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Raising a healthy baby: Role of Iron
How your baby eats today has a significant impact on their health throughout adolescence and adulthood. Good nutrition helps prevent child and teen issues such as eating disorders, obesity, and iron-deficiency anaemia.
How your baby eats today has a significant impact on their health throughout adolescence and adulthood. Good nutrition helps prevent child and teen issues such as eating disorders, obesity, and iron-deficiency anaemia.
Infants who are breastfed get enough iron from their mothers for the first six months. After this, a time of rapid growth in infants and the introduction of solid foods, parents need to ensure that the baby gets sufficient iron in the diet so that it does not become iron deficient.
Iron is an essential micronutrient that is required for healthy brain development. Upto 80 per cent of brain development in an infant happens in the first two years. Iron also helps the body to make haemoglobin which carries oxygen to cells in the body.
Iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world and affects more people than any other condition, constituting a public health condition of epidemic proportions. Infants and young children are at a higher risk of developing iron deficiency, mainly due to increased needs during rapid growth periods.
According to Dr Jyothy Chabria, Senior Consultant Dietician and Nutritionist, Women's Care Clinic, “India is the highest contributor to child anaemia among the developing countries. According to UNICEF, 70 per cent children aged 6-59 months in India are anaemic.
“Anaemia in young children is a serious concern as it affects the physical and mental development of the human body. According to several studies, iron deficiency reduces learning capacity of children aged below five years, decreases attentiveness, behavioral problems, loss of appetite, increased infections, lethargy, failure to grow at the expected rate etc,” she said.
“Parents need to take a more forward approach and keep themselves educated about iron deficiency. If they notice any changes or any of the symptoms in their child then they should immediately consult with a pediatrician. Prevention and early detection is key for the future health of the child,” added the doctor.
