MY 17 MONTH OLD WONT EAT MEAT - IDEAS FOR EXTRA IRON INTAKE PLEASE

[ELLIELULU]

Hi been on before regarding my dd lack of eating, its getting a bit better but apart from eating occasional chicken nuggets cannot get her to eat any other type of meat at all be it pureed, mashed, shredded into food or broken into chunks, need some ideas to get extra iron and stuff into her without resulting in having to give baby vitamins continous till the point when she decides to eat it, will keep offering her though till then. (hmm)

make sure she is getting plenty of vitamin C as this will help the absorption of iron from the food she is eating. So plenty of berries/oranges/red pepper etc.

really, don't worry, meat isn't essential- all my 4 los raised as vegetarians (you might guess from my name!)- I remember the not eating thing with 1 was hard, but honestly, it's true that they really won't starve themselves- just keep putting good food in front of them and stay absolutley unmoved if they don't eat it.

dried apricots - soak them over night & then you can puree them and add to yogurt.
Lentils - makes veg soups with a handful of lentils, or veggie lasagne / shepherds pie / chilli.

leafy green veg
dried apricots

and stop worrying!

My DS was like this, don't think he ate any meat till he was well over 3, and even now it is occasional.

Try lentils and pulses. Cooked red lentils can be mixed into lots of other food like pasta sauces, mashed veg, rice, and are pretty tasty too.

I make a bolognese sauce with tinned green lentils instead of mince too for DS.

Dried fruit, dates especially, have a high iron content, give youd DS some of the pitted ones as snacks. Kids love them coz they are so sweet.

MY ds is 3 and still won't eat meat or fish - is highly irritating.

Lentils/pulses/beans are all good foods to replace meat/fish.

Brown rice, Whole wheat bread,
Wheat germ, Oatmeal,
Total cereal,
Pita, whole wheat, Spaghetti, enriched, Raisin bran cereal,

Sunflower seeds,
Soy milk, Kidney beans,
Chickpeas, Tofu, firm, Soy burger,

Broccoli,
Green beans, Lima beans, Beets,
Peas, Potato, Vegetables, green leafy, Watermelon, from here - all foods rich in iron

Try pureeing driend apricots and/or dates into porridge for a very tasty breakfast too.

weegle and madlentil eater thanks for this
she loves sucking the juice off oranges, will try raw pepper she does pick it out of stir frys sometimes but will give other bits raw too, the reason for orginal ? i thought all babies need iron past one as the stores they took from us are depleted by this age, apart from spinach and sprout cannot remember which has more iron, or do all fruit and veg contain some. i know the drink contains tannin which can stop absorption but she will only drink milk and water and very occasionally very weakened baby juice whichis fine by me

armadilloman

thanks for the website
beets is this beetroot and what are lima beans can these be found in local s.markets

plus lots of you have listed stuff for me to try with her, thanks for this
she wont eat spud but likes smiley faces and waffles which is great but not long term

sorry american website. Beets is beetroot, but no idea what lima beans are (oh teh shame ).

If you are realyl worried (and you don't have need to be) there are liquid multivitamins with iron you can get (abidec is one that supermarkets stock). I used them on my ds.

Remember that some veges etc are higher in iron than say red meat. SO getting iron from those foods instead isn't going to mean she gets less.

tofu- cut it into small cubes, marinate in soy sauce, fry in sunflower oil with a little sesame seed oil, lovely hot crispy snack full of protein, iron and calories!