Needs Iron, but Refuses Cereal

My 1year old daughter has been getting her vitamin drops with iron, in her brown rice cereal and has no problem. I mix it with whole milk and add cinnamon raisin granola (gerber jar food)to it. I guess it hides the taste fairly well. She loves it!

I think my ped recommended cream of wheat but I never tried it. Or you could probably try the regular oatmeal at his age. I would suggest giving it a break for a week then try again. We all go through phases of just being sick of eating the same thing! Could he eat small pieces of whole grain bread? I'm trying to remember what my son could eat at 9mos...how fast we forget!

Unless he's tested really low, all the iron he needs is in your milk. If his doctor is saying that breastmilk has a low iron content, consider getting a second opinion. The content is low, but the rate of absorption of breastmilk's iron is much higher than other sources of iron.

Are you mixing it to thick? I always used fruit juice and rice cereal and mixed it fairly thin so it was easier for my daughter to swallow.

Hi N..

Our pediatrician recommended Enfamil iron drops - they sell them in any pharmacy over the counter, and it's a long name like Polyvisol or Trivisol (something like that). They smell and stain horribly anything they touch, but you only have to give a dropperful once a day and that takes care of the iron!

Good luck!

Here's a list or 2 for you. http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/06_iron_foods.htm
http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/iron...
Also you'd be surprised at how mushy cheerios get. It doesn't take much saliva to make them mooshy.

Hi N.. Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? Sometimes they have great ideas about how to get certain foods into kids...

Are you giving him formula now or just nursing? All formulas should be iron fortified and he should be on formula (or breast milk) till he's one. If you're nursing only and he's not taking formula you can give him a vitamin supplement over the counter.

They have vitamins for infants in liquid form. One brand is PolyViSol. I would talk to the pediatrician though, because if he is getting iron fortified formula, he can get too much iron with taking the liquid vitamins.

My daughter never like the cereal either, but she was on formula so I didn't worry about it too much.
Let me know how it turns out.

Hi N.! My pediatrician told us to give our baby iron in addition to what he gets in his cereal, so we give him "Trivisol with iron" drops. They smell really bad, like metal, so I keep the bottle in the bathroom and give them to him while he takes his bath at night. I just drop a little at a time in his mouth and he actually likes the taste. If he spits a little out, it's no big deal, and I can wash the stinky stuff right off of him. I hope that helps!

When you say you don't pump anymore, do you mean he is no longer breastfed? If he is exclusively breasfed, you should be using a vitamin drop supplement (Poly-vi-sol is the one we used, I think). Check with your pediatrician. If he's getting that, he's getting plenty of iron. If you're not breastfeeding any longer (sorry for my confusion), then he should be on some kind of formula, which also has plenty of iron.

Either way, he shouldn't be needing the cereal for iron. The cereal is to get him used to eating solids.

Also, if you're still breastfeeding and you have a pump, you should use it to pump some milk to put in with the cereal - just pump a little and you can keep it in the fridge for several days. Or, pump a whole bottle and freeze it in a covered ice cube tray, then move to a freezer ziploc. Then you can just thaw a cube every day to mix in with his cereal. You can also mix up some formula to add to his cereal as well - the idea is the gradual taste difference of milk/formula + cereal, while you change the ratio. Remember, the cereal is new to him as is the fruit (which may be too sweet for his tastes, try sweet potatoes instead), the sweetness of the milk/formula is what he's used to.

I'm about to start my 5 month old (today) DD on cereal this week, hopefully it will go as smoothly as it did for my now 4-yr old.

Good luck!

We started mixing our kid's cereal with a little bit of applesauce and a dash of cinnamon- tastes like apple pie this way! For a change of pace, we'll mash up a banana into the cereal instead (with cinnamon too -it tastes like banana bread!)

Hope that helps!
(my kids are two now, and we also add their baby yogurt into the cereal as well, and they dish it up as fast as they can!)

I had the same problem with my son around that same age. We had more success with the veggies, especially the green beans, they're pretty runny. Also, try spinach, a good source of iron. We started with just a tiny amount and then increased the oatmeal gradually at each successive feeding until we found the right mix. The only "fruit" he would regularly eat mixed with any type of cereal, was apple sauce (with the rice cereal). If all else fails, talk to your Ped about putting him on a vitamin supplement, which you can mix in with his juice or water. We use Vita-lea, by Shacklee. Hope this helps

Do you give him formula in his sippy?? many formulas are iron fortified, I used Enfamil Lipil with Iron until my son switched to whole milk. Also, I found that if I made his cereal with water he absolutely would not eat it... but if I mixed it with formula he loved it! I would suggest to get iron fortified formula and also put it in his cereal. ... I too tried mixing fruit, my son hated it....

Is your Doctor concerned? Many foods contain iron naturally. When I was nursing, the supplements upset the baby so the doctor gave me a list of foods that contain iron. Of course liver is on the list, but also strawberries and spinach. There were several others that I can not remember so I would check with your doctor and get the list of iron rich foods and make them into baby food. Be careful with strawberries as many children are allergic to them, luckily mine never had a reaction. Also, regular oatmeal mixed with a very small amount of butter and salt, run through a food processor might do the trick. Good luck.

my doctor recommended polyvisol drops...it's a vitamin drop that you add to formula or breast milk.

My son's doctor recommended poly-vitamins. It is in liquid form and I just add it to whatever he is eating, whether a bottle, cereal, or even to his veggies. You can even just squirt it into his mouth if he's not taking anything else. You can find them at the grocery store. You may want to check with your doctor about which one he recommends.

