Hi Christine,
Exjade is approved for ages 2 and older in the US. Its safety has not been established for younger than that. I think the recent experience of Canadian Family points out that there may be some problem getting young children to drink the sufficient amount of water or juice with exjade dissolved in it. Normally chelation begins in the 1000-1500 ferritin range. Ferritin readings will fluctuate and it doesn't mean much. As long as it remains low, there is no rush to begin chelation. 6-7 weeks is a good transfusion interval, but she's still young and her blood demand is low. As she gets older, this interval will shorten, but it's still too early to see where it will settle. How has her Hb been between transfusions?
Beginning chelation has always been somewhat traumatic for parents, but with oral chelators it's not as difficult. Most parents have had to learn to put a needle into their child on an almost daily basis. The new generation of thal parents will largely avoid this. I'm really happy you won't have to go through this. Things are changing and when you look at how much progress has been made in treatment over the past 20 years, you can have a lot of confidence that things will be even better as Lauryn grows. We're always here whenever you feel anxious or down and I never see anyone give anything but support here when it's needed. There's a lot of parents of young thals here who have recently gone through what you are now. Perhaps some of them can share how they deal with each new step on an emotional level.