Test Results

On Tuesday we went in to get Anna's blood drawn to test her lead level and get a CBC (complete blood count - includes counting amounts of red blood cells, white blood cells (amounts and kinds) and platelets along with relative percentages in the blood). And I thought shots were bad. She started crying while the woman was looking for her vein. Fortunately she had a good one and the phlebotomost got it on the first try. After we were done I mentioned something about Anna not doing a very good job but the phlebotomost pointed out that she did quite well because she didn't move. I guess at this age, that's all you can ask for.

Then on Thursday, we got a call from Anna's pediatrician. Her lead level was fine, below three. I was a tiny bit concerned because we live in an older apartment. But not to much because they did paint right before we moved in and Anna isn't really one to chew on the walls and the window sills are too high for her. There was a problem with her hemoglobin. This is what they test to see if she is anemic and she it apparently borderline low. It's not so bad that we have to put her on any kind of medication or anything but it is low enough that I have to start being more aware of what I'm feeding her. So she gave me a list of things to have her eat more of to get that level up.

The main thing that will be a change for us, is the amount of milk she needs a day. Apparently, she needs 16 ounces. She has been getting about half that. I'm not completely sure how the milk is going to help with her hemoglobin but I'll go with it. So now I'm aware of how much iron (what gets up an adult's hemoglobin) is in foods. The obvious is red meat, which the doctor didn't mention, but there is also green leafy vegetables, oatmeal and cheerios. A bowl of multi-grain cheerios has 100% of your daily iron requirements! Who knew. I guess we will be snacking on that over the goldfish crackers for a while.