>     I am working with a mother who MUST supplement with iron.. she is
>extremely anemic... I suspect that the tablet she is taking are irritating
her
>infant... I would like some alternative suggestions to give her.

There are an array of good food-based iron supplements in health food
stores, but the one that I recommend to mothers who need a supplement is
Blood Builder by Megafoods.  It isn't available everywhere, as it is a
small company.  Their URL and their phone # are:

www.megafood.com

1-800-848-2542

I'm sure that it is not the only good one out there, but it has worked very
well for several clients (and for my 80-year-old mother) so I recommend it.
 It was suggested to me by 2 midwives in our area. You could check your
area health food stores to see what is there.

In the cases in which I have recommended it, the babies were seeming to be
bothered by the ferrous sulfate that the moms had to take because of blood
loss at the birth.  Once on Blood Builder, their blood counts improved
rapidly and they had more energy for taking care of themselves and their
babies. And the babies' distress was alleviated.

There are also prenatal vitamins in the health food stores that do not
contain ferrous sulfate, but a food-based iron.

You may wonder why food-based iron isn't prescribed by physicians.  The
reason is that pharmaceutical companies can't get a patent on "food" so
they use non-food sources for their supplements. So prescription minerals
will not be food based.

Perhaps other on this list will give suggestions of their preferred source.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Upper Midwest, USA


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