Treatment of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Children
Iron deficiency anemia results from depleted iron stores and reduced hemoglobin synthesis. Characterized by pale skin, mucous membranes, lips, and nails. Belongs to the categories of “Blood Deficiency,” “Withered Yellow,” and “Deficiency Labor” in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Prevention Before Illness
(1) Rational Feeding
Introduce complementary foods to infants aged 3–5 months timely. Encourage foods rich in iron and easily absorbable, such as egg yolks, animal liver, animal blood, soybeans, black fungus, shiitake mushrooms, purple laver, spinach, etc. Diversify food types; avoid picky eating. Limit greasy, heavy, raw, cold, sticky, and greasy foods. Teach children to enjoy fresh vegetables. Feed milk regularly, quantitatively, and in moderation. For preterm or twin infants, administer iron supplements (elemental iron 0.8–1.5 mg/kg/day) early.
(2) Maternal Hygiene
Treat maternal illnesses actively. Manage maternal iron deficiency anemia. Enhance prenatal nutrition, especially increasing intake of iron-rich foods and fresh fruits and vegetables. During late pregnancy and lactation, take ferrous sulfate 0.2 or 0.3g daily.
(3) Prevent and Treat Intestinal Infections
Treat gastrointestinal diseases and parasitic infections promptly. Prevent and control various infectious diseases. During recovery, ensure adequate nutrient supply.
(4) Dietary Prevention
1. Boil 6 red dates, 3g goji berries, and 1 egg together. Consume daily.
2. Mix 6g each of lotus seeds, yam, Poria, coix, white kidney beans, ginseng, and white atractylodes. Boil with water for 40 minutes. Remove ginseng and white atractylodes, add 150g rice, and simmer into porridge. Serve in portions with sugar. Can be eaten regularly.
Post-Illness Prevention
Though not life-threatening, this condition affects normal growth and development in infants and young children, possibly leading to hepatosplenomegaly or heart failure. It worsens due to improper feeding or other intestinal diseases and infections.
(1) Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment
1. Spleen-Stomach Weakness Type: Use Yigong San Modified. Ingredients: Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria, Citrus peel, Pinellia ternata.
2. Qi-Blood Deficiency Type: Use Bazi Tang Modified. Ingredients: Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria, Fried Glycyrrhiza, Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Rehmannia glutinosa, Paeonia lactiflora.
3. Liver-Kidney Yin Deficiency Type: Use Zuogui Wan Modified. Ingredients: Lycium barbarum, Cornus officinalis, Tortoise Shell, Ligustrum lucidum, Eclipta prostrata, Rehmannia glutinosa, Angelica sinensis, Polygonum multiflorum.
(2) Single and Effective Formulas
1. 8–15g Chicken Blood Vine, decocted once daily.
2. Calcined soapstone and stir-fried soybeans in a 1:2 ratio, ground into fine powder. Mix with jujube decoction into pills. Take 2g each time, three times daily.
3. 60g barley flour, 30g soapstone, 60g brown sugar, ground into fine powder. Mix with 30g fresh rooster blood into pills the size of mung beans. Take once nightly, 1.5–3g per dose.
4. 6g each of Angelica sinensis, Astragalus membranaceus, Rehmannia glutinosa, Rehmannia glutinosa, decocted and taken orally.
(3) Nutritional Dietary Therapy
1. Use the above herbal soups and foods.
2. Boil 5g Astragalus for half an hour, remove residue, add 60g yam slices, cook another half hour, add appropriate sugar. Consume morning and evening. Especially suitable for those with qi-blood deficiency and diarrhea.
3. Add 5g goji berries when steaming egg custard. Eat once daily. Suitable for liver-kidney yin deficiency type patients.<Iron Deficiency Anemia>