He's doing great not wanting a bottle anymore, great for you too. Anyway, the best way to get him to eat yummy foods with iron is make him his baby food. What do you eat that includes iron? Spinach, certain meats.... Puree them in the blender with a little water and try it that way. That way it's flavorful, you know Exactly what's in it and he's getting the needed iron. Try this site for ideas in iron rich foods for him

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/06_iron_foods.htm

There are lots of other sources of iron. Green leafy vegetables and beans to name just a few. Also cooking food with a cast iron pot puts iron into whatever you make. At 9 months I think most babies are still getting most of their nutrition from their milk. I don't know about formula but breastmilk has iron that is very easily absorbed. Has your son been tested for anemia? I know someone with a 12 month old who is starting her baby on iron tablets because he's tested low and he showed some symptoms of anemia. At this age they're just starting to try things and the books I've read say to follow the baby's lead. They're amazingly good at knowing what their body needs.

Sara Toombs- a local doula and owner of the birthing tree www.birthingtree.com sells "herbal iron" that kids can take- you may want to give her a call for more information. Her number is: ###-###-####

i always made the cereal with milk and yogurt, never water. that got more vitamins and minerals in there, and made it creamier. i used plain, to avoid the sugary flavor and the sugar in the fruit yogurt.

Has your Peds recommended a supplement? That was what we used with our first son after the first 6 months.....Polyvisol, I believe, was the name of the over the counter supplement.

Good luck!

Raisins are loaded with iron and my son has always loved them (you can puree them if not enough teeth yet to manage them). And I was always able to get my son at that age to eat ANYTHING if it was mixed with cottage cheese. It is loaded with protein and the whole-milk cottage cheese is somewhat sweet.

Has his iron tested low? Babyies do not require rice cereal to be healthy. If you are still breastfeeding then food is still mostly a fun experiment. His best source of nutrition is still breastmilk. My fourth child would not touch food until she was past 1yr. I tried and she was not interested. She was completely fine and still is at age 7yr. Some kids that are not interested in food are more prone to allergies. That was the case with my daughter. I am glad I did not push it. If I had I think she would probably have more allergies. You might contact your local La Leche League for more info. on iron and breastfed babies. Formula fed babies have more nutrition issues because they are being fed a grossly inferior product. Babies can only absorb so much iron and what they get in breastmilk is designed specifically for them and they absorb it better than they do the stuff in cereal. So the little in breastmilk actually goes a long way and is easier on their system. Other good first foods i have tried are mashed banana, sweet potato, avocado, carrots, peas. you don't have to start with grains and some doctors strongly advise against it. Dr. Jay Gordon has some good books and a great website.

A LOT of kids hate the texture of rice and oatmeal. I think the green bean suggestion is a good one. There are transitional baby foods on the market that aren't quite goop -- just very small, soft veggies (and you can make this at home if you cook them to death and cut them up into tiny bits).

But unless your pediatrician has told you that he's iron-deficient, or you notice that he's sluggish or sleeping more than usual, I wouldn't worry too much. They should test for that at every visit. If you're very concerned, make an appointment. If necessary, the iron-drop supplements work like a charm. (I should note that one type of drops is simply disgusting and stains everything it touches, the other is a huge improvement, tastes better, smells okay and doesn't stain, ask the doctor). I used these while my daughter was briefly iron-deficient, though she ate everything healthy at that stage! Later she stopped eating most iron-rich foods, yet was never deficient again. Kids are SO weird.

I'd caution not to give him those drops unless you check with his pediatrician first. Iron poisoning can be fatal, and even iron supplements given according to intruction are not recommended when the child is sick.

Try mixing the cereal with formula (you can shake it up in your old breastmilk bottles) which will make it creamy and add a little baby fruit to the cereal, like applesauce or bananas.

have you tried prune juice?

Hi N.! my baby was the same way- she hated cereal and then when she got to 9 mos she rejected baby food all-together ( its a great thing now though) So...I started giving her Yo Baby yogurt- safe for babies pretty much over 6 mos and pediatrician recc.- they have 4 kinds and many flavors and 2 of the types come fortified with fruit and iron fortified cereal- you just mix it up before feeding- she loves it! just make sure you buy the kind with CEREAL and they come in 6 packs. the other option of course is rion fortified formula ( which I believe they all are) good luck!!

Hi! This is a common problem lots of parents face! Fortunately, now more than ever, is the easiest time to find lots of different food products that are fortified w/ iron than ever before. First of all, I'd recommend that if he isn't already, you can give him daily multivitamin drops w/ added iron. My daughter took it directly in her mouth, but lots of kids won't, so you can stir it into anything you know he likes (yogurt, drinks/formula in his sippy cup) to ensure he gets it. Multigrain cheerios have a good amount of iron in them, and if you're concerned about the size, you can always cut them in half. We did that for a while until we noticed she was more ready to handle them whole...a little tedious, but worth it. Raisins are also a good natural source of iron, but may also need to be cut in half for a 9-mo old. Cooked beans/lentils are another excellent source...which can be mashed or even just given whole (or cut in half again). Egg yolk is one of the best sources of iron (and zinc and protein!)-just be sure not to give him the white until after age 1. You can cook it over easy and sop-up the yolk w/ some soft bread and let him just suck on it, or cook it (hard boil) and mash it up and feed him w/ a spoon.
Hope these ideas help ya! If you're concerned that he still isn't gettin enough, there's a pretty simple blood test your pediatrician can do to check his levels.
Good luck!
-M. (Mom of 2-year old little girl, and a Registered Dietitian)