Need more iron in my diet...............please help.

[EmmaTMG]

I'm due in 3 days time and at the midwives appt this morning she said I need more iron in my diet. The last one said this too so I have been taking a supplement and making an extra effort to eat more green vegetables so what else can I do.

Nothing I suspect!

I feel with so little time before the big day there not much I can do to change things and now that the hot weather is back(YUK YUK YUK YUK) I'm stuggling to eat a hot dinner every night with veg. Are there any fruits that contain alot of iron as this is all I want to eat. I'm sure I could find this info somewhere but I suspect my fellow mumsnetters could answer my question much faster than I can hunt it out.

Thanks Girls.

I ate just over five kilos of raisins/sultanas/currants in the last five weeks - loads of iron and no constipation either...

Peaches and Nectarines are full of Iron and they definitely won't make you constipated.... so get chomping before they go out of season!

I found Floradix (buy it in health food) shops was good. Supposed to be very bio-available iron, too.

CHOCOLATE!
The dark 70% cocoa solids type for preference, or hot chocolate made with real cocoa powder (not 'drinking chocolate'

I've been short of iron too Emma, have been on supplements for a while now...
The fruit loaf Sorreen is high in Iron also apricots, try the dried ones with a little boiling water poured on them to soften them as a breakfast snack.
We can't have much time left so try not to fret

M2T, I thought that about peaches and nectarines but the midwife only mentioned vitamin c in them to help absorb the iron I've got to get from elsewhere!!!!!!!

AngelM......No it can't be much longer can it. Feeling abit and at the mo.

Blu.....forget to say my chocolate intake is quite high already so maybe I could use your advice for medicinal (sp?) purposes

Obviously not high enough!

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Dried apricots, eggs, spinach, red meat, lentils. You do need vit C to absorb iron properly but something like a glass of orange/grapefruit juice will do. So maybe you could face apricots with orange juice on the side? I'm apparently low too so I've been taking Pregaday and eating iron rich foods and it's a PITA isn't it? Not long now for you though!

I've just found out about a supplement called Spatone - the Pharmacist recommended it cos it doesn't cause constipation, just drink one sachet a day and apparently doctors are starting to prescribe it to preg/b'feeding ladies.

Might be worth looking into. Don't know how quickly it'll help though!

www.spatone.co.uk/

Emma - Molasses if full of iron, if you can take it in your tea or coffee--if you can get the unsulfered kind the flavor is not as intense.

Be cautious about drinking tea with your meals as the tannins bind the iron. My MW suggested fortified breakfast cereals with OJ and wait for a bot before drinking tea, so the iron is absorbed. It worked for me.

Not much you can do before your baby is born. Red meat is the best source if you can face it. Eat with orange juice for maximum absorption. Avoid tea and coffee with meals. Apricots and all dried fruit have more iron than fresh fruit. don't worry too much, I think an 'iron deficiency' is actually normal in pregnancy. Pupuce or Mears may have more info on that point.