quick clicks

recipes today articles

recipes today q&a

community & groups

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Is Your Blood Healthy?

Low-iron Anemia and Pregnancy

By Sonya Weiss

Fatigue during pregnancy is not unusual for most expectant mothers, but it's also one of the many symptoms of iron-deficient anemia. According to the National Institutes of Health, half of all pregnant women are iron deficient.

Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia and occurs when a woman's iron stores have been depleted. This depletion is often caused by heavy menstrual cycles prior to pregnancy. Women with a history of fibroids are especially vulnerable to iron-deficiency anemia.

How important is iron in pregnancy? "Iron is necessary for both fetal-placental development and to expand the maternal red cell mass," says Dr. Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician in Nashua, N.H.

Often, the symptoms of iron-deficient anemia are easily overlooked or credited to a different health problem.

Angela Leeper, an educational consultant living in Wake Forest, N.C., didn't suspect she had low iron. "During my pregnancy with the twins, I started to become extremely fatigued in the third trimester," she says.

During pregnancy, the body's need for iron increases. The fatigue is a result of the lack of iron, a mineral needed for the production of hemoglobin. Because of this lack, the body's organs do not get the amount of oxygen needed to work properly.

"In addition to extreme fatigue, I also did look very pale and would sometimes feel dizzy," says Leeper. "I didn't follow up on it because I thought it just went with the territory of carrying twins. The end of my pregnancy was during the winter so I attributed the pale skin to being cooped up inside."

Want to see more?

• Are You Running out of Steam? What Every Woman Should Know About Iron Deficiency
• Are You Iron Deficient? A Simple Quiz Can Put You on the Road to Recovery
• Pumping Iron: Reduce Your Risk of Iron Deficiency Anemia
• Talk about it!

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.