Nutura | Breastfeeding & Pregnancy Support

How to Increase Iron in Your Baby’s Meals (What I Wish I’d Known at 6 Months)

I learned that my baby’s iron was running low from social media. Not from a doctor, a book or my family.

As a first-time mum with no babies in my immediate circle, I genuinely had no idea where to start with solids. I didn’t know what to give first, how much, or why any of it mattered.

Here’s what nobody told me: babies are born with a reserve of iron, and around 6 months that reserve starts running low. From then on, most of their iron has to come from food, every single day.

This post is everything I wish I had known back then. I’ll share what I got wrong, the moment I decided to do things differently, and exactly how I increase iron in my baby’s meals now, in a real Mauritian kitchen.

Why your baby needs more iron from 6 months

Around 6 months, your baby’s own iron reserve runs low just as your baby’s needs shoot up. That’s why iron has to show up on their plate every single day.

A reserve built during pregnancy
Babies store most of their iron in the last months of pregnancy. Around 80% of a newborn’s iron is built up during the third trimester, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance summarised by the AAFP.

That reserve carries a full-term baby through their first months. But babies grow so fast that by around 6 months, it’s almost used up.

Breast milk is still liquid gold

Breast milk keeps nourishing and protecting your baby long after 6 months, so keep going if you can. It is simply naturally low in iron. So from 6 months, food has to bring most of the iron. Breastfeeding and iron-rich meals work as a team, not as rivals.

11 mg a day, more than a grown man

Between 7 and 12 months, babies need about 11 mg of iron a day. A grown man needs 8 mg, according to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Read that again: your tiny baby needs more iron each day than an adult man. Plain steamed vegetables alone simply cannot get her there.

Why iron matters so much

Iron carries oxygen around the body and supports your baby’s brain during its fastest growth. The NIH notes that babies and children with iron deficiency anaemia might develop learning difficulties. Low iron is often silent at first. I’ll come back to the signs worth mentioning to your doctor at the end of this post.

The A4 sheet that left out iron: my story

My first solids plan came from my pediatrician, printed on a single A4 sheet. It never mentioned iron, and it never mentioned protein.

Following the plan to the letter

At around 5 months, we had a checkup to talk about starting solids. The sheet said white vegetables for one week, yellow and orange for the next, then green, then fruits in week four. After that, vegetables only until the next checkup at 9 months. One meal a day, at lunch. I steamed everything, puréed each vegetable separately and froze them in ice cube trays. My daughter wasn’t a picky eater and happily accepted it all, so on paper everything was going well.

When I didn’t know which food to try next, I found a 100 first foods list on Pinterest. I adapted it to the foods we actually eat in Mauritius, and it became my free Mauritian 100 first foods list.

Torn between the pediatrician and my parents

I doubted myself constantly. Surely a pediatrician’s advice is the best you can get? Meanwhile, my parents kept telling me a baby can’t thrive on vegetables alone. She needs protein, carbs and meat, they said. I looked for local guidance and found almost nothing for Mauritian mums. Just like in pregnancy, you’re expected to rely on what your parents tell you, without knowing if it’s right.

At around 8 to 8.5 months, I started chicken and beef, still steamed and puréed. At the 9-month checkup, the pediatrician told us to start finger foods and introduce chicken, meat and eggs.

The 12-month checkup that changed everything

Looking back, I was trying to follow everyone at once. Steamed food for the pediatrician, homemade only (no jars) for my parents, and cereals at breakfast because that’s what the baby food industry says. I had also cut down breastfeeds, as I’d been advised, and added formula. My daughter gained only 500 g in three months, and she became a picky eater. At her 12-month checkup, her weight sat on the low side of her growth chart. That was my turning point: I decided to research, dig and create my own path.

I completed a certification in nutrition, then a specialisation in pediatric nutrition. Then I changed almost everything in our kitchen:

  • A high-protein breakfast, balanced with carbs and fruit, instead of breakfast cereals
  • Snacks at 10am and 3pm
  • Slow-cooked meals for lunch and dinner
  • A closer look at my own nutrition, to support my milk

Within a month, she was eating three times as much and had gained 500 g. She’s no longer a picky eater. Every baby is different, and weight worries always deserve a conversation with your doctor. But this experience shaped everything I share below.

How I add iron to my baby’s meals now

If I could start again at 6 months, iron and protein would be on her plate from the very first week. Here’s exactly how I do it now.

Start iron and protein from the first weeks

I would never go vegetables-only for three months again. The WHO’s 2023 complementary feeding guideline recommends meat, fish or eggs every day from 6 months. Introduce one new food at a time and watch your baby for a few days, in case of an allergy. If your baby has severe eczema or a known allergy, talk to your doctor before introducing common allergens like egg.

