Hopefully an easy question  

Had another set of bloods back yesterday and at 28 weeks was told that my hemoglobin levels are low so need to take iron supplements.  I know this is fairly standard practice at this time so I took half of one (went with the solubles ones as thought they were easier to absorb and I’m also naturally suspicious of medicines/supplements) and within 30 minutes I was feeling really sick.  I know this is a known side effect but to be honest I don’t want to feel like this every morning especially as my third trimester is proving to be my healthiest.

My question…..Did any of you buck the trend and not ‘do as you were told’ and just eat more green vegetables?  Naturally I don’t want our baby to suffer so am interested in what you all opted to do.

Many thanks for your experiences, Jen x

Iron supplements make me sick too.  I always show up with a low iron count at this point, because I don’t store iron.  Low iron in mid to late pregnancy is totally totally normal.  Baby isn’t going to suffer for it unless you are *seriously* restricting your diet, and it is absolutely NOT linked to problems with post-birth bleeding (that’s a myth, but one that midwives often bring up).  You are quite free to decline supplements.  I do.  I don’t change my diet either lol, because I’m still sick at this point in my pregnancy and keeping food down is my main priority - above and beyond trying to gorge on a particular food group just to pass a relatively arbitrary test.   

I’m *just* within their supposed safe levels right now (at 34 weeks) so I’ll be signed off for home birth next week and am not due more blood tests so will not have to have any more daft conversations about my iron levels.  Thankfully my midwife is hands-off and alternative friendly and offered to prescribe spatone if I want it, or if not to sign me off for home birth anyway. 

Your options are: ignore them, keep eating a variety of foods, and be prepared to have arguments if your iron levels stay low; start eating as much as you can of green leafy veg, plus preferably red meat and egg yolks; start taking a mineral supplement like floradix or spatone which are easier to digest and more bioavailable, so probably won’t make you sick; take the tablets and put up with the sickness (and hope that you are keeping the tablets down). 

Worst case scenario, you could be told that you will be declined a home birth or midwife-led unit on the basis of your iron levels, and have to fight for them to acknowledge that your right to informed choice includes choices they don’t much like.  One approach that works quite well is to ask them if they are willing to sign a statement that they are declining your choice of care, which they will rarely do because they are on legally thin ice and going against their code of practice to refuse your choices under these circumstances!  If you’re less bolshy than me, take the spatone “just in case” - but you may have to buy it yourself if your midwife won’t prescribe it (it’s expensive).

Hi Jen. Blackstrap molasses is very high in iron, and also in calcium. You can eat it with bread or in other foods. I tried some earlier in my pregnancy (I’m currently 21 weeks), and didn’t quite like it. But, I’m going to get it again, and see if I’ll like it better this time round, though I haven’t been found to have low iron, but I’ll take it just in case. Yes, Spatone is easier to digest. Take it with a glass of freshly squizzed orage juice or anything else high in vitamin C as iron is better absorbed if taken together with vitamin C. Good luck, and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. Keep us updated. Hugs, Bianca

If you make bread you can stir a little of the molasses into the dough, I can’t taste it this way but it adds the extra minerals. 

Thanks Sarah, that’s a good idea. We make bread almost daily, so won’t be difficult to add in. I also tried adding it to my porridge, and it wasn’t too bad for a while.

That’s why I love this forum - Sarah and Bianca, thank you so very, very much.

I live in Brussels at the moment and so have just spent the last hour or so trying to source unsulphured blackstrap molasses or Spatone and have found a shop that stocks the molasses so am going to give that a go - I figured i’d rather hate the taste of something than spend the morning feeling sick.  I also love porridge (not talented enough to make bread I’m afraid) :( so will try that.

I’m also not a big fan of green veg at the moment so the good news is I now won’t have to gorge lots of brocolli and spinach

Thank you very much again and best of luck with both of your pregnancies - very exciting times for us all xx

LOL. Don’t worry, Jen, I’m also not that talented to bake bread in the oven. I cheat a bit, but the end result it’s pretty close to the real thing; I use a breadmaker. We’ve had the breadmaker for over 10 years now, and simply love it. Whenever we have guests over, they also love to wake up in the morning to the smell of fresh bread… hmm, yummy… Another beauty of it is that we can put whichever ingredients we fancy, like seeds and wholemeal flour; we use a bit of white flour to make it rise a bit. I definitely recommend a breadmaker; we actually bought some as presents for various friends, and one of them simply loves hers too.

