6 month old EBF need iron rich recipes!

[Celia76]

That's it really.

He's loving solids, and I'm aware that as he's now 6 months we need to make sure his diet is giving him everything he needs. I have bought some Haliborange multivitamin liquid for vitamins A, D, E & C, but would rather he gets everything he needs from his food rather than relying on supplements.

He has Ready Brek with breastmilk (although I think I'll switch to formula as expressing becoming a faff) for breakfast, and veg for lunch and supper with fruit purees or yogurt for pud. I'm not a vegetarian, but we do mostly eat veg, so iron rich veg ideas would be appreciated too!

He loves sweet potato which I think is a good iron source, but I think beef is my best bet! Any recipe ideas?

Adding spinach or other green vegetables to root vegetables purees works very well for DS. Also, dry apricots have lots of iron, so I soak some in water for a few hours then blend to a puree and add to his porridge in the morning.

I've recently given him beef (blended to a lumpy puree with some pasta, carrots and tomatoes, plus a bit of olive oil) and he loved it.

Hth

Celia You can use cows milk for cooking and putting in food as opposed to formula (much cheaper and less faff!)

Other than that, just give him whatever you have, if you and DH are getting a healthy balanced diet then that should be fine. Strips of beef are perfect - DS will probably suck and chomp on it until it's a lovely mass of greyness. So fajitas (mild), casserole, stir-fry...you name it.

Chopped apricots soaked in orange juice and stirred into porridge, yoghurt etc. No idea how true it is, but I heard that parsley is a loads better source of iron than spinach. White sauce with spinach/parsley.

Spinach has phylates in it which stops the absorption of iron, same with tea (not that you'd give baby tea).
Apricots are a really good source of iron but the most easily absorbed source is from meat.

Celia76, does your baby have teeth yet? I am in a similar situation, but my baby who is 8 months old does not have any teeth yet, so I struggle to give her anything unless it is mushed up! I did not know that apricots were full of iron, must add then to my shopping list

We don't eat meat at home. The main sources of iron in DD's diet are:

Fruits - Prunes, apricots, figs and blackcurrants are all good sources of iron. Sainsburys do tinned blackcurrants in apple juice which DD loves mixed with yoghurt. All fresh fruit contains vitamin c which improves iron absorption so offer this as much as poss.

Veg - broccoli obviously, other green leafy veg with the exception of spinach. All beans and pulses go down well. My DD loves dal with veg curry and rice, houmous and baked beans on toast (both Heinz and Sainsburys do reduced salt and sugar ones which are just that and don't contain additional sweeteners). Salad and lightly cooked steamed or stir-fried veg are also useful sources of vit c so as above I try and make sure she gets some as often as possible.

Eggs in any form possible. She has eggs at least once every two days.

Stir-fried tofu

Fortified breakfast cereals, ReadyBrek is fine. Weetabix is good too. Oatibix and Shredded Wheat are not fortified, though wholegrain cereals are still a useful source of iron.

Brown rice.

Babies are quirky beasts and their fussiness can change from one day to the next. I find it best to aim to offer DD a balanced diet over a few days rather than to fret about precisely how much iron she has day-to-day.

I'm not sure when we started doing baked beans but they are iron rich. Nothing wrong with cheesy mash & beans.