Iron-rich foods for veggies ideas please

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DD (15 months) has occasional temper tantrums in which she holds her breath until she passes out. I used to do this as a child too.
She also does this if she gets a fright.

I discussed it with a health worker last time I saw one (few months back) and am aiming to make a Doc appointment for a check up on this but I have been advised it's fairly common. Particularly so if there is a family history.
However, one thing that was flagged up was potentially low iron levels compounding the issue.

DD is a vegetarian (as am I) and although I do my best to provide a healthy diet she is currently going through a 'picky' phase. Any ideas of iron rich foods that I can shovel in first before she throws a wobbly (and the food) and refuses to eat anything other than custard?!

Dried apricots? You can get them yogurt coated from 'health food' shops. Yum.

You need to combine iron with vitamin C if it is to be absorbed successfully. Iron rich foods include dried apricots, pulses, dark green vegetables, wholegrains, whole eggs (the yolk particularly), seeds (especially pumpkin), blackstrap molasses (nice as a drink in warm milk), potatoes. Vitamin C is particularly rich in kiwifruit, citrus and berries and needs to be eaten several times a day as the body can't store it.

raisins are high in iron.

From the nhs website:
"Dietary advice

If a lack of iron in your diet is thought to contribute to your iron deficiency anaemia, your GP will advise you how to include more iron in your diet.

Iron-rich foods include:

dark-green leafy vegetables, such as watercress and curly kale
iron-fortified bread
beans
nuts
meat
apricots
prunes
raisins

To ensure you have a healthy, well-balanced diet, include foods from all the major food groups in your diet. If you have iron deficiency anaemia, eat plenty of iron-rich foods, such as those listed above.

Some foods and medicines can make it harder for your body to absorb iron. These may include:

tea and coffee
wholegrain cereals
<strong>calcium, found in dairy products such as milk</strong>
antacids (medication to help relieve indigestion)
proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which affect the production of acid in your stomach

It might be worth making sure she has a couple of meals a day without dairy - though make sure she has it at breakfast and then drinks of milk in between meals.

sorry this is the link

Baked beans on wholemeal toast is a good source of iron. Fortifed breakfast cereal (like Weetabox or Ready Brek) are good too.

Or would you consider a supplement? We're veggie too and I've given them to DS sometimes when I think he might be low on iron. The WellKid baby syrup contains iron and is suitable from 3 months, I think.

If you consider supplements, please do bear in mind that iron overdose is potentially very toxic for children and such tablets need to be stored very carefully (iron tablets are the commonest cause of toxic overdose for children).

Lentil soup with lots of veggies in and a big squeeze of lemon juice, eaten with wholemeal bread.

A risotto made with lots of leafy green vege.

Little 'sweets' made out of dried apricots and sesame seeds etc.

And a glass of diluted fresh orange juice alongside will boost the iron.

Spinach pureed with ricotta and a bit of black pepper and nutmeg makes a lovely stuffing for pancakes or cannelloni, or if you thin it down with a splash of milk you can use it as a pasta or gnocchi sauce. Add some tomatoes for vitamin C.

In Sainsbury's they sell spinach which has been really finely chopped and then frozen in 80g portions. My DH will not eat many veggies at all but I used one of the spinach portions in a bolognese sauce and he couldn't taste it and didn't realise it was there. It looked like herbs. I use them to get spinach into a lot of meals because I am veggie and do most if the cooking so DD doesn't get much meat at all.

Spinach inhibits iron absorption (and also butternut squash I think!). Give vitamin C with the iron rich foods to enhance absorption eg glass of orange juice.

Really?! Every day is a school day!

Yes about the spinach. I was brought up to think it's a good source of iron (probably because of the taste). But I looked into this a wee back as we are semi-veggie. From NHS on Iron,

Many people think that spinach is a good source of iron, but spinach also contains a substance that makes it harder for the body to absorb the iron from it.

does the inhibitor compounds of spinach also affect kale?

homemade custard with dried apricot purree and bluberrries is a hit in the zoo house with the zoolets

always have berries or kiwi with fortified cereals

tea is a no no as inhibits iron too

These are good resources for vegan/vegetarian diets.

www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/iron.html

www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/h4kfactsheet.html

With downloadable fact sheets :)