I felt like I should share this with you after a friend's one-year-old son was diagnosed with an iron deficiency. His deficiency isn't because of this, but recently I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that too much milk can prevent iron absorption. It said not to give a toddler more than 16 oz. of whole milk a day. This made me think twice about the amount of whole milk I'm giving my son. Samuel LOVES whole milk now, which is great since I weaned him, but it can cause problems. Today I looked into it more and found that more than 16-24 oz. isn't good for them. I'm not sure what number of oz. to follow. I will stick with 16 oz. for Samuel since he tends to get constipated (and has since he was little).
Here are some interesting links for you:
Signs of an Iron Deficiency in Children
Risks of Drinking Too Much Milk
Iron Rich Foods
Iron during PostPartum (I didn't realize that oysters were one of the best sources of iron...)
I always wondered if Samuel had an iron deficiency since he was breastfed. His blood test was negative though. After reading the above articles, I realized that I could pay more attention to giving Samuel iron rich foods. I would do better getting more iron myself!
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Yeah, the doctor just told me my iron is low. Calcium prevents iron absorption (which defeats the purpose iron fortified cereal with milk), and vitamin C helps your body to absorb iron. So I've been eating oranges with iron rich foods (or OJ NOT fortified with calcium) and trying to wait an hour or two after iron rich meals before drinking milk or eating cheese, etc.
ReplyDeleteSuzanna