An infant and mother with severe B12 deficiency: vitamin B12 status assessment should be determined in pregnant women with anaemia

The vitamin B 12 status of infants depends on maternal B 12 status during pregnancy, and during lactation if breastfed. We present a 9-month-old girl who was admitted to the metabolic unit for assessment of developmental delay. She was exclusively breastfed and the introduction of solids at 5 months...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical nutrition 2017-08, Vol.71 (8), p.1013-1015
Main Authors: Sobczyńska-Malefora, A, Ramachandran, R, Cregeen, D, Green, E, Bennett, P, Harrington, D J, Lemonde, H A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/45
692/53
96/47
Anemia
Babies
Breast feeding
Breastfeeding & lactation
Care and treatment
Clinical Nutrition
clinical-case-report
Complications and side effects
Cyanocobalamin
Delay
Diagnosis
Epidemiology
Health aspects
Homocysteine
Infants
Internal Medicine
Iron
Iron deficiency
Lactation
Maternal-fetal exchange
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Metabolic Diseases
Nutrient deficiency
Nutrition research
Pancytopenia
Parents
Pregnancy
Public Health
Vitamin B
Vitamin B deficiency
Vitamin B12
Vitamin deficiency
Weaning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The vitamin B 12 status of infants depends on maternal B 12 status during pregnancy, and during lactation if breastfed. We present a 9-month-old girl who was admitted to the metabolic unit for assessment of developmental delay. She was exclusively breastfed and the introduction of solids at 5 months was unsuccessful. Investigations revealed pancytopenia, undetectable B 12 and highly elevated methylmalonic acid and homocysteine. Methylmalonic acid and homocysteine normalised following B 12 injections. Marked catch-up of developmental milestones was noted after treatment with B 12 . Investigations of parents showed normal B 12 in the father and combined B 12 and iron deficiency in the mother. Maternal B 12 deficiency, most likely masked by iron deficiency, led to severe B 12 deficiency in the infant. Exclusive breastfeeding and a subsequent failure to wean exacerbated the infant’s B 12 deficiency leading to developmental delay. This case highlights the need for development of guidelines for better assessment of B 12 status during pregnancy.
ISSN:0954-3007
1476-5640
DOI:10.1038/ejcn.2017.85