What are the effects of anemia in late pregnancy on the baby?

After a woman becomes pregnant, the nutrients needed by the fetus are generally absorbed from the mother. As the baby grows slowly, the fetus needs more and more nutrients. If a pregnant woman suffers from anemia, it will not only affect the health of the pregnant woman, but also the health of the baby. Especially in the late pregnancy, pregnant women with anemia must replenish blood in time or take blood-replenishing drugs under the guidance of a doctor.

Effects of anemia in pregnant women on the fetus

Mild physiological anemia is a common complication during pregnancy. It is caused by blood dilution as the blood volume increases during pregnancy, which causes a decrease in hemoglobin content. This does not have a significant impact on pregnancy and delivery. But special attention should be paid to the non-physiological anemia of pregnant women. This anemia is caused by the weak constitution of the pregnant women themselves and the lack of one or more nutrients in the body, such as iron, folic acid and vitamins, which causes hematopoietic dysfunction.

People with severe anemia have reduced blood oxygen-carrying capacity, causing placental hypoxia, which can lead to degeneration of the placental villi, hemorrhage, necrosis, and infarction, resulting in intrauterine fetal asphyxia. In severe cases, it can also cause premature birth or stillbirth. Due to insufficient blood and oxygen supply from the placenta, the growth and development of the fetus is also affected. Even if the pregnancy is full-term, the child will be born small, light, and have poor intelligence. Newborns born to anemic mothers have low iron reserves in their bodies. Even if there are no obvious lesions at birth and their hemoglobin is within the normal range, they will often develop anemia soon after birth due to insufficient iron reserves, and the consequences are very serious.

Causes of anemia in pregnant women

One reason is that pregnant women are iron deficient in their bodies before becoming pregnant. If the pregnant woman has a picky diet or has chronic diseases such as intestinal parasitic diseases, menorrhagia, stomach problems, etc., the iron intake is insufficient or the excretion is excessive. As a result, most women do not store enough iron at the beginning of pregnancy and cannot meet the body's increased iron needs. It is easy for insufficient gastric juice secretion to affect the absorption of iron, causing pregnant women to be iron deficient and cause anemia.

Second, after pregnancy, pregnant women's demand for iron increases significantly. As we all know, iron is a basic element for making hemoglobin. The reason is that red blood cells containing hemoglobin are the main force to help us transport oxygen to other cells in the body. In other words, if there is a lack of iron, our body's hematopoietic function will be slower than that of ordinary people. After mothers become pregnant, the amount of blood in their bodies will increase by 30% to 45%. Therefore, pregnant women need to absorb more iron than the average person to synthesize hemoglobin for the extra blood volume. In addition, some iron is needed to meet the needs of the developing baby and placenta.