Iron supplement for breast fed infants

The current study was done to judge whether or not iron supplement was necessary for breast-fed infants after the fourth month of life. Thirty normal healthy full term breast-fed infants were studied from their fifth to twelfth month of life. Half of these infants were supplemented with oral elemental iron in a daily dose of 3 mg/kg body weight, while, the rest were non-supplemented. At the end of the study, the iron supplemented infants showed significantly higher length, head circumference, and total body iron increment on comparison with the non-supplemented infants. Thus, iron supplement is essential for breast-fed infants after the fourth month of life