Complications of Adolescent Pregnancy: Iron Deficiency Anemia: Many adolescent girls are deficient in iron because?

Their low protein intake cannot balance the amount of iron lost with menstrual flows. A pregnancy compounds iron-deficiency anemia because a girl must now supply enough iron for fetal growth and her increasing blood volume. All pregnant women should take an iron and folic acid supplement (folic acid is important for red blood cell growth and prevention of neural tube defects) and these are especially important for the adolescent. As soon as the body has iron, it will begin forming immature red blood cells (reticulocytes) rapidly. If the reticulocyte count is not elevated by 2 weeks, it implies a girl did not take the supplement.