https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 19 Apr 2026 01:35:18 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-478290 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:57:38 +0000 pregnantbee 478290@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@allison: Thanks for the reading recommendation. I trust KellyMom. What a great resource! (And it helps that it confirms what I was thinking :)) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-478259 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:39:47 +0000 allison 478259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Your question made me curious, so I did a little Google search. Here's what KellyMom has to say about it. Good info! <a href="http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/" rel="nofollow">http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-478160 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:04:12 +0000 pregnantbee 478160@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MusicaV: @mediagirl: @Maysprout: @Thenetexan: Thanks so much for your replies. Since we just started him on food, it's still not part of our regular schedule yet. He's battling a cold/RSV right now, so am waiting a little longer before introducing other new things. I'll definitely be happier to give him meat, spinach, etc., over iron drops or cereal, but I suppose that based on your experiences, it's not the worst thing in the world to introduce some iron-fortified oatmeal. I'll just watch his cues carefully and not force spoonfeed him anything! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-477641 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:06:33 +0000 Thenetexan 477641@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I did rice cereal early on (fearing lack of iron as well) and actually still do baby oatmeal on occasion. I also gave beef early (ground beef cooked in mini muffin tins, like mini meatloaf). I waited until close to 8 months for spinach. I stopped using the rice cereal as soon as I added beef. LO does not have iron deficiency issues. If I recall, the handout my doctor gave me on starting solids was "sponsored" by Gerber, so it of course pushed rice cereal. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-477597 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:54:30 +0000 Maysprout 477597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We gave baby meat and spinach and other greens and when she was tested at 9 months she was fine. I have high iron though so I don't know if that makes a diff on baby. While I gave her some foods in the BLW style I didn't hesitate on breaking foods down that were a size she could eat. She ate meat and greens since she was 6 months. We never did drops and rarely gave her cereal. Iron is important so I can see why your doctor is pushing it but there are several avenues to make it available to your LO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-477561 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:43:49 +0000 mediagirl 477561@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our ped suggested iron-fortified cereals and oatmeal, as well. A lot of peds are just cautious and want to make sure the parents are doing the right thing for the baby, Ours said whatever we decided to do was fine, but it would be good to start getting her eating some meats. </p> <p>Our pediatrician actually suggested we just give M everything we're eating. So, if we have a casserole for dinner, mash up some peas, carrots and meat and offer that to her. If we're having tacos, give her some ground beef, etc. </p> <p>We are doing purees, but we have tried offering M chicken and turkey. We just mashed it up with a fork and offered it to her in little (minuscule) chunks that she grabbed off the fork or our fingers. I also put some in mashed potatoes for her and fed her from the spoon. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-477507 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:29:01 +0000 MusicaV 477507@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our ped prescribed iron drops for DS when he was two months old. The ped said that a recommendation had come out about giving babies iron supplements. I found this article online about it:<br /> <a href="http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/early/2010/10/05/aapnews.20101005-1.full" rel="nofollow">http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/early/2010/10/05/aapnews.20101005-1.full</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476318 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:13:50 +0000 pregnantbee 476318@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@brownie: She was definitely pushing cereal over drops. Can't wait to give him meat :) We're just not there yet.</p> <p>@runsyellowlites: I'm sure DH will come around -- After all, I'm the one reading all the baby books and blogs :)</p> <p>@BabyBoecksMom: I may consider oatmeal. We do have some at home just in case we wanted to go that route.</p> <p>@Arden: His ped is fairly young, so maybe she's just more conservative than out of date? No idea. Baby has not been tested low in iron. I don't plan to give iron drops. I assume I have plenty of iron, as through all of the pregnancy blood work, nobody ever told me that I'm deficient. Once his diet can be varied more, I'll be sure to give him iron-rich food. I'll keep tabs on my intake, too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476239 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:31:24 +0000 Arden 476239@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think your ped is probably a little out of date. Unless your baby has actually TESTED low in iron, iron drops are probably unnecessary. He's probably getting plenty of iron through your breast milk, if you have appropriate levels yourself.