1. Anemia in Pregnancy
Anemia is extremely common during pregnancy, especially in women carrying multiples. Anemia means you’re not getting enough iron. Iron is important as it helps carry oxygen in the blood to organs, helps in healing, creates red blood cells and helps with general health. If you don’t have enough iron, you don’t usually have enough red blood cells. During pregnancy, anemia can cause problems with the fetus including growth retardation, preterm birth and low birth weight. Pregnant women need 27 mg of iron a day.
2. Exhaustion Could Be Sign of Anemia
You may have pregnancy related anemia if you’re more exhausted than usual. Other symptoms include pale skin, dizziness, labored breathing and a fast heartbeat. Make sure you bring up any of these symptoms with your care provider. A simple blood test can determine whether you have anemia.
3. Take an Iron Supplement
If you do have anemia, your care provider will probably recommend an iron supplement. It’s very important you take your supplement as prescribed. Most care providers recommend pregnant women take small doses of iron supplements several times during the day. This improves the absorption of the iron. Unfortunately, iron supplements can cause nausea, constipation and vomiting. If you experience these symptoms, contact your care provider. They’ll probably tell you to decrease your iron supplements and slowly work your way up to the proper dosage of iron supplements. You should also take your iron supplements with food to prevent side effects.
4. Change Your Diet
You can also treat pregnancy related anemia by changing your diet. Try eating more iron-rich foods such as leafy greens, lean meats (chicken, turkey and beef), legumes and iron-fortified cereals and breads. However, you should be careful what types of iron rich foods you eat. Heme iron foods contain easily absorbable iron, while non-heme foods don’t contain iron that’s easily absorbed. You can find heme iron in animal products while non-heme iron is in green leafy vegetables. You can improve your absorption of non-heme iron by eating something that contains heme iron. For example, have a piece of grilled chicken with a side of green leafy vegetables. Fruits such as oranges and vegetables such as broccoli can also help improve iron absorption.
About this Author
Theresa Halvorsen has a BA in psychology and is a Certified Childbirth Educator (ICCE). She spent two years as a health educator for Kaiser Permanente and worked as a clinical specialist for UC Davis, teaching about health issues. Theresa has written about a variety of topics for LovetoKnow.com and HowtoDoThings.com.
