Borderline Anemic

vrj0522

My DS had his blood drawn this week and the pedi told us that he is borderline anemic which is something I had been worried about. He loves dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese), fruit, and puffs... and that's about it. Everything else he eats very little of. He'll take 2-3 bites and be done with beans, meats, veggies, etc. He refuses cereals too. I am worried though as I just recovered from anemia from a m/c and I know how awful it is.  I am going to start giving him a daily vitamin with iron but need help!

Anyone else dealing with this? Any suggestions? What iron-rich foods do you give your LO?

 

laurelita42

My LO is not anemic, but I do make her smoothies with spinach in them. A strawberry smoothie with vanilla yogurt- and then a cup of fresh spinach. You can't even taste it and it keeps her iron nice and high. She's gotten super picky about what she will eat lately, too... this one always gets the thumbs up, though :-)

blushingbride_08

Can you try mixing some baby oatmeal with yogurt. It is like powder so it mixes well.

Also tofu, black strap molasses, raisins, prunes,figs, apricots. 

Wipz

laurelita42:

My LO is not anemic, but I do make her smoothies with spinach in them. A strawberry smoothie with vanilla yogurt- and then a cup of fresh spinach. You can't even taste it and it keeps her iron nice and high. She's gotten super picky about what she will eat lately, too... this one always gets the thumbs up, though :-)

Not anemic here either but we also do the funky shakes.. hell he even had a carrot puree and vanilla yoghurt with cows milk shake...and he chows it down.  shakes are almost a guaranteed winner if you can get a straw cup with a big enough straw to handle the thickness..some are too thin and hard work.  It's also a lot cleaner than trying to fight with a spoon/fork lol.

Good luck, hope the Iron levels sort themselves out, have you  considered the Polyvisol with iron pedi drops..?  our lil guy still gets those at 15 months once a day in his drink.

knottie3c0525a8a3c64eaa

Mine was too and my pedi said make sure you give him Cheerios daily it has 50 percent of the daily iron needs. Same with oatmeal. Sweet potatoes are good too. Also, That prompted us to stick w formula for a bit longer there are toddler formulas you can look into. Honestly, between the Cheerios and baby oatmeal we use the earths best brand, you should be covered

ttimmerman

My little guy's iron is low too and we've started the polyvisol drops with iron. He's picky and doesn't like meat either, so the pedi suggested grinding meat up in the food processor and adding it to any sauce that you make. Also, an important thing to remember is that calcium blocks the absorption of iron and vitamin c enhances it - so don't give iron rich foods with dairy products (like yogurt) and try giving them with things like strawberries. We usually wait an hour after he's had any dairy to give him his drops and then give him a vitamin c rich snack with the drops, and then wait a couple hours to give him dairy again. 

He gets rechecked in a couple months at his 15 mo appt and I'm hoping his levels will be back to normal. 

vrj0522

Thank you everyone for all the ideas, I think I learned quite a bit and got some really great ways to help him with his iron deficiency.

 I did not know cheerios were so good in iron until today so I'm planning on using those more for snacks instead puffs and maybe adding  a little bit of baby cereal into his yogurt, see how he takes it. I also made him a smoothie today with spinach and he drank it pretty good. I am planning on making those regularly! And I will definitely look into drops and separating dairy from iron-rich foods. Thanks again for all your help!

 

MaggieF516

I am dealing with the same thing!  LO is a picky eater too which I am sure is why we are dealing with this.  The nurse said to give him whole wheat bread as apparently this has iron.  He already eats this though.  I know he doesn't eat much meat because he spits out things he doesn't like and I also need to mix any meat flavored baby food with banana so realistically, he isn't getting a lot.  I bought beef hotdogs, chicken nuggets, fish sticks and veggie burgers.  The veggie burgers actually had the most iron.  I noticed his cereal has 45% of DV and he eats a TON of this mixed with purees, so I have no idea how he doesn't get enough iron.  His father has the same issue so maybe it is genetic.  I've found most of the babyfood purees don't have iron, so I am going to be trying other things even though he likes the purees.

bumpuser9353653

DD had low iron at her 9 month check up (level 8 maybe? supposed to be at 11 or higher) and pedi said to use iron drops, but DD HATED them (and I don't blame her - they smelled like pennies).

We did lots of iron rich foods - steamed spinach, broccoli, kale, lots of cheerios. We made smoothies for her with kale and spinach which she loved. I made pancakes with prune juice and apricots.  Also, vitamin C rich foods help the body absorb iron - so try mixing in some high vitamin C foods too.  LO loved smoothies made with kale, blue/strawberries, pineapple, and a little prune juice.  

We made sure she got iron rich foods at least twice a day (but we shot for every meal) and sure enough, at her 1 yr check up, her iron levels were up and the nurse said "keep doing what you're doing - it's working" :-) 

Here are some good foods to try:

- meat (of any kind, but especially lean red meats)
- leafy greens
- beans
- lentils (we made lentil stew and LO ate it up)
- broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, other green veggies
- black strap molasses
- apricots, prunes, dates (we found a recipe for prune juice jello made with molasses and LO loved it too)
- any Iron-fortified cereal, oatmeal, pasta