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Info on Low Ferritin
and Pediatric Restless Legs Syndrome
Jump to low ferritin Resources
If your child has sleep problems that are SO much more significant than you'd expect for their age. . . if you have tried several strategies to improve sleep and literally nothing has worked, this page is for you.
Important caveat before I start: I am not a doctor. I was trained in this topic by a pediatric sleep doctor/pulmonologist and have read the research, but this is not medical advice and is not meant to diagnose a condition. Please consult with your medical provider or a local pediatric sleep clinic for any concerns about low ferritin and sleep.
This page is for parents who are dealing with sleep problems that are too big to be "just behavior." These are situations when even your "last resort" strategies (cosleeping, feeding, holding) aren't working. Your child seems like they want to be asleep, but they just can't get there. Here are some examples:
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A toddler who needed to sleep on top of parents when they were finally able to cosleep. Even then, the child would be awake for two hours in the middle of the night.
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A three-year-old who bounced off the walls at bedtime (would not lie down), took over an hour to go to sleep, and was also awake from 2-5 a.m. every night. When they finally would cosleep, the parents reported being pummeled by repeated kicks while he was still asleep.
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Another client said that the only way they could get their preschooler back to sleep after each of his many nighttime wakeups was to put him in the car and drive around.
The culprit in each of these cases was low ferritin, which causes significant discomfort at bedtime and/or the middle of the night. It could be pain or feelings of nervousness, jumpiness, or just generally feeling uncomfortable. It causes an individual to need to move or elevate their legs to relieve the discomfort. Little ones will stand or scream to be picked up.
What is ferritin?
Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in cells so that there’s not too much of it in the bloodstream. Ferritin releases iron as it’s needed. Ferritin is different from the amount of iron contained in the red blood cells (hemoglobin). Individuals can have enough iron in their blood, but if it’s not absorbed or stored by ferritin, the body cannot use it.
Babies receive both iron and ferritin in utero, as well as at birth while the umbilical cord is pulsing (Andersson et al., 2011). These stores of iron gradually decrease over the first four to six months. Ferritin is critical for brain functioning, memory, and nervous system development, especially in the first few years (Georgieff, 2017).
When levels drop to a certain point, it can cause big problems for younger children that show up in sleep behaviors. It's also not something we want to take lightly (i.e., get a test "just to rule it out"). We want to be fairly convinced that there's reason to get a test.
For more on low ferritin and sleep, read my blog article linked below and get my Symptom/Risk Factor Checklist. You can also join our new support group or book a call with me to discuss.