Boosting Iron in Your Child's Diet

Iron is a very important mineral. Unfortunately, many young children don't get enough iron in their diet. Iron deficiency can cause many problems, including poor weight gain, loss of appetite, fatigue, irritability, and decreased attention span. This makes it hard for children to play, and to learn.

You can prevent iron deficiency by focusing on ways to boost iron in the diet of toddlers and preschoolers. Children aged 1 to 3 years need 6 milligrams (mg) of iron a day, while 4 to 6 year-olds need 8 mg. Here are some tips for you to try:

• Offer meat, fish, or poultry along with vegetable sources of iron.
• Introduce your child to legumes such as kidney beans, lentils, soybeans and white pea beans.
• Serve enriched or whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta.
• Try different ways of cooking liver, and include it in your meals once in a while.
• Serve Vitamin C-rich fruit or vegetables (or their juices) at meals.
• Use an iron skillet for cooking.
• Use prune juice in desserts or cereals instead of other liquids.
• Add blackstrap molasses as the sweetener in muffins, gingerbread, or baked beans.

IRON-RICH RECIPES

Infant Cereal Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheet.
2. Lightly cream margarine and molasses together. Mix in egg and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and cereal together, and blend into margarine mixture. Mix in whole milk. Combine thoroughly.
4. Drop onto greased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.
Iron Content: 2½ mg. per cookie

Raisins in the Sun

1. Using a fork, mash together the peanut butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the molasses, raisins, and orange juice. Mix well.
3. Spread on bread or toast.

Iron Content: 9 mg. (whole recipe)

Liver and Vegetables

1. In a small, tightly-covered pot, poach the liver in milk until tender (about 6 minutes).
2. Remove and pureé with a little more milk.
3. Boil or steam the vegetables.
4. Pureé the vegetables with a little of the water used to boil or steam them.
5. Serve the vegetables with the liver paste, or mix the liver paste together with the vegetables.

Iron Content: 10 mg. (whole recipe)

Granola

1. Mix together all of the ingredients, except the dried fruit, in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix well until the oil and molasses coat the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour mixture into a large skillet and place over medium heat.
4. Stir mixture constantly for about 5 minutes, or until oats turn golden brown.
5. Remove skillet from heat, and stir in dried fruit.
6. Cool the granola and store it in a can or jar with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator.
7. Serve with or without milk, or serve it topped with yogurt.

Iron Content: 46 mg. (whole recipe)

Liver Meatloaf

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.
3. Mold into loaf pan.
4. Serve with tomato sauce if desired.

Iron Content: 24 mg. (whole recipe)

Produced from material developed by The Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth, Department of Public Health Services, 1992, and adapted by the Nutrition Promotion Program of The Waterloo Regional Health Unit. Revised Oct. 1999. For more information, contact Healthy Living Service of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

Last Updated November 28 2002