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Will Taking Cow Milk Cause Iron Deficiency In Babies?
Hi, i started feeding my 11 months old baby boy with packaged cow milk along with breast feed after he turned 6 months... Since we travelled few cities in past 2 months, he fell ill after we returned home. took him to doctor and he was diagonised with viral fever and cold... and also found he has iron deficiency (anemic) . Someone told me anemic is due to cows milk... so i m confused and I wanted to make sure if its due to cow milk or not.... he drinks about 700ml of milk in a day along with breastfeed. Regards Shilpa
Wed, 23 Jul 2014
Thanks for your query
Your baby is taking your feeds and cow milk(700ml) ,which is indirectly contributing to his iron deficiency.
Milk is a poor source of iron whether breast or any other type of milk,
but the absorption of iron from breast milk is much higher as compare to other types of milk
your baby does not need so much of milk (cow milk) because his food intake of non- milk foods,(which would otherwise contribute to his iron intake ) is compromised.
So as long as you are feeding your baby and are having a reasonable amount of milk,your priority for his diet should be on non milk food items (khichri/dalia/poha/egg /suji/leafy-veg/dal) in mashed forms.
regards
dr kanwar deep
Your baby is taking your feeds and cow milk(700ml) ,which is indirectly contributing to his iron deficiency.
Milk is a poor source of iron whether breast or any other type of milk,
but the absorption of iron from breast milk is much higher as compare to other types of milk
your baby does not need so much of milk (cow milk) because his food intake of non- milk foods,(which would otherwise contribute to his iron intake ) is compromised.
So as long as you are feeding your baby and are having a reasonable amount of milk,your priority for his diet should be on non milk food items (khichri/dalia/poha/egg /suji/leafy-veg/dal) in mashed forms.
regards
dr kanwar deep
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