My 3 year-old has been complaining of fatigue recently and has been looking even whiter than usual... She has a very pale complexion (and blue eyes) but until a few days ago, she looked more haggard than usual, with dark circles under her eyes. She also has a lively temperament as a rule, and complained about tiredness quite frequently for about 10 days -- this stopped a few days ago. Other facts which are certainly connected: she's been phasing out her nap. I have noticed that she has had several serious growth spurts recently. She's a picky eater (doesn't like most vegetables but doesn't realize soup and "veggie balls" are made of veggies, lucky for me !)...

All this made me think of a light anaemia. I even scheduled a blood sample last week, but had to cancel the appointment for practical reasons. I started giving her extra iron in the meantime and she seems better after only 3 days... FYI I make all my meals from scratch and so does her daycare, and she drinks fortified soy milk, so she's probably getting enough nutrients (or thereabouts) by what she eats. We frequently use "meat substitutes" (lots of falafel, which she loves, and tofu, which is easy to add into any conconction). We are lacto-ovo-vegetarians.

I have given her iron in the past esp. when she's been ill (after serious respiratory infections for instance) but this is new to me, there are no other symptoms than fatigue and paleness.

My questions :
- have any of you been through this and what did you do ?
- have any of you ever done samples with young children to trace possible deficiencies ? what were the results ?
- of you gave iron supplements, for how long did you do this usually ? (I am giving 5 mg a day of liquid iron syrup and am not sure for how many days I should do this).


NB I will be seeing the pediatrician soon for a check-up and will ask her the same questions...

and finally...

- what do you tell people who accuse you of undernourishing your child (the "of course she's iron-deficient, you're not giving her any meat to eat !" - type of remark...). I have a few responses which I use but I am not even trying to convince people, they are so prejudiced... Luckily my kid's daycare is very progressive and there are several vegetarian or semi-vegetarian kids and they don't judge this kind of stuff. But other parents, family members and even my husband (an omnivore who is a veggie in the house only) have made this kind of remark...

Just curious to see how other veggies/vegans handle this kind of thing.

Thanks for responding !


Kim