At what age does iron supplementation become necessary in low-birth-weight infants?
Prevention of iron deficiency in low-birth-weight infants requires iron supplementation before neonatal iron stores are exhausted. In order to accurately determine when this depletion occurs, we measured the hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, serum iron/iron-binding capacity, and serum ferritin in 117 low-birth-weight infants (1,000 to 2,000 gm) from 0.5 until 6 months of age. All infants received banked breast milk in the hospital and breast milk or cow milk formula later; those with odd birth dates received 2 mg iron as ferrous sulfate/kg/day starting at 0.5 months; those with even birth dates received no additional iron unless they developed anemia. The results indicate that low-birth-weight infants who receive no supplemental iron may develop iron deficiency by three months of age and that a dose of iron of 2 mg/kg/day started at two weeks of age prevents iron deficiency without providing excess.
D000747:Anemia, Hypochromic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007501:Iron / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008895:Milk, Human; D012016:Reference Values
D006454:Hemoglobins; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron