health visitor says not to blw because of iron

[aceandskill]

Hi
I am blw my 7mo and a friend of mine is too, but today she went to the HV and asked about it - the HV said you couldn't blw on its own because the baby won't get enough iron. She also said you shouldn't give them follow on milk even though it's got more iron, just stay on the first milk. What do you lot reckon to this advice? I am a bit confused, thought the follow on milk would make up for the not enough iron thing... am thinking about dusting off the moulinex (shudder)...

How will pureed food provide any more iron, though?

iron- makes no difference imo. the benefits of blw outweigh any risk of low iron intake. and anyway, they get enough from a few peas, some broccoli trees and a couple of dried apricots.

follow on milk- she is right there. iron in formula is less easily absorbed anyway than naturally occurring iron in foods. they do only need first stage milk. all the variations afetr 6 months are just to enable to formula companies to have something to advertise (they aren't allowed to advertise first stage milk).

all the adverts about cereals, milks (think of the one with the MASSIVE cup of milk) just play on parents' worries. a normal diet is fine.

Wow I didn't realise they couldn't advertise first milk! It's presented as though you move through the stages as they get older isn't it? That is well evil. Whenever I hear something like that it always annoys me, like them advertising 4 month food even though it's not recommended to wean til 6 months. I guess not everyone has the babies best interests at heart! how do they sleep at night?
purple - i thought of giving puree cos he's not eating anything yet, just playing - it's that urge to get something into him i spose...maybe puree some red meat lol

Ace- are you breastfeeding or formula? Her advice about BLW is wrong either way, but is doubly rubbish if you use formula because that is fortified (tis rubbish with breastfeeding too, but for a longer and more complicated reason!)

The iron in follow on is not that absorbable and mostly pooed out (with difficulty). If you are including iron (some apricots, houmus, meat, sardines, green veg) in their diet then they are getting enough. Remember that cereals and bread are also fortified with iron as well. What the fuck puree versus finger foods has to do with it, heaven only knows - she obviously has her own agenda. They don't need that much.

That said, I did buy the follow on milk when I went back to work. I am a sucker.

sorry to gatecrash ace but I've just had a spookily similar conversation with my HV. confused - I do exc. BF my DS and am interested in your 'longer and more complicated reason'....

maybe the iron leaches out of the blades of the Moulinex into the food

Tweetinat, kellymom has info about breastmilk and iron

Having citrus fruits high in Vitamin C in the diet will help absorb Iron better (sorry if people already know that?!)

Thanks Seona