Sad wake up call

Brandon had his 9 month check up last Wednesday. He weighed in at 22 lbs and 9 oz and was 28 1.2 inches long. I forgot my camera because I was in a hurry to get there. I had to wake up Brandon early from his nap so I was rushed. I only mention that because I didn't get a 9 month photo at the Dr's. I took one later on our bed so you can see his size.

They gave him a tb shot and took blood from his arm for normal testing. They said unless I got a call, not to worry about the results.

I got a call on Monday.

After playing phonetag for a few hours, I was finally able to talk to the doctor. Brandon has low iron and is anemic. Apparently, this can happen in babies this age because from about 6 months, he used up the store of iron from me and should get iron from food. Apparently the iron in breastmilk after this, is not enough. Since Brandon is eating table food...but still in small quantities, and isn't getting formula that is fortified with iron, he is low. He was prescribed with iron vitamin drops that he needs to take daily for 3 months. And also, I need to feed him egg yolks, green veggies, particularly kale etc. because it's high in iron. But with it, he needs to eat vitamin C for absorption. And along with that Fat. *sigh* The question is: how do you get all this into a baby in a high enough quantity, when the baby still barely eats anything?

This morning found Brandon and I at Fairway. We bought various iron rich foods, including Kale. How do you cook Kale? Apparently, everyone wants to know. When I was in line at the seafood department to buy Salmon, the butcher asked me that very question, "Maam, if you don't mind me asking, how the heck do you cook Kale?" I answered back, "I guess I'll find out...my son apparently needs to eat it." We all started laughing. A sweet older woman, told me to steam it and mix in lemon juice or apple sauce with it. My mom would probably know. She probably eats Kale every day.

So, I just boiled some eggs, so the egg yolks will be ready. I found a recipe for it, if it's good, I'll post it.


It just makes you sad...to realize that your baby is lacking something due to you. It's a sad sad day when you realize your power breast milk is not enough. He's growing up...and so must I. Now, I need to be the mom that feeds her child good foods and not just assume he is getting it. So, it's a sad wake up call for me.