</p> <p>Old-school peds are so stuck on the cereals, but there isn't good scientific backing for it. It's being suggested out of tradition, not research. Just a couple of decades ago peds were still pushing formula over breastfeeding, even though it had been proven by that time that breast milk was superior. </p> <p>I don't think you should question your decision to skip cereals/purees - that decision is backed up by research. Just give baby lots of high-iron foods and eat them yourself, and you'll be just fine. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476227 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:25:53 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 476227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our doctor tried to push cereal, but we skipped that. We were going to do the drops, but just started giving her some oatmeal instead. We were doing the BLW, so we gradually moved to giving her red meat. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476218 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:22:09 +0000 runsyellowlites 476218@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pregnantbee: Maybe try doing some research on "first foods" and see if that will help your DH come around. Since P is/was wheat &amp; soy intolerant it was really easy for us to say we weren't going to do it. lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476202 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:19:16 +0000 brownie 476202@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Unless your child has tested low in iron or you suspect there is an iron problem, you shouldn't need drops. In fact, you provide iron through breastmilk (if you aren't deficient) it is just less than the previous 6 months (when you had a store from childbirth). The iron in breastmilk is more easily accessible and usable by your child than iron drops. </p> <p>We give our son meat for iron and breastmilk. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476201 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:18:36 +0000 pregnantbee 476201@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@runsyellowlites: Our pedi is great, but she seems fairly traditional when it comes to solids. So she keeps pushing rice/oatmeal and seemed kinda surprised that we haven't given him those or purees. And the handout she gave also stresses rice/oatmeal. So now DH also thinks something is wrong with *me* since I don't want to give him cereal :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476185 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:11:27 +0000 runsyellowlites 476185@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pregnantbee: Steak was the first thing I gave P. After looking into all the different "first foods" &amp; knowing that she didn't have any issues with me eating it (through bm) AND that it's high in iron, I just figured it would be a good thing for us to start with. </p> <p>I've gotten alot of flack from our pedi so I wanted the "best bang for our buck" kind of food. lol</p> <p>FWIW She LOVES sucking on &amp; gumming on steak, and she really likes beef sausage too! Some of the only things she'll really "eat". lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476164 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:06:17 +0000 pregnantbee 476164@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@runsyellowlites: @Mrsbells: Thanks for your replies. We've only juuuust started BLW, so he's only "eaten" (more "played with") banana and yams. Meat/spinach won't be for awhile. I eat a lot of meat, though, so maybe he's ok? I've also never been told I'm iron deficient, so maybe we're ok? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476159 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:03:02 +0000 Mrsbells 476159@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we started with irong drops. but I dont like they stink and are so messy so now I just try not to worry about that and hope she gets it from the bit of formula that i add to her breastmilk. she does eat realy oatmeal ( not the boxed cereal) and also oatmeal flour I made from steel cut oats too </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476149 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:58:29 +0000 runsyellowlites 476149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>She eats meat and now that I've successfully added back egg yolks to my diet she'll start eating egg yolk. There are other high iron foods you could introduce like spinach or other dark leafy greens (they may be too gassy though) .</p> <p>I also make sure that I get enough iron in my diet so I know that I'm not deficient &amp; have enough to pass on. We aren't doing baby cereals b/c many of them have soy or are wheat contaminated &amp; those were on my elimination list.</p> <p>P has her 9 month visit in a few weeks so we'll see where she stands as of now on her iron.... she still doesn't really eat solids so I may need to be more on top of her intake. I'm not too worried about it though. =) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/iron-for-breastfed-baby#post-476136 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:50:00 +0000 pregnantbee 476136@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not sure which category to put this under, so hopefully I guessed close to correct.</p> <p>Just had our 6-mo well visit, and the dr recommended increasing my son's iron intake, since he is exclusively breastfed (and bottle fed w/ expressed milk). We're working on baby-led weaning, so were not planning to give him fortified rice cereal or oatmeal. She recommended we give it since it does have extra iron in it. She also mentioned there are drops we could give him instead, but she really tried pushing cereal.</p> <p>What do you do for your 6+-month-old? Iron drops? Rice cereal, oatmeal? </p>