Drinking Too Much Milk Can Cause Iron Deficiency

Question: Our daughter is 10 months old. Last month at her check up, our doctor found her rather pale. Blood tests showed that she had low blood count and low iron. She drinks one to two litres of homogenised milk since she was six months old. Our doctor said that it was too much. We thought that milk was good for her. What do you think?

Answer:

Your doctor is right. The low blood count and low iron are likely because she drank too much homogenized milk, and she started this too early in her life. We have been told that milk is good for our health, and more milk must be better. What we don’t know is that too much milk given too early in a baby’s life can cause problem. Let me explain to you why.

Children’s intestines are very immature when they are born. For the first few months of life, mother’s breast milk is the best food for babies. It is easy to digest, and nutrients are easily absorbed into their body.

Over the last 100 years, scientists have tried to change cow’s milk into something that babies can digest. This probably started because some women were not able to nurse their infants. Very quickly, they found that regular cow’s milk given to young infants made them sick. Through research, scientists were able to modify cow’s milk into formulas. Each formula company has a special way of modifying cow’s milk. Most infants are able to tolerate formula even right after birth, although some are not able to tolerate regular cow’s milk formula, and need to change to “soy based” formula.

When babies grow and mature, their intestines also undergo changes so that they can start to digest other foods. At around 4 to 6 months, many babies can begin to eat cereals, and then baby food. When is it safe to give regular cow’s milk, like homogenised milk from stores? In general, the best time to begin is about 9 months to one year.

You may ask, what actually would happen if a baby takes cow’s milk earlier? Research has shown that babies given cow’s milk earlier than 9 – 12 months can develop slow bleeding in their intestines. This bleeding is very slow and in very small amount, so that parents cannot see blood in the child’s stool.

Another problem that you need to know is that cow’s milk (this includes homogenised, 2%, or skim milk) has very little iron in it. Formula companies have added iron into formula, and this extra iron is needed for the growth and development of children. However, cow’s milk that you buy from stores is not fortified with iron at all.

Adding to this confusion is the amount of milk a child drinks. Most babies should not drink more than one or 1½ litre of milk a day. This translates to 4 to 6 eight-oz bottles each day. Drinking too much milk will reduce a child’s appetite for other solid foods. Most baby food and cereal have much more iron than cow’s milk. If your daughter drinks two litres of milk each day, she may not want to eat solid food as much.

In your situation, the low blood count and low iron (also called anaemia) are likely caused by starting cow’s milk too early, causing some bleeding in her intestines, as well as too much milk every day. Many children with anaemia are more irritable, as a result, they are more likely to get the bottle and drink more milk. This can really become a vicious cycle.

Your only recourse now is to give her iron, in the form of iron drops. When you do that, it is important to remember that you should not give the iron with milk—doing that makes it harder for the intestine to absorb iron. In general, I suggest giving iron two hours after and one hour before milk feedings.

Iron drops can be mixed with small amount of water or juice in a bottle. Your daughter’s stool may become black in colour, which is because of some unabsorbed iron in the stool. Iron can also stain the teeth for a while. Usually it takes several months of daily iron drops to correct the low iron and put enough iron reserve back in the bone marrow, the place where blood cells are made.

One last thought: iron is very important for the whole body, including the brain. Recent research has shown that low iron may actually affect the brain’s development, because brain cells need iron for their growth also. So, get on with iron drops, and cut down on the milk that she drinks. She will be a more energetic and pleasant girl when she gets better.