It must be very worrying for you. I was wondering if you had started giving your baby meat. Meat should be an important part of a baby's diet at this age. It provides the most easily accessible form of iron - and babies love it. Mince (ie spag bol) mixed through their vegies. Fingers of steak to suck and chew on and chop bones - they love it. Most of a baby's iron supplies are laid down during pregnancy. Breastmilk is low in iron (that's the design) but what there is in breastmilk is very easily digestable. Often formula is recommended - bad idea! It's high in iron - but almost entirely indigestable for your baby.
Puree spinach or silverbeet and you can mix it into anything. I usually mix some into mince meat with other vegies as a pasta sauce or when DD was little she liked spinach and pumpkin pureed together.
I remember one of my boys being low in Iron...gave him broccoli, spinach and also liver or lambs fry..both high in iron. I would puree it or mix it with something to disguise the taste like liver with apples. Robyn barker has great liver recipes. Iron is best absorbed with Vitamin C.
Other foods high in iron are kidney beans, peas and lentils, dried apricots, dates and wholegrain cereals and pasta.
My DD likes eggy bread made with chopped spinach - so I just mix an egg with some milk and then add some defrosted chopped spinach (woolworths own brand works best) soak the bread in it and then grill it and cut into fingers. DD loves it.
DS's a funny one - takes the liquid iron stuff down easily, holds the syringe that we use while taking it doesn't like giving it up though, although will happily settle for being distracted by a BF
DH bought some Rafferty's iron boosted cereal (and it's his job to feed it in the morning) DS's not quite so keen on it yet - need to try and have a bit of EBM for it to mix with which can be a struggle to have some left over once his bottles for the day are done.
And we've been getting a bit more into the meat (been trying but DS is often asleep when we're trying to eat tea naps about 5 / 5:30 pm when he gets home from CC and sleeps for at least an hour then).
Been a little concerned with regard to meat as lately we seem to have had crumbed meat for tea so wasn't too sure about offering that to DS but he liked the curries I've been eating in the last week when he's had a taste.
Meat is your most bio-available source of iron. Really iron in cereals and vegetables just don't compare.It should be a part of their diet. Nothing says we have to have cereal for breakfast and meat for dinner. Keep some spag bol and serve it with rice for breakfast - many kids eat so much better when they are fresh in the morning. Or some mince on toast. Sometimes it is worth changing your diet a little to something that suits him and you a bit better. I can't see that there would be a problem with crumbed meat - probably he will just suck the goodness out of it.
I should say it's DH's job to feed DS breakfast, have trouble getting organised for CC and school otherwise and some mornings DS doesn't get solids for breakfast as he's slept in so late but I squeeze in a BF for him. But CC does cook some yummy foods so have asked if DS can start eating that food so I don't have to worry about what I can send with that would seem okay for him to eat. (Dropped off an info sheet about BLS the other day to CC and they hadn't heard about it - were a little concern OHS wise with raw carrot and things like that- but they were quite interested in finding out more and Gil Rapley is out soon in Adelaide for a lecture too!) DS tried their pasta today but didn't really have any apparently but the staff were happy with that as well.
Bookmarks