My 22 month daughter has been diagnosed with iron deficiency. her iron level is 26 with a range of 50-170. ferritin level is at 59 ng/ml with a range of 5-100 and tibc is 398 mcg/dl with a range of 250-450. my concern is could she have chronic illness

Bleed vs diet: serum iron does not reflect the body's total iron stores. Ferritin is by far more important. The serum iron is useful for calculating the percentage of saturation of iron in the iron binding capacity (transferrin level). In your daughter's age group it usually is from inadequate iron in diet. However, chronic bleeding into the G.I. tract must be excluded by testing stool for blood.