Can you help me get some iron into my fusspot?

[Sleeplessem]

DD is just over 2, had some bloods taken when she was 20 months and it showed she was mildly anaemia so the paediatrician prescribed sytron 3x 2.5ml a day. The full dose goes against what it says on the bottle as a max dose for a child of her age, so we gave her 2x 2.5ml a day, upset tummy for a while adjusting but her appetite increased, brilliant. Shes then had 2 tummy bugs and the GP advised to give her a break from it but putting her back on now her tummy just isn’t settling.

So I’m after a few ways we can boost her iron without supplements. She can be quite fussy with meat, she’ll eat everything else on her plate and then need some distraction to eat any of them meat. I don’t particularly like that approach as it’s not really following her lead or teaching her anything. Any sort of encouragement tends to have an adverse effect on her, she’s had a food aversion before too (saw paediatric dietitian who was quite firm in letting them eat what they want and the no pressure approach).

The protein sources she likes is chicken mince in little meat balls, tried beef and not a fan 🙄, eggs, v occasionally shredded beef and chicken (but she’s hit and miss), hummus (not whole chick peas or lentils), cheese, yoghurt, milk.

I wouldn’t say she’s fussy as she loves her fruit and veg (raw mushrooms, red cabbage, raw onions etc) she’s just v stubborn.

So I’m after anyways to increase iron consumption whilst continually presenting her with balanced meat options.

Anyone used an iron fish? They any good?
Any types of pasta? Pasta is her favourite food?
Was wondering about cooking things in bone broth? Can you buy bone broth or do you have to make it and boil bones etc?

Any and all suggestions are welcome! ❤️

Sympathies op. My nearly two year old is on the same supplement. Fortunately he has decided he likes it now after nearly two months of unsuccessfully trying to get it into him (we are on three doses a day despite what it says on the bottle after checking with GP). I don’t know if it’s made a difference yet as we’ve only had two weeks of three doses and apparently you need a good 2-3 months so won’t be going back for bloods until after Christmas. I’m really hoping his iron will be up by then as I’ve been quite worried about why it was low to begin with as he eats such a varied diet.
When I had low iron I was told it couldn’t be managed with diet alone but I think it depends on how severe/mild the anaemia/low iron is. DS isn’t anaemic apparently it was just low iron.

Having said that the chemist told me lots of fruit when taking iron and sambucol elderberry extract once a day helps it be absorbed too and is good for the immune system although you may struggle to get that into her too (it tastes quite sweet though and we call it berry juice and hide that it comes from a medicine bottle!).

Lots of good suggestions on here for foods although DS ate lots of weetabix, beef mince and veg and still had low iron so I think you need a LOT in a diet to make much difference.