Toddlers and iron

[Pfriend]

Have swapped my 13 month old onto cows milk as his drink, and he loves it - much more keen than formula! But, got an email from Aptimil saying how much beef, spinach etc your LO would have to eat to get the recommended amount of iron.

It also said 8/10 toddlers on cows milk don't get the recommended amount of iron. That got me thinking. If 8/10 normal toddlers don't get the recommended amount of iron, isn't the recommended level of iron simply set too high? I don't see a nation of lethargic anaemic toddlers. If it is practically impossible to hit the daily recommended amount of iron on a daily basis just with normal feeding, as has been carried out for centuries, then surely the 'recommended' level is just wrong? And who set it anyway?

It sounds like Apitimil are TTP!! And trying to guilt you into buying their follow-on milk...

I'm pretty sure most toddlers out their don't have broccoli every day or get tucked in to a big steak every other night, and as you say their isnt a nation of anaemic infants!! :)

I had a look at the Cow & Gate website as they had an iron intake calculator - the majority of the daily allowance for my two DDs would appear to come from their cereal (most cereal is fortified with iron) so as long as they're eating that I'm not getting too worried. Although saying that, DD1 (2.5) is spending an awful lot of time at the moment telling me she is tired so I am wondering whether she is getting enough...

Aptilmil are playing on your natural insecurities as a mother. The recommendation for your DS is 300 ml of cows milk per day and this includes any dairy in his diet so along with a varied diet should be fine, so really wouldn't worry about he iron thing.

If you are worried though, try feeding him some iron rich foods like sardines on toast, eggy bread with strawberries or broccolli and cheese muffins. You might also find this thread useful, though a blood test is really the only way to see if he really is deficient.

Some of the main concerns of being iron deficient are lead poisoning and impaired development.

If you are planning on having any more DC then having the cord cut after it's finished pulsating will give your LO an extra surge of iron from the placenta and will top up its iron reserves.