Anaemia in pregnancy
Low blood in pregnancy, low Hb
What it is
Pregnancy needs much more blood, so the body needs more iron and folate. Anaemia in pregnancy raises the risk of a small or early baby. It also raises the mother’s risk of dying from bleeding at birth. Malaria and worms make it worse.
Common signs
- Tiredness and weakness, more than normal pregnancy tiredness
- Pale inside the eyelids, palms and nails
- Breathlessness or fast heartbeat
- Dizziness or fainting
- Craving to eat clay, chalk or ice
How it is diagnosed
A blood test measures your haemoglobin at your first antenatal visit and again later. In pregnancy, a level below 11 g/dL means anaemia, and below 7 is severe.
Tests
- Haemoglobin (Hb) or full blood count — the main test
- Malaria test — malaria destroys red blood cells
- Stool test for worms, where available
- Sickle cell (genotype) test — another cause of anaemia
How food affects it
Iron-rich food helps, but in pregnancy it is not enough on its own. Take the iron-folic acid tablets your health worker gives every day. Sleep under a treated mosquito net and take malaria and deworming medicine as advised. Eat a vitamin C fruit with meals to absorb more iron.
Food as medicine, alongside your medicine. Food works alongside your medicines, not instead of them. Never stop or change your tablets without talking to your health worker.
Eat often
- Beef, goat, chicken and fish, including dried small fish
- Beans, cowpeas, moi moi and akara
- Dark leafy greens: ugu, kontomire, sukuma wiki, cassava leaves
- Eggs
- Fruit with meals: orange, guava, pawpaw, mango
- Teff (injera), millet and flour marked ‘fortified’
Eat in moderation
- Liver — a small portion now and then; it has so much vitamin A that too much can harm the baby
- Milk — good, but take it apart from iron tablets
Avoid or cut down
- Tea and coffee with meals — they block iron
- Eating clay or calabash chalk (nzu, ayilo, shile) — may contain lead and worms, and blocks iron
- Alcohol — harms the baby
Get help urgently
Go to hospital now if you are breathless at rest, have chest pain, faint, have any bleeding from the vagina, or have a high fever.
General information, not a diagnosis. Always follow the advice of your health worker.