Paediatric anaemia

Classified by size of red blood cell found in samples taken from the patient. So you get three types, microcytic (small cells), normocytic (normal cells) and macrocytic (big cells)

Microcytic

Iron deficiency

This is the most common cause of microcytic anaemia. Babies are more at risk than adults of this, because as baby needs almost as much daily iron as an man, but eats much much less. Thus, having low iron food can have a rapid effect.

Commonly this can happen from substitution of breast milk for cow’s milk without adding formula. Cow’s milk has a 5th of the iron of breast. For the weaned child, having low iron foods can be the cause. Give advice about this to vegetarian parents.

A symptom of iron defiency anaemia is pica, which is eating non food stuffs, like soil, gravel, umbrellas and small buildings. This is something toddlers do, presumeably trying to get iron from stuff. Worth asking about in the history though!