Iron and other nutrients for exclusively BF 6m+ baby

[Lovage]

I'm trying to make sense of what age babies can exclusively BF to and still get enough iron and other nutrients. My RL friends all think 6 months and that's what most of the books I've read say too. But I know other people whose parenting styles are similar to mine (generally more up the attachment parenting end of the scale) reckon later than that, even until they are 12 months old. Does anyone know what research any of these ages are based on? I'd particularly like to be able to be able to argue back when my RL friends say 'but all the books say 6 months'...

I ask because my BF 6 1/2 month old is not at all interested in eating solids (have tried many diff approaches, now doing BLW which suits us both temperamentally but he still isn't actually ingesting more that a few crumbs). I'm not at all worried at this stage about him getting enough iron etc, but I do wonder about the future. I daresay he will get more interested in solids in a bit anyway (although have been trying for a month) but it would be nice to be able to cite something to friends when they say 'but he won't be getting enough iron etc.'

Thanks!

The baby's own iron stores start to deplete after about six months but it's not a sudden thing, he will still have some iron left for a while yet. Plus breastmilk contains iron in a form which is easily absorbed by the baby. So for the moment he's probably fine being exclusively breastfed.

I would have thought, though, that by the end of the first year he would need to be taking iron in the form of food to make sure his iron levels stay healthy - I think I remember seeing tiktok post once that a few babies can start to become anaemic by twelve months if they are getting no solids at all.

I'm sure she or one of the other experts will be along in a bit with more information - and probably some references that you can throw at your friends!

The only evidence I have is anecdotal
My ds was admitted to hospital at 8 mths with tonsillitis, he was fully breastfed and had little solids the odd bit of toast only - he was a big healthy baby and the hospital (this was in NZ) routinely tested all admissions in paed unit for iron deficiency
He tested well above average for iron and I swear he ate no solids bar sucking a few toast crusts until he recovered from his illness at about 9 mths

No surprises I was a little iron deficient though so important to keep yourself topped up well

I found this page quite handy.
As WWB says, their stores start to deplete from 6m-ish, and there's normally enough in the 'store' to keep them going for quite a while.

Thanks, that's great! Always useful to hear other people's experiences and the KellyMom page is really helpful and clear. I feel much more confident in being laid-back about solids and armed and ready to argue back to those pesky RL friends.

Hooray for Mumsnet - this is my first post so am v impressed!

My dd is 16 months (still breastfed) and has just spent 3 nights in hospital with a nasty infection. Her iron levels were found to be slightly low and she has been given iron supplements. My sil 'helpfully ' told me that this is because breastmilk doesn't contain much iron - but neither does cows milk - and my dd more likely has low iron because she has always been such a difficult eater. In fact, the doctors told me to continue breastfeeding.