Iron Deep Dive
Iron is a mineral that is not only essential for adequate growth and development of our children, but an important component of blood, responsible for carrying oxygen around the body.
When a baby is born, the iron present in their body has been accumulated during the third trimester of pregnancy. Which is why women often become iron deficient during this period – all of your iron is going to your little one. In the first six months of life, your baby’s iron requirements are 0.27 mg/day, with breastmilk containing approximately 0.35 mg/L (the average baby will consume around 0.78 L/day of breastmilk). As you may be aware, formula is fortified with lots of vitamins and minerals, including iron, so concern for iron intake is less so.
Unfortunately, iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency among children in the developed world. Deficiency can result in fatigue, pale skin, slowed growth and development, decreased appetite, behavioural issues and frequent infections. Long term, some studies have shown an association with the development of future cognitive issues. I would advise against starting iron supplementation independent of checking in with your GP. The only way to determine iron deficiency is through a blood test, which indicates the need for supplementation.
The iron requirements of a 7-12-month-old are 11 mg/day – significantly higher than a baby less than 6 months old, and actually greater than that of an adult male. It is really important to point out here, that your babies iron requirements don’t immediately jump from 0.27 mg/day to 11 mg/day. Rather, 11 mg/day is an average requirement between 7 and 12 months of age, based off of an ongoing increase in blood volume, increased tissue mass and iron storage ability. Once your little one hits 12 months of age, their iron requirements decrease accounting for the slowed growth that will continue to occur.
Age RDI EAR
Infants: 7-12 mo 11 mg/day 7 mg/day
Children: 1-3 yo 9 mg/day 4 mg/day
Children: 4-8 yo 7 mg/day 4 mg/day
I feel it is important to touch on what EAR and RDI represent. EAR is the estimated average requirement, and represents the daily nutrient level that is sufficient to meet the requirements of half of the healthy children in each age group. In other words, this is the level that would be sufficient for the average child in that age group. RDI is based on the daily nutrient level that is sufficient to meet the requirements of 97-98% of healthy children in each age group, essentially accounting for those children that sit outside of that “average”. In other words, the RDI exceeds the actual nutrient requirements of the majority of children – an over calculation to err on the side of caution.
Iron exists in two forms – haem and non-haem iron. Haem iron is in animal products such as meat and poultry, and non-haem iron is in plant products such as tofu, beans and fortified foods (rice cereal). Haem iron is easily absorbed by the body with approximately 15-40% of iron from those foods being absorbed. Non-haem iron is less easily absorbed, with only approximately 1-15% of iron being absorbed. I have provided an Iron Cheat Sheet in the downloadables section of your membership, which provides you with a list of both animal and plant based sources of iron, with their respective iron content. Keeping the above percentages in mind, a larger amount of plant based foods will be required to meet iron requirements, due to the decreased absorbability. This is why if you’re considering raising your little one as vegan or vegetarian, that careful planning and guidance is required – the iron requirements of a vegan/vego child are 1.8 times higher.
Baby rice cereal has traditionally been recommended as a first food for children. This is because it is fortified with iron, to assist in reaching your babies iron requirements. Whilst I am a firm believer in there being no hard and fast rules around feeding your child, and there is nothing wrong with feeding your baby rice cereal, I am not the biggest fan of the product. Why? Well, rice cereal is heavily processed, rice isn’t a wholegrain and the iron in the cereal is generally of poor quality. It is because of these factors that your little one will likely experience a far greater degree of constipation than from other foods – this iron is really hard for the body to digest. It’s also worthwhile pointing out that, whilst it is fortified with iron, one serve only contains 1.5mg of iron, and as we discussed above, due to the type of iron, only 1-15% of that will actually be absorbed. Finally, rice cereal is incredibly bland in both flavour and texture – our little ones are in a really wonderful period in which they are so accepting of different flavours and textures, so we should try to really nurture this to prevent preferences for bland foods in the future.
Overall, I always recommend, instead of focusing on the numbers, that when creating a main meal for your little one, you simply always include a source of iron. Additionally, as part of building a balanced meal, I recommend including a source of vitamin C. Vitamin C has been shown to increase the absorption of iron, particularly iron from non-haem/plant based sources.
I really hope this article has cleared up some of the overwhelm that I often see parents experience around ensuring your little one is consuming adequate iron. Yes, it’s an incredibly important nutrient and we need to ensure we’re offering iron at every meal, but, I really don’t want you to worry about iron intake, simply be mindful.