My little boy, Nathan My 10th pregnancy produced my third child, a little boy, Nathan, born 6 weeks early, after spending the previous month in the hospital with high blood pressure. Nathan started to vomit at about 9 weeks of age, and he was constantly under the care of a pediatrician. He was diagnosed with reflux. The periods of vomiting increased and Nathan lost head control and muscle tone. He became extremely lethargic and cried a lot. He could not be left alone for a moment, as he would vomit with no warning, both in his sleep and awake. I was breastfeeding Nathan and was exhausted from feeding him. Nathan would vomit and want me again. I tried to bottle feed him, but he would not even take the expressed milk that I had bought home from the hospital (87 bottles of it). Thank goodness the dog liked it. At 4.5 months of age, I sought a second opinion for Nathan. After being constantly told there was nothing to worry about by his current pediatrician. Nathan, by now, was either gray or bright yellow in skin color. He was like a rag doll with no tone at all, and cried all the time. The new pediatrician straight away said, "He looks anemic" and ordered blood tests. Nathan is now 7, and is developmentally delayed. Because vitamin B12 controls everything neuorological in a baby, without it they regress and lose certain skills. With help, a lot of these skills can be retaught, but there is still an obvious difference. Doctors now recommend taking folic acid during pregnancy, however, it should never be taken without first testing the patients B12 level, as depleted stores of B12 can be effected by folic acid. The only reason I believe Nathan is here today is because, for this pregnancy, I did not take folic acid. With more and more mothers seemingly "doing the right thing" by cutting out meat and animal products, they must be made aware that vitamin B12 must be replaced to ensure not only the well being of the mother, but the well being of the child. There is too much ignorance to this and it was realized by a couple in New Zealand, only recently, who lost their child to vitamin B12 deficiency when they refused to allow a bone marrow biopsy to be done. |
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