I take Spatone as a precaution in pregnancy because I often get quite dizzy and wondered if it might be low iron - our local chemist does one with a natural apple flavour, and it is *way* more palatable than either straight Spatone or mixed with OJ. If you are buying it over the Internet it should be as easy to source as the normal stuff.

Angie

Just had three teaspoons of molasses with orange juice (thought I’d be brave), pure guesswork but presuming that will be enough per day.  Not the nicest of experiences but don’t feel sick so that’s very positive, think I’m going to make some molasses cookies today…not that i really need an excuse to make cookies

Thank you once again ladies x

Hi. Just to say I had exactly the same as you-low iron levels at 28 weeks and I said to the midwife that I would rather take spa tone and do more through diet,which I did(spatone V expensive.was working out at over £10 a fortnight,but worth it if it worked) but unfortunatly I went back at 34 for more bloods and my iron levels had dropped even more!! So the midwife said that really if I wanted a home birth I had to take the suppliments.Gutted.So have been taking them for about a week now and they have given me tummy ache every night So think Ill mention this to midwife when I go and see her again next week.And she said they would have to do more bloods to check it was working.
But hope it all works out better for you.   I am vegetarian so prob doesnt help maybe but there is no way I could eat meat.

Hi Mummybee, many thanks for the extra information.  I was told to stop taking the iron supplement as it made me feel sick so hopefully you’ll get the same advice. Interestingly, we’re currently attending an NCT first parenting class that we’re now part of and all the expectant Mums (eight of them) apart from me have just been told to put up with the sickness, very bizarre - I’m not sure of what the complications are of low iron levels for a delivery so need to do some more reading.  As a few of you have recommended Spatone, I think I’m going to get some in as a back up for my molasses just in case they don’t work.

Thanks again to everyone and have a lovely weekend x

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/hb.htm

Thanks Sarah - what a great link - I’m going to take this with me to my Obs in a couple of weeks, he’s usually very open minded.  Being informed, certainly takes the fear out of pregnancy x

I took Floradix - a herbal liquid iron (organic iron ll gluconate) vitamin and mineral complex with all of my pregnancies.  Very easily assimilated.  I am taking it now due to massive blood loss and anemia.  It really peps you up!  I buy it in my local pharmacy, deli, HFS or even Sainsburys had it last time I looked.  The iron ferrate given in the hospitals and regularly prescribed are so harsh and not at all easy to absorb.  If that were my only iron option I seriously would rather take non at all!  Totally agree with Sarah too btw, but I take this because it does no damage at all and makes you feel lots better   Hb is a seriously rubbish way of measuring iron levels, it’s really measuring red blood cells - which are ‘diluted’ since you have a larger blood volume when pregnant.  If you are seriously worried about iron levels asked to have a whole ferrous - iron blood check.  I just had one in hospital and it’s far more comprehensive than hb.  What is your hb btw?  Mine is normally 11-ish and usually goes down to 8-9 or so by the end of pregnancy - totally normal I think.

But foloradix - it’s great!!!!

here:
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/933260_Floradix_Floravital_from_Salus_Haus_500ml.html

Hi Mamauk - Stupidly I forgot to ask what my Hb level was (I normally take a copy of all my results but had lots of questions this time so annoyingly forgot) - I’m going to ask at my next visit in a couple of weeks.

I’m personally not worried about my iron levels but having read Sarah’s link, I’m going to ask my Obs if I need the full iron work-up because as you and the link say, it may just be ‘dilution’. I’ve also adapted my diet to eat a lot more iron based products (I’m not taking pregnancy vitamins - not a big fan of supplements) so we’ll see what he says.

Many thanks for the link - I’ll keep that in my ‘useful info’ stash until the Obs appointment and then hit him with all the info now at my disposal x

Just got a new iron persciption from doc-ferrous fumarate rather than ferrous sulfate.Anyone know if this one is easier to take??
Spoke to my midwife today and was hoping she might be fine about me taking non perscription iron but she said my levels were pretty low and I urgently needed to boost them as I only have a few weeks left until the birth.Feeling a bit unsure as to what to do as I dont want to be putting myself or baby at risk but feel a bit unconfident to take the case up with midwife again Last time I had my blood taken it was 9.9.They will take them again on thurs.But my urine today showed up as low iron level too today?!?