What do you give your baby for their iron and calcium needs?

[flyingbeet]

My baby has a cows milk protein allergy, egg allergy and citrus fruits. I'm trying to find foods that can ensure she is getting enough calcium and Iron. I cook with calcium and Iron fortified oat milk and will start giving her chicken, beans, nuts which contain iron (please let me know if there are other foods high in iron). I'm a bit stuck on what to give her for her calcium needs. She is seven months old, currently breastfed and has two meals a day. Do I need to include calcium and iron in both meals? I add a little bit of hemp seeds in her meal but I don't know if that's enough. Im meeting with the dietician in April so I have a long time till I can get some help.

My DD is allergic to milk, egg and soya. I try and give ready brek once a day as that’s fortified with iron/calcium/iodine

My daughter has multiple food allergies and we have been under dieticians and paeds from 6 months

At 7 months I was breastfeeding and they were only concerned with my calcium intake. They were happy I had a fairly balanced diet despite the restrictions, they recommend an oat milk fortified with calcium and I took around 700mg calcium as a supplement.

At 10 months she went on to formula and I think she just needed 500ml of that a day to not need supplements. Once she moved on to oat milk the dietician recommended one that had 3g fat, 120mg calcium and some iodine per 100ml. My daughter can't have dairy or fish so this really limits her iodine sources. As long as she got around 500ml a day then dietician didn't look through her diet to see if she's getting enough calcium from other sources. Until she started school we were happy with her oat milk intake as she had 2 cups at nursery and some in the evening and before bed. Since she has started school she only has water during the day and this is the first time that we feel that her oat milk consumption doesn't cover her calcium intake. She has oat yoghurt and we do our best but do give her a calcium supplement on days where she's not had much.

The best thing you can do for her iron levels is to keep on BFing and to only offer food once or twice a day.

Kellymom has an interesting article on iron here.

Also, according to this article on BFing they should get enough calcium from BFing and foods.

Are they under a Paediatric Dietician? They should be able to give you plenty of information on where to include calcium rich foods as part of a normal diet, for instance adding chopped figs to Ready Brek.

Do you cook with an iron pan too? She will get traces of iron through the cooking process.