Iron-rich diet for infants

Usually, the normal newborn infant has a high iron concentration in the body - approximately 50 per cent greater than that of a normal adult. These reserves, along with the readily available iron in breast milk, can sustain the baby's iron status for up to six months.

Infancy is a period of rapid growth and development, and the need for important nutrients, including the mineral iron, is great and of paramount importance. Many parents will successfully feed their infants up to six months, many through exclusive breastfeeding, and face a brick wall at six months. They have grave difficulty in adding complementary foods, and many children are placed at risk for malnutrition at this stage and, unfortunately, many become undernourished.

At this stage, added calories and nutrients are needed for the increased development which is taking place at a rapid pace. Iron is one nutrient which tends to be a problem in this age group, because many of the food sources are not introduced.

There are two major sources of iron in our diet — from animal sources, called heme iron and from plant sources. Iron from animal sources is absorbed up to three times more efficiently than those from plant sources called non-heme iron. Good sources of iron for this age group would be ground beef, ground chicken liver, canned fish and so on. Plant sources would include red peas and greens. Many infant cereals are fortified with iron.

Chewing skills develop

Before six months, foods are in liquid form, but as the need for calories increases, the swallowing and chewing skills improve and the consistency of food should change to semi-solids such as cereals served as porridge or mixed with meats, fish and vegetables in small amounts. As the infant ages, from six months onwards, liquids should be incrementally decreased and semi-solids, and eventually solids, increased.

Many parents, unfortunately, continue to feed liquids for too long, often introducing new liquids in addition to formula such as juices. Infants become dependent, and refuse to chew, opting for the easier drinking, resulting in undernutrition, including iron-deficiency anaemia.

New foods, including iron-rich sources, should be introduced in small amounts, but consistently. For example, a teaspoon of chicken liver or ground beef mixed into cereal such as cooked cornmeal or cooked ground provision such as dasheen. For iron from plant sources, serve a spoon of crushed fruit in the meal, the vitamin C helps with the absorption of the non-heme iron.

Iron-deficiency anaemia will affect the mental development and function of your child as well as their physical development.

Rosalee M. Brown is a registered dietitian/nutritionist who operates Integrated Nutrition and Health Services; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.