Foods High in Iron for a "Shy" Eater

[Mawood]

Hi Mamas
My daughter is a little over 9 months and just starts getting interested in solids now, taking 2-3 spoons of her meal. We do both self feeding and offering purees with a spoon which she mostly takes out of my hand and puts in her mouth by herself too. However we had our baby well visit last week and she is a little low in iron. Not terribly low: 10.5 while 11 is supposed to be "normal". We don't supplement anything but I was just wondering what would be good first foods high in iron. The ped recommended I feed her meats which I am not planning on in her first year. So far I have given her apple sauce, pears, prunes, sweet potato, avocado. I have been taking Floradix and try to keep my iron up but apparently it doesn't transfer to my milk (read that on kellymom). Would she be ok if I mix molasses in her baby food? If she is one year old can she take Floradix herself? Does anyone have good recipes for iron rich baby foods?
Thanks so much, Maren

[HRJ]

I had the same problem w/ my son at the same age. I gave him ground beef pureed w/ sweet potato - at the suggestion of LLL. We also did blackstrap molasses on apples which he didn't really like. His iron improved, but we did a mixture of both, and I don't know if blackstrap molasses by itself would do it. La Leche League really pushes meats for this reason. i don't know what vegetarians do. maybe iron supplement? Iron supplements constipated me horribly as a baby (I was so impacted they almost had to take me to the hosptial), so I really wanted to correct it w/ food w/ my son.

[Peace+Hope]

i'm concerned about this, but haven't had my guy tested yet (he's 7 months but was a preemie and had IUGR, so he's at risk for low iron).

i'm stocking up on foods rich in iron that i hope to tempt him with - spinach and lentils are some of my ideas. i read in my BLW book that you can cook lentils with little liquid and make little balls, so i'm gonna try that. we aren't doing purees yet, but i will if he tests low (this week).

believe it or not, dried thyme and parsley are high in iron, way more than you'd think!

also, roasted pumpkin seeds are crazy high, and can be added to a vegetable puree. also some other nuts.

[snoopy5386]

Most baby cereals are iron fortified, but the bioavailability is low. May I ask why you want to wait over a year for meat?

[AislinCarys]

Sesame seeds are very high in iron. Put them in baking (muffins, bread, bread sticks etc.), anything your LO likes. You can grind them first, if you like.

[AislinCarys]

At that age DD loved lentils (red lentil bolognese, sort of) and pasta.

[Mawood]

Thanks a lot for your responses. My husband and I just watched Food Inc about the meat processing industry in America and we both felt like we want to wait on meat as long as possible - especially ground beef. We do buy organic meats for us since the movie but I still feel like either buying the meat directly from a farmer somewhere to be sure it is beef from just one animal then a blend of different cows. I don't know if I trust Whole Foods on that since it is just a supermarket chain too. We were so grossed out and both eat very little meat ourselves. The beef with sweet potato sounds good though since she likes sweet potato.

As for the seeds and lentils, are you able to blend them smoothly? DD just started taking a couple of spoons of puree last week and she is really not that much into the solid foods yet. She doesn't get excited about it.

She is healthy and has never been sick but I just want the little foods she is eating to be as high in iron as possible because i don't want to end up supplementing.

Thank You again, Maren

[sunnygir1]

Beans or lentils can be pureed, or you could make refried beans.

I mixed some raw tahini (sesame seed butter) in dd's breakfast cereal (home made brown rice cereal or oats).

You could try mushrooms. They can't chew them, so I like to mince them and put little piles out for the babe to eat.