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Will my baby get enough iron if I do baby-led weaning? And what are the best high iron foods for babies to eat? Your baby can eat real foods that have iron (and you do not have to feed iron-fortified baby foods foods if you don’t want to!)

Babies CAN get adequate iron from natural food sources of iron, including both plants and animal foods. In this episode we’re looking at some of the myths and facts about high iron foods for baby-led weaning. Also covered is a list of high iron foods for babies.

SHOW NOTES

SUMMARY of episode

In this episode we’re talking about iron foods for babies including:

• Where does iron come from?

• How much iron do babies need?

• Which foods have iron?

• How do I know if my baby is getting enough iron?

• What does the research say about baby-led weaning and iron?

LIST OF HIGH IRON FOODS

Below is a list of iron containing foods from my 100 FIRST FOODS LIST. If you’re following my 5-step feeding framework & introducing 5 new foods per week, you introduce 1 new food from each category each week.

Listed below are the foods from each of the 5 food categories that contain approximately 1 mg iron per serving size. The serving size is the standard USDA adult portion size, so it’s important to remember that baby’s don’t eat the same portion sizes as adults; however, it’s a good habit to be offering these high iron foods early and often as part of the weaning process.

If you don’t have the 100 FIRST FOODS LIST, you can grab a copy of it for free on my weekly online workshop, “BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS”. This workshop is all about how to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without YOU having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches. Click here to sign up for this week’s workshop times.

FRUITS

• There are no fruits in the 100 FIRST FOODS list that have appreciable amounts of iron. Fruits and vegetables, while valuable foods to feed babies are not good sources of iron for the most part.

VEGETABLES

• Asparagus

• Spinach

STARCHES

• Barley

• Buckwheat

• Cereal

• Couscous

• Farro

• Freekeh

• Oatmeal

• Sorghum

• Teff

• Wheat germ

PROTEIN

• Beef

• Black beans

• Chicken

• Chickpeas

• Edamame

• Lamb

• Lentils

• Liver

• Nut butters

• Pork

• Sardines

• White beans

CHALLENGE CATEGORY

• Pasta

• Tofu

• Sesame seeds

For more information about giving your baby a safe start to solid foods and to grab your copy of the full 100 FIRST FOODS LIST, be sure to check out my free online workshop “BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without YOU having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches!” Click here to sign up for this week’s workshop times!

LINKS from episode

• Episode 21 “3 Easy Ways to Boost Your Baby's Iron Absorption”

• Episode 70 “The Evidence Behind Baby-Led Weaning with Amy Brown, PhD”

• Episode 95 “Make Slippery Foods Easier to Pick Up (+ Add Iron) with these 5 Ingredient Hacks”

• Episode 104 “How the Lucky Iron Fish Can Increase Iron Absorption with Founder & CEO Gavin Armstrong, PhD”

• Blog Post: “LOW IRON LEVELS BABY BOOT CAMP”

• Baby-Led Weaning for Beginners Workshop where you can get your free copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS LIST: click here to sign up for this week’s workshop times

RESEARCH links from episode

• Daniels, L., Taylor, R. W., Williams, S. M., Gibson, R. S., Fleming, E. A., Wheeler, B. J., ... & Heath, A. L. M. (2018). Impact of a modified version of baby-led weaning on iron intake and status: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ open, 8(6).

TRANSCRIPT of episode

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• REGISTER for my free online workshop BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without you having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches. Everyone on the workshop gets a copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS list so you’ll know exactly what foods babies CAN eat when they’re ready for BLW! Register for this week’s workshop times here.