Blood work for 9 month old?

Question

I took my baby to his 9 month check up today and they wanted to do blood work to check for anemia and lead. Well when they tried to take blood the first attempt she blew a vein in his arm so they tried on the other side and couldn’t get it. They held him so tight he was red he was screaming and crying like I’ve never seen him cry before and all for nothing since they didn’t get blood!! Is this normal??? Do they usual get blood this early?? Do they usually use the arm??? Do they really need that much???  I have a daughter who is 9 and had a lot of health issues. They took ALOT of blood when she was a baby and never like this. From what I remember they used her foot or ankle or leg or something. He get told me to bring him back so they can try again but I really don’t want to! Advise help please!!!

Answer

Absolutely baffles me that they 'NEED' to do this. In the UK they get zero blood tests... the only reason to do one and put a baby through the stress is if they are poorly

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Relax. Yes it’s normal. That’s when both my kids did it too. And again at like 15 months

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Both of my kids were also tested for anemia and lead but I think it was closer to a year.  If it’s the docs office doing it , ask if you can get the blood work done at the lab instead or maybe even ask if the blood work can be postponed a lil while

Answer

They did this to my daughter at her 1 year old appointment and it SCARRED her from the doctors office! She’s 2 1/2 now and every visit since then she has been petrified!
I don’t think it’s necessary. At the WIC office they do a small finger prick to check for anemia and I’m sure you could buy one of those for at home use if you needed to. My daughter never cried from a finger prick. But the doctors office wouldn’t do that they said they needed a certain amount of blood. 
I have yet to let them do it with my son because it scarred my daughter so bad.

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My twins had theirs done at this age but they did a finger prick, I feel as though a blood draw is a little much for a 9 month old 😔

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It is not normal where I live. Seems really weird to me that they would do it for no reason.

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My son gets monthly lab work done for a medical condition and they take it from his arm. Ask if you can go to a lab center like Quest Labs or LabCorp where that’s all they do. I found they do it way more efficiently and get it the first try every time vs the nurses at the doctors offices.

Answer

Yes. My daughter had bloodwork at a lab done at 4 days and they needed 7mls. They werent trained to take it from anywhere except her arm. If its in a hospital the techs are usually trained better and can retrieve it from more areas. Even when we took her back to the geneticists office at a month they could only do the wrist or the arm

Answer

Yes, it’s normal. They need to check for anemia because after six months babies need a lot more iron than before. Anemia can be dangerous if it gets too severe. However, I’m so sorry it was so traumatising for you and your little one. That sounds really awful. I hope next time you go they are able to make the process smoother. Can you bring something to distract like bubbles or anything at all to help your little one? That’s what we do at the hospital.

Answer

They usually do it at a year old. I always drive my daughter to the children’s hospital for bloodwork. The phlebotomists there are amazing and it’s not traumatizing at all.

Blood work for 9 month old?

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