Inserting iron baby food is very important, because when the baby stops breastfeeding exclusively and begins to feed at 6 months of age, his natural reserves of iron are gone, so when introducing a diversified diet, the baby needs to eat:
- Cooked red lentil: 2.44 mg of Fe per 100g of food;
- Parsley: 3.1 mg of Fe per 100g of food;
- Cooked egg yolk: 4.85 mg of Fe per 100g of food;
- Sweet potato: 1.38 mg of Fe per 100g of food;
- Garlic 0.7 mg Fe per 100g of food;
- Lean Veal: 2.4 mg of Fe per 100g of food
- Chicken: 2 mg of Fe per 100g of food;
- Slender lamb: 2.2 mg of Fe per 100g of food
- Red Bean Broth: 7.1 mg Fe per 100g of food;
- Papaya: 0.8 mg Fe per 100g of food;
- Yellow peach: 2.13 mg Fe per 100g of food;
- Watercress: 2.6 mg of Fe per 100g of food.
Need of Baby Iron (RDA)
The iron need of the baby's body increases drastically by completing 6 months of life,
- Infants from 0 to 6 months: 0.27 mg
- Infants from 7 to 12 months: 11 mg
It is only possible with the iron-rich diet to reach and supply the baby's daily iron needs, but it is common to introduce iron supplementation into drops to prevent iron deficiencies.
The need for iron in the baby's body increases greatly at the end of 6 months of life, since from 0 to 6 months the mother's milk is enough to supply her need of approximately 0.27 mg of iron per day as it has a natural iron reserve for this phase of life, but when it reaches six months of life to the first year, its intense development requires a much larger amount of 11 mg per day of iron. So at 6 months, or when you begin to diversify food; it is common for pediatricians to prescribe iron supplementation.
How to Increase Baby's Iron Absorption
Adding a tablespoon of orange juice to the cream of vegetables or baby soup will allow greater absorption of the iron present in vegetables, which although it is in great quantity its absorption is only possible in the presence of ascorbic acid. Iron present in foods of animal origin (yolk, meats) does not need anything to be absorbed but it is not advised to offer more than 20g of meat for the baby per day and therefore can not offer a large amount of animal iron .
Useful links
- Baby's gastric capacity;
- How to know if your baby is eating well;
- Baby feeding from 0 to 12 months.