Purée or baby-led: choose what feels safe for you

Baby-led weaning and purées are both valid, and the choice is personal. Honestly, baby-led weaning can be frightening if you have no first aid background. I’m a certified first aider, and I still wouldn’t have offered finger foods that early without that training. If you’re nervous, a thick paste is a great middle ground: blend everything together, and every spoonful carries more food than a watery purée.

Whatever you choose, an infant first aid course before starting solids is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.

Mix animal and plant iron in one slow-cooked pot

Iron from meat, chicken and fish is absorbed much more easily than iron from plants. It also helps your baby absorb more of the plant iron eaten in the same meal, so I always combine them. Steaming preserves nutrients, but it can make food bland and, in my experience, create picky eaters. Now I slow-cook on a small fire for 1.5 to 2 hours, crockpot-style, with real herbs and flavour.

Here’s what goes into my pot:

  • 1 or 2 pulses: black lentils, red lentils, chickpeas, red beans or white beans
  • Beef or chicken
  • Potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic and celery
  • Fresh moringa and spinach from my yard
  • Bay leaves, plus basil and thyme from the yard

Every two weeks, I bring in liver or sardines. Liver is packed with iron but also very rich in vitamin A, so a small portion now and then is plenty. Fish I still steam separately and stir in afterwards. Before blending, remove the bay leaves and thyme stems. Then scoop out baby’s portion before any salt, stock cube or chilli goes in for the adults.

Finish every meal with vitamin C

Every meal ends with a homemade fruit compote. Vitamin C helps your baby absorb the plant iron from lentils, beans and brèdes. I cook the compote at the weekend, freeze it in ice cube trays and keep the cubes in food-grade freezer bags. One tip: vitamin C is sensitive to heat, so cook the fruit only briefly or offer some fresh and ripe, like mashed papaya or mango.

Keep the iron blockers away from mealtimes

A few everyday drinks work against iron:

  • Tea: it blocks iron absorption, so no tea for babies, not even a sip.
  • Cow’s milk as a drink before 1 year: it’s low in iron and fills baby up, though a little in cooking is fine.
  • Juice: whole fruit is always the better choice.

My pediatrician also told me to avoid milk for 1 hour before and 2 hours after an iron-rich meal, because milk can reduce iron absorption. In theory, it makes sense. In real life, with a hungry breastfed baby, it was a different story, which I share below.

Batch cook once, feed the whole family

When my daughter was a baby, I steamed and puréed each vegetable separately, froze them in ice cube trays and reheated the cubes bain-marie style. It worked, but it meant plain, steamed flavours every day.

Today, I’d cook a big pot every 2 or 3 days, blend it and freeze it in 200 g containers, like the baby food pots sold in supermarkets. In our Mauritian heat, cool the pot quickly, freeze it the same day and reheat each portion thoroughly, only once. Best of all, you don’t need to cook two different meals. One pot feeds baby and adults: scoop out baby’s portion first, then season the rest.

That’s exactly why I wrote my ebook, 50 Simple and Easy Recipes, for babies from 6 months. Every recipe focuses on high-protein, iron-dense foods, lists its nutritional values, and is designed to cook once for baby and adults. It also includes three bonus recipes, a chicken stew, a whipped bone marrow and a beef stew, that you can stir into any meal for extra texture and nutrition. It’s available in the Nutura Store

Build up to more meals a day

More meals means more chances for iron. My daughter ate only once a day until 9 months, because that’s what we were told. Most feeding guidance has babies building up from one meal a day towards three between 6 and 9 months. These days, she has three meals and two snacks.

What 11 mg of iron looks like in a day

So what does 11 mg actually look like on a plate? Here’s a sample day for a baby around 9 to 12 months, using the foods from my kitchen, with the approximate iron in each portion.

  • Breakfast, about 1.7 mg
    • 1 scrambled egg: 0.6 mg
    • Porridge made with 3 tablespoons of oats: 0.6 mg
    • 2 teaspoons of ground pumpkin seeds, stirred in: 0.5 mg
    • Mashed papaya on the side, for vitamin C
  • 10am snack, about 1.4 mg
    • 2 tablespoons of homemade hummus (chickpeas and tahini, no salt): 0.8 mg
    • 1 small slice of wholemeal toast, cut into fingers: 0.6 mg
    • A few orange segments, membranes removed, for vitamin C
  • Lunch, about 3.6 mg
    • 2 tablespoons of finely shredded beef: 0.8 mg
    • 3 heaped tablespoons of cooked lentils: 2 mg
    • 1 heaped tablespoon of cooked moringa and spinach: 0.6 mg
    • Potato, carrot and onion: 0.2 mg
    • Homemade fruit compote for dessert
  • 3pm snack, about 1.4 mg
    • 2 tablespoons of mashed white beans: 0.8 mg
    • A small piece of homemade wholemeal roti, made without salt: 0.6 mg
    • Mashed mango, for vitamin C
  • Dinner, about 3 mg
    • 2 tablespoons of shredded chicken thigh: 0.4 mg
    • 3 heaped tablespoons of cooked red beans: 1.7 mg
    • 1 heaped tablespoon of cooked spinach: 0.7 mg
    • Pumpkin and potato: 0.2 mg
    • Fresh fruit for dessert

That adds up to about 11 mg. No single food gets you there: it’s iron at every meal and every snack that adds up. Notice how little iron the chicken brings compared with the beans beside it. On a liver day, just one tablespoon of chicken liver adds about 1.7 mg on its own.

