my daughter was to old for it and thankfully she doesn't have it but both my sister's daughters have it and the youngest one's pap's are always bad and she has to have biopsy everytime. We try so hard to make sure we're doing everyting right for our kids that sometimes we try to hard, we worry to much about everyting. What works with one child may not be right for another child, they're all so different and need different things, trust your doctor to know what your child needs to stay healthy. Get you a book that tells you the benefits of fruits and veggies and feed the whole family healthy meals. Trust me cancer in your kids is not something you want to go through or the guilt of a diease that could have been prevented with a shot.
ReplyDeleteI have not had experience with the iron drops personally, but if you are worried about the ingredients, why not do the solid foods? If you are making your own solids, you know what is going into them and may feel better about what ingredients your baby is ingesting. It's difficult for most breastfed babies to get enough iron through breastmilk alone. If your little one stays anemic it can lead to further problems {which I'm sure your ped made you aware of}. You are right, making decisions for our children is difficult and may not always look like what we had hoped...praying you can move forward with peace!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Julie @ enJOYing life
www.forfreeyatake.blogspot.com
Love the photo! Too freakin' adorable. Seeing this made me smile for the first time today.
ReplyDeleteMy little girl is considered small & she is about the same size as your little man. The only difference? She's almost 9m old!! He really is a 'little man', hehe. (She is formula fed though.) I'm not much of a naturalist but think its a great thing for anyone who is willing to put in the time & effort. Your doing it with the best intentions. As long as your child is healthy & your taking the steps to keep him healthy- then its all worth it- even if its no fun(the iron drops). Some may give you 'funny looks' or judge your actions- but the truth is that its not their choice. He is your little boy & your only doing what you think is best for him. In the end you did make a tuff choice- but the right one :) He's too cute :)
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel about making hard choices. I have to deal, not only with the choices, but everyone's opinions about every choice I make as well. I think you did the right thing! You have to do right by your son, and if he needs iron, you need to provide him with that. At some point, you have to choose between your selfish desires/preferences and what is truly in your child's best interest for health and well-being. Your post just proved that you choose your child's health over all, and that's is nothing to be stressed about!
ReplyDeleteBeing a mom is hard! I solely nurse my babies until they are a year old, then start feeding table foods. I have never given iron drops, but I have never been told they are anemic either. We do not go to well checks and only go to the doctor when they are sick.
ReplyDeleteI hardly know about these things, but would upping your iron intake by eating a lot of iron rich foods help him? I gave the drops to my little ones, and have seen no problems. My husband insisted I vaccinate also, so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteI think every family has to weight the choices. We went back and forth with the idea of shots and decided for us they were the right choice.
ReplyDeleteNot all my friends made the same choice. It was the right one for them.
I suffer from anemia and I hate to take iron. Not because of the taste or side effects, but because I want to get iron naturally. This stubborn mind set has landed me in the hospital for two blood transfusions in the last four years. I've now learned my lesson and I take iron every other day and I eat an iron rich diet since it gets so bad.
ReplyDeleteFor my children, I try very hard to put iron in their diet. My oldest was anemic and she refused the iron drops. Thankfully she was almost one so I just added iron rich foods into her diet. Perhaps you can just add solids that are rich in iron and continue to breast feed. Also, check out if upping the iron in your diet will help????
As for the vaccinations. I don't follow the schedule. I know that they need them, but not that fast. I worked out a schedule with my doc so they only get 1 shot at a time and it's spread out over 4 years instead of 2. It makes me feel better and it protects them. It is more visits, but I just go in and a nurse gives them a shot, so there is no co-pay. Talk to your doctor if that's something that you'd be interested in.
It's so hard trying to do right by your child. I believe that as long as I'm not doing something that I'm uncomfortable doing, then it's the right decision. For me, maybe not for others, and that's all that matters.
I hope this helps! Have a wonderful Sunday.
I nursed my daughter only, till she was 8 1/2 months old before I even attempted to give her baby food, and I started out slowly. She wasn't ready sooner. She sat late, crawled late, and walked late, she was 15 1/2 months old when she first walked.
ReplyDeleteI too had to give her iron drops, there isn't anything natural about them, but they work, you don't want him to be anemic. You can also eat more iron rich foods yourself and take a supplement. Ask his ped. if this would help him? I haven't had my daughter checked since they told me the one time that she was anemic. But I probably should.
Now she is a great eater!
It is super hard being a mom sometimes! I nursed most of my boys - the oldest wouldn't even try it and was lucky enough not to have to give them the iron drops. But, when I was young I had to take them because I was anemic. Because I had anemia, I always tried to eat lots of iron rich food like meats and spinach while I nursed. That might help?
ReplyDeleteYou can use fermented cod liver oil from green pastures and rub it on his bum. He will absorb the iron through his skin.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love and respect my husband I have a God given duty to protect my kids. I research and pray about every decision we have to make and if my husband doesn't do the research he doesn't get a say. Decisions should be made fully inform and prayfully.
We vaccinated our two older children fully, the third selectively. The fourth received one shot at 4 months and had the same type of reaction as my second (I was told there was no way vaccines did that). I have two vaccine injured children as a result. I started researching by reading vaccine manufacture inserts, looking at the CDC for disease prevalence, and Vaers for the rate of vaccine injury (its estimated that only ten percent are reported).
By reading labels I learned that vaccine are made with aborted fetal cell lines (human diploid cells) and a whole host of other neurotoxins and animal DNA. I learned that they are not evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility. I learned that they cause SIDS as stated on the insert.
They bipass a huge section of the immune system not conferring true immunity but simply a vaccinated status that wains with time.
I am not against ppl who vaccinate as long as they are fully informed and the little piece of paper the doctor gives you is not fully informed. For those that choose to vaccinate I wish there were safer vaccines.
Has your husband looked at the inserts, study the numbers at the CDC(since he demands)? Its clear that you don't want to vaccinate. I ask not with critism but as a mother who trusted mainstream medicine and have children that payed the price.
(when I say vaccine injury I do not mean autism)
I nursed both my children for like forever, but did start solids around 6 months, slowly. The shots tormented me for the first 2 years. I always dreaded them. Being a mom is the hardest job I'll have ever done. It's still a learning process.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same situation. He has had a low hemoglobin level since he was 1 in May. I refusted to give him drops and at his 15 month he was still low (though a little higher). We've been on the GAPS diet for 2 weeks now and I had his hemo tested again and it hasn't changed. He doesn't eat many solids. I am still breastfeeding. He likes fruit more than anything. I am cooking with bone broth a lot, so I am hoping that will absorbe some iron in his food that he does eat. The last appointment, my doctor told me I needed to get him on the iron drops. I am still refusing... :-)I might have him checked in another month to see where we are at. I have no advice, just looking for help, too!
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