Iron intake for daughter

jrbb03092

I posted this in happy herbivores yesterday but didn't get any responses so I thought I'd repost here. I hope that's okay. (If there's a way to delete a post, I'll delete my one there but I couldn't find a way)

I've been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for a few months now and my husband and 12-year-old daughter have eating vegetarian at breakfast and dinner (since I'm the one cooking and I'm not a short-order cook) but having meat with lunch and/or sometimes when we're out for a meal. Recently my daughter has decided that she wants to go completely vegetarian too.

I'm all for this but not putting any huge pressure on her about it. If it doesn't work out and she decides to go back to having some meat, I'll let her make that choice. My biggest concern (being a person who has had eating issues most of my life) is making sure she doesn't develop the same issues and so far, so good.

My only worry with her becoming vegetarian is keeping her iron level up. I was anemic when I was her age and my sister has been anemic on and off all her life.

We'll see her pediatrician at the end of November (after she turns 13) and I'll talk to her then but in the meantime I'm wondering what to do.

Normally I would keep her iron levels up with dried fruits, nuts, etc, but she has braces and those are no-nos.

We eat lots of beans and dark green veggies but not always on a daily basis. At the moment, I have her substituting a cup of dry whole-grain cereal (which she loves) for her usual afterschool snack and it's supposed to provide 30% of the average daily requirement for iron.

She used to take a multivitamin with iron but it made her quite sick, even if she had it with a meal, so we discontinued that.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

daffodilsoup

Lentils are a fantastic source of vegetarian iron - plus, lentil sloppy joes are a great kid-friendly meal.

Dark leafy greens are also good sources of iron - eat them with a source of vitamin C for the best absorption possible. You mention that you don't serve leafy greens on a daily basis, but including a green smoothie with baby spinach and fruits (like pineapple!) could be a good way to get iron in her!

linz1125

I would honestly call her doctor and see what the doctor recommends. It may not be an issue - so you should see where her iron levels are currently. See if he can send an order to a lab for a blood draw and he should be able to call you with the results. I know that getting enough iron is a concern of vegetarians, but it may not even be an issue right now.

shelbyfrootcake

I've been looking into this as I'm also anaemic at the moment. Good quality dark chocolate is good (70% cocoa or higher). Wash that down with an orange (or other high vit C drink) and you've got a very tasty iron rich snack with the vitamins needed to help absorb said iron.

macpacman

Since you're already having lots of greens, that's nice. She can't have fruits, that's a bummer. Tofu is also a good source of iron. What made her sick when she took the multivitamin? You could have her try the sweet gummy multivitamins.

JenniferNoll

Go to the health food store and ask for a good FOOD BASED multivitamin with iron. I also can not take regular multivitamins, especially those with iron. I might as well eat ground glass. The food based vitamins are much gentler on the system, and are the only way I can absorb them.

Bentley2718

Others have made some good suggestions, especially eating high iron foods with some vitamin c to aid in absorption. Also, while nuts are out with braces, nut butters aren't, a peanut butter sandwich on fortified bread might be part of a good lunch for her. If she is eating leafy greens, legumes, high iron cereal, etc. regularly (even if she isn't eating all of them every day), and doesn't have a history of being iron deficient, I don't know that I'd worry about it too much for the two months until she goes to the doctor.

I'd also say, try another multivitamin, some really bother my stomach, others don't. She could also try taking an iron supplement once or twice a week if you are very concerned--I'd talk to her doctor about that though.

SuperSexyDork

If you have a Food Lion near you, try buying these. Taste of Inspirations - Authentic Belgian Dark Chocolate Squares With Orange 76% Cacao. They have 142% of your daily iron per square and they're only 28 calories a piece. It is however non-heme iron so it doesn't absorb as easily so you're not risking taking in extra iron by eating more than one. All of the iron in your diet is non-heme as you don't consume meat so you should probably get more than the RDA for iron anyway.

shelbyfrootcake

If you have a Food Lion near you, try buying these. Taste of Inspirations - Authentic Belgian Dark Chocolate Squares With Orange 76% Cacao. They have 142% of your daily iron per square and they're only 28 calories a piece. It is however non-heme iron so it doesn't absorb as easily so you're not risking taking in extra iron by eating more than one. All of the iron in your diet is non-heme as you don't consume meat so you should probably get more than the RDA for iron anyway.

I've seen you mention this before and am gutted I can't get it where I live!

SuperSexyDork

If you have a Food Lion near you, try buying these. Taste of Inspirations - Authentic Belgian Dark Chocolate Squares With Orange 76% Cacao. They have 142% of your daily iron per square and they're only 28 calories a piece. It is however non-heme iron so it doesn't absorb as easily so you're not risking taking in extra iron by eating more than one. All of the iron in your diet is non-heme as you don't consume meat so you should probably get more than the RDA for iron anyway.

I've seen you mention this before and am gutted I can't get it where I live!

I'll just send you some. Seriously though would you like a box?

jrbb03092

Thank you so much everyone for the great advice and ideas. I'm going to try the smoothies, make sure she has vitamin C with her iron-rich foods, check out if there's some dark chocolate we can get that has a similar iron content (she would love the idea of having a square of chocolate), etc. I'm also going to look into alternate vitamins (food-based), etc. She can't have anything that's gummy because of the braces but we may just have to do more looking around. Thanks again! Really appreciate everyone's help