Hi, folks

I'm hoping one of y'all can help me track down an appropriate reference concerning iron supplementation.

I'm working as a member of the Infancy Expert Panel revising what has now become the AAP's Bright Futures Health Supervision Guidelines for birth through teens. Interesting assignment, and I'm the only LC on the crew working at revising this 12 year old book that had been the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's "baby" until AAP got the grant to revise it.

The issue at hand is iron supplementation for the breastfed infant at 6 months. The panel is generally insisting that all 6 month breastfed infants need to be routinely supplemented with iron. I'm not totally comfortable with that, especially in light of studies by Pisacane that deal with the exclusively breastfeeding for 7months baby who doesn't get anemic by 12 months (unlike those babies who start solids sooner than 6 months). 

Somewhere I found a reference that stated that iron supplementation for a breastfed baby is best done through iron-rich foods rather than giving baby elemental iron because it interferes with the lactoferrin. I can't remember WHERE I saw that. I found relevant stuff in Ruth Lawrence (about iron interferring with lactoferrin) and similar stuff in the Breastfeeding Answer Book, but I can't find where I saw it actually STATE that iron-rich foods are better sources of iron than elemental iron. It is driving me nuts since I KNOW I have just seen it within the last couple of weeks. 

A real research study would be great, but at this point I'd settle for whatever reference I must have been reading when I saw it.

Help! 

Thanks in advance!

Melissa Vickers, IBCLC
Huntingdon, TN

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html