How to Supplement with Iron; (& Is This Even Necessary?)

My understanding is it is necessary, especially for breastfed babies because their naturally built in supply starts to taper off about your baby's age. You most definately don't want to wait til there is the onset of anemia to supplement iron. She is growing and devoloping rapidly and that is why the iron is important. Since there is no certain way of knowing how much iron is being passed on to your baby and breastmilk cannot be fortified the way formula can be, it's best to play it safe. It's true it tastes strong, but I found the the sweeter the food the better we were able to mask it for our daughter (also breastfed). If I remember correctly, she ate it best with peaches puree. You can also try juice, if you offer it of course. Good luck.

It is necessary as Iron stores are now pretty much depleted in your daughter's body. My son does not like the taste either, so I put it in juice ( try apple juice from Gerber) and he gobbles it right up !

You might consider starting on some cereal. Rice is best. Try mixing it with ALOT of your expressed milk and making it VERY thin , almost liquid. If she does not take to the rice at all try barley next before the oatmeal ( in my opinion the taste is better than pasty oatmeal) .

Good Luck !
J.

Both of my kids never had an iron supplement and were both breastfed well past a year. My son had a low iron count at his 9mos check up, I just fed him iron rich foods and he was fine. I'm not telling you to stop with the supplement but it is confusing when some Dr.'s recommend it and some don't. You could just start give her oatmeal. Check out www.askdrsears.com he has a list of iron rich foods.

M.

well that's a combo for constipation..iron and rice..eek! try oatmeal and i didn't supplement w/ iron..i'm still bfing..but i did supplement w/ some formula so maybe my son got iron from that or maybe you can take iron yourself.