Starting Solids: Plant Based Sources of IRON

Starting solids: plant based sources of IRON 🥄🥄🥄.

In breastfed babies, iron levels drop around 6 months, so you need to supplement with food. Typically your doctor will check your baby’s iron levels by doing a toe prick at 9 months. At 7 months, I like to really up the iron intake when they have more of a handle on eating food.
When giving iron rich foods, they need to be paired with something that has vitamin c-otherwise it’s not as bioavailable, meaning your body can’t absorb it was easily (lemon, orange, tomato, greens, etc). Also when giving iron rich foods, do not serve with dairy as that blocks absorption.
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Iron rich foods:
1. Blackstrap molasses organic & sulphur dioxide free (I put in my kids oatmeal, pancakes & smoothies)- on my amazon shop
2. Lentils
3. Beans- I soak my beans with a piece of kombu or with a splash of ACV for 24 hours before cooking in order to remove the phytic acid, making it more digestible. Can also sprout them, but I don’t always have the time. When cooking, can skim off the white gunk on top to make it more digestible
4. Pumpkin seeds (I make pumpkin seed butter or throw the seeds into smoothies or grind/mix into plant based yogurt)
5. Beet leaf greens- they have 15% more iron than the actual beet, but very salty so I mix into veggie sauce & don’t add salt
6. Quinoa- can make sweeter as a porridge or mixed with plant based yogurt or savory (I mix it with mashed butternut squash or sweet potato)
7. Chickpeas- my kids eat a ton of hummus.
8. Hemp seeds- I mix into guacamole or in a smoothie
9. Buckwheat- I use this flour in my pancakes as it’s nutrient packed
10. Kale- love throwing into pasta veggie sauce. Kids love ripping it & throwing into pot. Or can add to smoothies too

*When giving iron rich foods, make sure not to give with dairy as dairy blocks absorption. Pair with vitamin C rich foods as that increases absorption. I often find in children over 2 who are iron deficient, they are often consuming too much cows milk.

Comment below with what iron rich foods your kids like to eat ⤵️⤵️⤵️