PLEASE: Iron-rich food ideas for anaemic fussy eater

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

DS2 is 8. He was anaemic a couple of years ago, put on iron supplements and did really well. Lately I noticed he was very pale, so we had a new blood test and his results were VERY low.

He is being sent for a paediatric referral, and has a prescription for Iron syrup. But in the meantime, what are good, kid-friendly food ideas?

He's a really fussy eater. His favourite meals are very plain. But how can I get loads and loads of iron into him?

Thank you

Get busy with some slow cooked red meat - beef casseroles, venison (maybe??) and slow cooked joints. All easy to eat.

Add blended spinach to stews soups and even tomatoe based sauces for pizza toppings/pasta. Or kale into a fruit smoothie ( just make sure it's sweet fruits) I promise I do this and mines are non the wiser that I've added green stuff

Any red meat, including burgers, sausages etc (poultry and fish also good though)
Eggs
Lentils and beans
Dark green leafy vegetables
Dried apricots (and other dried fruits)
High quality plan chocolate
Black treacle

Vitamin C increases iron absorption, so drinking orange juice (or eating oranges, kiwi fruit, peppers etc) with iron-containing foods may help.

What foods does he enjoy?

Tofu is a very neutral flavour so you may be able to experiment with different types of subtle marinade in the hope that your son will like it. If you buy a block of firm tofu press it for at least 10 minutes to get the water out. Cut it into blocks, marinade and then bake in the oven.

Remember that having vitamin c at the same time as iron will help the body absorb iron. So having fruit juice or fruit after a meal may help.

As well as meat there is also iron in dried apricots, lentils, quinoa, kidney beans, black beans, tahini and broccoli.

You could try and experiment with savoury muffins.

Crossposted with Softsheen

Wholemeal bread & pasta, with ham?

Meat and lentils are both good sources of iron, if he can drink some orange juice at the same time and avoid dairy products one hour before and one hour after eating that would be best.

Does he like lentils? Lentil soup is very easy to make. Boil lentils for 20 mins, add tomatoes, olive oil garlic and onion, simmer till lentils are soft (another hour).

Spinach (though good for you for many reasons) is not actually a particularly good source of iron as it contains oxalic acid which inhibits iron absorption.

Spatone in orange juice?

Add lemon juice to salad dressings, meat and drinks. The vit c helps with iron absorption as others have said. This really helps me and I have a genetic trait which makes me anaemic.
I also supplement with b vits too.
Anaemia is actually quite rubbish because one feels sooooooo knackered all the time. I don't anymore now.

Spinach and leafy greens are bad for iron levels as soft-shell says. It's because they are so good at absorbing and holding on to iron they strip it from your body as they go through you.

My doctor recommended dark chocolate and Guinness, although that might not be appropriate for your ds .

Enriched breakfast cereals
Dried apricots
Lentils in everything
Offer a steak, my 5yr old loves steak

You've had lots of the main suggestions already but standard garden peas are quite high (and often easy to get in to kids!) baked beans aren't bad either. Dried figs as well as apricots are good.

Thank you all so much! I'll try all of these.

I don't know if you want more natural foods, but I'm a fussy eater who likes plain foods so thought it might be worth mentioning that they add iron to lots of cereals.

Oops looks like blueberry already mentioned that!

I make a tomato based pasta sauce and pack it full of veggies including spinach. It's great for fussy eaters because you can't taste it really

My DD is a daddy eater but lives mussels - they have more iron than liver and aldi and lidl sell them

They are very fast food - ready in 5 minutes

My anaemic fussy eater had coeliac. Make sure pard tests. Don't cut ou gluten as that will invalidate test.

If you get nsulhd arcts and then make a come with 1lb of arcits to 1and a half pints of water, add a little vanilla. This makes a lovely toffee type sauce. Use this with French toast.

Unfortunately sulphered apricots isn't the same duevto the chemicals pumped in to make the dryed apricots orange colour and it doesn't make the toffee like sauce, si not worth bothering.

There's a list here of iron-rich foods. My fussy 6 year old who doesn't really like meat loves pate sandwiches. And I see fish paste is high in iron as well.

Chicken liver paté on favourite toast, with favourite fruit. Liver has the highest amount of iron.

Calcium inhibits iron absorption so calcium rich foods such as tofu are best served at a different meal time to iron rich foods.

It takes time to recover from anaemia. Ideally, find ways to educate him into wanting to eat foods rhat make him feel better (liver and onions is a great one, or steak and kidney pie!) Eggs are a great way to add a good range of vitamins to any meal. Get him eating (and cooking his own) eggs and you'll help him deal with it himself. If he doesn't like eggs, try pancakes, vegetables omelettes with his favourite pizza toppings, or yorkshire puddings (good with roast beef!)

Also, venison or beef sausages in toad in the hole was one of my mum's week day standbys.

I'll second other poster -

Sachet of spatone (iron rich water -easy absorption compared to other supplements) in orange juice. If you add enough juice it's fine. And it's easier than getting him to eat a big slab of beef

Honestly, made a huge difference to me and was so simple and quick. Couldn't recommend the stuff more highly.

Butter beans are (surprisingly) one of the highest non-meat sources of iron.

Also, have you come across those little iron fish you can add to your cooking? Bonus: if you buy one you can also buy one to be sent to an area with serious widespread iron deficiency: www.luckyironfish.com