Iron deficiency or anemia is one of the most common health issues found in children. It affects toddlers’ healthy development and sometimes leads to conditions such as extreme lethargy and weakness. According to Montessori Brea CA, anemia can cause severe long-term repercussions, so parents need to understand the problem and act promptly.

What is anemia in toddlers?

Anime is a common health problem in children. It is a condition where the kids’ body develops a low count of red blood cells and brings low levels of hemoglobin. Low hemoglobin level leads to insufficient oxygen circulation in their body. Under this situation, cells are unable to perform vital cellular processes, and this impacts toddlers’ healthy growth and well-being.

Causes of anemia:

As claimed by Montessori Hacienda Heights CA, there are primary 4 reasons that cause anemia in toddlers.

• Poor diet: children are most at risk for iron deficiency because of their higher need for iron. A diet that is poor in the source of iron can lead to iron deficiency in children.
• Rapid destruction of red blood cells: rapid destruction of RBCs is a normal process and is called hemolysis. But in certain scenarios, the body is unable to balance the pace of RBCs destruction and production. It leads to an iron deficit called hemolyticanemia. Rapid blood cell destruction may cause by several reasons like some genetic cell disease, thalassemia, and hereditary spherocytosis.
• Poor production of red blood cells: sometimes the bone marrow is not able to produce enough RBCs which leads to iron deficiency in kids.
• Loss of red blood cells: sometimes anemia can happen when the body is losing its healthy red blood cells due to excessive bleeding or acute anemia due to chronic disease.

Symptoms of iron deficiency in children: following Montessori Brea CA, below are the symptoms of iron deficiency in children.

• Pale skin and nails
• Irritability or fussiness
• Lack of energy or fatigue
• Faster and irregular heartbeat rate
• Swollen tongue, hands, and feet
• Enlarged spleen
• Loss of interest in food and wanting to eat odd substances like dirt or mud or ice
• Trouble breathing

Treatments of anemia in children: Montessori Hacienda Heights CA suggests the following tips to treat anemia effectively.

• Parents need to incorporate adequate iron supplements into the toddlers’ regular diet to ensure the hemoglobin level riches a satisfactory position. You can consult a pediatric dietician to make a diet chart with foods that would improve the iron level in your children's body.
• If a toddler is unable to produce enough RBCs, he may require a blood transfusion to manage anemia which needs to be done under the close observation of a pediatrician.
• The doctor may suggest bone marrow transplant if the anemia is a result of bone marrow problems. This type of treatment is useful in case of leukemia where the bone marrow is unable to produce healthy red blood cells.
• The spleen is the organ that is instrumental in destroying red blood cells to make way for the new ones but if the body is destroying more RBCs then it produces then the doctor may prescribe some medication to prevent spleen doing so. If medication does not work, then the doctor may consider surgical removal of the spleen as the last resort.