Random questions regarding Thal infant

hi guys....

i have a couple of random questions,maybe you can answer.

1) since infant cereal is fortified with iron, what will i start feeding lauryn when she is of age? what jar foods are good for her, and which ones do i stay away from?

2)should i ask my dr about giving lauryn a flu shot? or is she too young?

3)does lauryn need folic acid yet?

4)ive been using distilled h20 with lauryns formula.(ive heard it the most oxygenated).is this correct?

5)is a high mcv good or bad? lauryns dropped from 3 weeks ago from a 93 to an 86. the normal range is around 72-90.

your input is greatly appreciated thanks!!

Love, christine

Hi Christine,

1) since infant cereal is fortified with iron, what will i start feeding lauryn when she is of age? what jar foods are good for her, and which ones do i stay away from?

-> I need the answer for this for my daughter too so I will not take a shot at this .....

2)should i ask my dr about giving lauryn a flu shot? or is she too young?

-> I checked with our doctor and he indicated that they start giving flu shots to infants when they reach 6 months of age. So, I think both Lauryn and my daughter are too young to get the shot. However, I will like to know if there is a differing view on this so that I can check back with our doctor.

3)does lauryn need folic acid yet?

-> There are two different schools of thought on this. Some hematologists suggest that thal major start folic acid early and some take the wait and watch approach. I checked with my daughter's NP and she said that she will check with the doctor and get back to us on this.

My understanding is that folic acid promotes development of RBC and so doctors prescribe it to thals. Based on this my question is that if the thal patient is not producing proper RBCs in the first place, why should we encourage the bone marrow to produce the RBC? Or is my understanding incorrect and folic acid helps the bone marrow produce better quality RBCs? Maybe it does work better in thal minors and intermedias, but will it really work for thal majors? I will appreciate any advice on this.

4)ive been using distilled h20 with lauryns formula.(ive heard it the most oxygenated).is this correct?

-> we use the normal filtered water, boiled and cooled. My understanding is that distilled water does not have the other necessary minerals that the normal water will have, so our babies might lose out on some of the minerals. However, I think that these minerals can be supplemented. Till now, I did not have any issues with using normal filtered, boiled (and cooled) water for my baby's formula.

Any further suggestions?

5)is a high mcv good or bad? lauryns dropped from 3 weeks ago from a 93 to an 86. the normal range is around 72-90.

-> High MCV (Mean Corpuscular Volume) is good as it is an indicator of the available RBC floating in the plasma (hope I got the explanation right). The higher it is, the better. My daughter's was ~83 yesterday.

Hope I did answer some of your questions, although I may have raised some more in the process

Take care,

Bostonian

I agree that you should be using filtered water instead of distilled water. Use of distilled water for drinking should always be avoided if possible, as it contains no minerals and can cause a mineral imbalance in the body. I learned this for myself the hard way and actually became rather sick from drinking distilled water while working outdoors in the hot Florida summer. After vomiting and almost passing out I stopped using distilled water.

CRAP! IT WONT HURT LAURYN RIGHT? I MEAN I WILL CHANGE IT ASAP. BUT THERE WAS NO DAMAGE DONE ?! ( I HOPE)

No worries. It won't harm her. It's just not advisable long term.

Bostonian,

You are right when you say that folic acid helps the bone marrow produce better quality red blood cells. Transfusions suppress bone marrow activity but do not stop it completely. It will also extend the life of the rbcs. But folic acid is needed for much more and because of the excessive use of folic acid by the bone marrow, thals are usually deficient in folic acid, as they are with Vitamin E, which is also used in higher quantities in thals than non-thals. Folic acid has many uses in the blood and is needed to produce all types of blood cells.

From  http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/hw6522

Folic acid is a B vitamin. The body needs folic acid in order to make red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, and new genetic material (DNA) in cells, and for normal growth.

And from  http://health.yahoo.com/topic/blood/treatment/article/healthwise/hw184724

Folic acid, which your body needs to produce red blood cells. A person with thalassemia needs folic acid supplements because red blood cells are destroyed faster than normal. As a result, the body often uses up its stores of this vitamin.

Hi Christine,

I would like to add one thing about Folic Acid that it is a water-soluble vitamin and excess intake is excreted and not stored in the body.

So, no worries about getting it overdosed. The RDA is 180 micrograms for women and 200 micrograms for men, but I take a 5mg pill everyday which equals to 5000 micrograms and so far, nothing wrong with me

Take care, Peace!