Iron after 6 months?

alexserica84

FTM Question--My DD is 7 months next week and is EBF.  I have stumbled on a few articles saying that EBF babies older than 6 months should begin an iron supplement (or fortified cereal).  Our pedi did not mention this to us at her 6 month apt, and even though I try to keep up with "what she needs each month" (we don't get a lot of info from our pedi), I'm just seeing this tonight.  Before I get aggravated that this was never brought up, I just wanted to see if any other EBF mamas had their LO's on a supplement or doing cereal?     DD does get solids once/twice a day...so she gets some iron from veggies as well as BM, but I want to be sure this is enough.
TIA

LittleMissSteph

I'm also EBF. I've been giving DS meat and eggs at most meals as per the Health Unit nurses in my city. I think they follow the Health Canada guidelines. I make my own rice cereal so it's not fortified and I don't give an iron supplement. I've found ground meat is easy but I have to help him since his pincer grip isn't great yet. Scrambled eggs and strips of chicken or pork are also good choices for us. He eats veggies too but I always make sure he gets a good serving of meat every day for the iron.

britab

We told our pedi we wanted to do BLW and she said that's fine but we should do cereal so she could get some iron. I don't know what to do! We tried to give her some cereal and she doesn't like it. She likes broccoli and carrots a lot more.

usernewname

I give the oatmeal cereal. A little more nutritious with fibre. Just as insurance as we don't eat meat as often as we should. But I don't do blw.

Junebug060609

At my son's 9 month appt they did a blood draw to check iron. His was low (he was Bf at the time). The doc prescribed drops (that he hated bc they tasted awful, plus they turned his poop black), and suggested I feed him iron fortified cereal as well as veggies rich in iron (like leafy greens)

spacepotatoes

We are mainly BLW and are also EBF. I try to include iron-rich foods in my meal plans but DD doesn't take in a lot during meals yet. Our doctor said supplementing wasn't necessary but to try to give her something with fortified cereal at least once a week. I get fruit/veggie purées and mix them with fortified oatmeal.

Emmagk

DS is EBF and I just make sure he gets iron rich foods like spinach, kale, beets, meat, lentils etc. he also gets oatmeal for breakfast quite often, not the baby kind just regular adult oatmeal. We don't give any supliments

springbeduk2

I've been (and still am) nervous about iron too. Pedi didn't seem too worried about it at 6 month appt but my pcp brought it up at my annual checkup last month and got me more worried again. I give her fortified baby oatmeal once a day almost all days and then hope what she gets from other food is enough. We only very rarely eat meat but have beans and lentils a lot and she loves them. I looked at baby food meats at the store (so far the oatmeal is the only official packaged baby food I've bought for her - there seems to be lots of regular food she can eat and stuff like sweet potato is so easy to cook at hone for her) but the label said only 2% of rec.dailyamount of iron so that seemed silly and I didn't buy.
will be anxious to see what test shows when they do blood test - may ask them to check at 9 most rather than year if they don't by default do it then.

gutsysneakers

DD gets iron fortified oatmeal for breakfast five days a week at DC and eggs on the weekend at home.

BLW - we give her meat 3-4x a week (chicken, pork, turkey, or salmon). She loves broccoli. I purée apples and kale or spinach. That goes in her oatmeal at DC too. No supplements. I still put in the Vit D drops in her bottles for DC though.

1sttimemomma2013

I haven't started them because we are still battling constipation. She eats a lot of broccoli, eggs, meat and beans though. (Blw). I also don't do any cereals, again because of the constipation.

alexserica84

Thank you all for your responses! We hadn't started cereal because, like several PP, we had heard it could cause constipation-so I was just trying to get her iron req. from veggies and milk. Might try the oatmeal this week and see how she does. Thanks again )

gutsysneakers

If DD is constipated, I throw some prune purée in with her oatmeal. Prunes solve all the problems.

kendy20

Jcrewgirl85 said:

If DD is constipated, I throw some prune purée in with her oatmeal. Prunes solve all the problems.

Wish I would have just mixed some with DD's oatmeal, gave it to her straight and paid for it with a day of nothing but the runs! :-S

gutsysneakers

kendy20 said:

Jcrewgirl85 said:

If DD is constipated, I throw some prune purée in with her oatmeal. Prunes solve all the problems.

Wish I would have just mixed some with DD's oatmeal, gave it to her straight and paid for it with a day of nothing but the runs! :-S

She totes gets it straight up some days. Daycare for the win!