These figures are approximate and vary with recipes and portions, so treat them as a guide and follow your baby’s appetite. If one day falls short, don’t panic: what matters is a good average across the week.

Breastfeeding and solids: you don’t have to choose

Breastfeeding and iron-rich meals are meant to work together, not compete. Here’s how that looked in real life for us.

Feeding a hungry baby, not the clock

I was lucky to stay home with my daughter until her first birthday. Even so, those first months of solids were chaotic. She fed on demand and barely ate at first. Sometimes after two or three spoons, all she wanted was the breast, because she was hungry. The 1-hour-before, 2-hours-after milk rule was really hard to follow, and most of the time I didn’t. My priority was to fill her stomach, not to watch the clock. The WHO calls this responsive feeding: recognising and answering your baby’s hunger cues.

The pressure to stop

I was advised to cut breastfeeding down to three times a day, and then to stop altogether. At 17 months, I’m still being told it disrupts her schedule for solid foods. When I looked for evidence, I found very little research on combining breastfeeding and solids from 6 to 12 months, and even less after 12 months. What I did find were clear international recommendations:

  • The WHO recommends continuing to breastfeed up to 2 years or beyond, alongside family foods.
  • In 2022, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its advice to support breastfeeding to age 2 and beyond. It adds that mothers who choose to breastfeed beyond the first year need support from their medical care providers.

If you’re feeling the same pressure, you’re not alone, and you’re not doing anything wrong. Ask questions, bring these recommendations to your next appointment, and look for support that respects your goals.

Your plate matters too

While breastfeeding, I also took a closer look at my own nutrition. Your diet doesn’t change how much iron is in your milk, but some nutrients, like omega-3 fats and iodine, do reflect what you eat.

Looking after yourself also gives you the energy for all this cooking. You’ll find more support in my breastfeeding hub.

Mauritian iron myths I want to set straight

When Mauritian mums talk about iron, it’s lentils, bomli and brèdes. I rarely hear anyone mention meat, chicken or eggs.

“Lentils, bomli and brèdes are all she needs”

Plant iron is real, and lentils and brèdes deserve a place in every week. But your baby absorbs plant iron less easily than the iron in meat, chicken and fish. Spinach isn’t the iron superstar it’s made out to be either: compounds called oxalates hold on to much of its iron. It’s still a lovely green for the pot.

Bomli is a local favourite, but dried fish can be very salty and is usually fried. For your baby, choose fresh fish or sardines instead, and keep bomli for later. So the best plate mixes both worlds: pulses and brèdes, plus meat, chicken, fish or eggs, plus a vitamin C fruit.

“Isn’t she too small for brèdes?”

Someone once asked me this. Well-cooked brèdes, finely blended into a meal, are fine from 6 months. I add fresh moringa and spinach from my yard to my pot. Brèdes mouroum is one of the simplest ways to bring plant iron into a Mauritian kitchen.

“Vegetables first, protein later”

This was the logic of my A4 sheet: three months of vegetables, then protein. Today, the WHO recommends meat, fish or eggs every day from 6 months. Not every piece of family advice is a myth, though. My parents insisted she needed meat to thrive, and they were right.

Iron on vegetarian and meat-free days

Many Mauritian families eat vegetarian, every day or during fasting periods. Your baby can still get good iron; it just takes a little more planning.

  • Put a pulse in every meal: lentils, dholl, chickpeas, red or white beans, or soya.
  • Add eggs if your family eats them.
  • Stir in a spoon of ground pumpkin or sesame seeds, or smooth peanut butter (never whole nuts).
  • Always serve a vitamin C food in the same meal, like tomato, papaya or mango.

The WHO recommends pulses, nuts and seeds often, especially when meat, fish or eggs are limited. If your baby eats fully vegetarian, ask your doctor whether iron-fortified foods or iron drops make sense.

When to talk to your doctor

Low iron is often silent at first, so don’t wait for obvious signs. Talk to your doctor if your baby:

  • Looks pale or seems unusually tired or irritable
  • Has a poor appetite or is gaining weight slowly
  • Was born premature or with a low birth weight, since she missed part of the reserve built in late pregnancy

A simple blood test can check her iron levels. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening every baby for anaemia at around 12 months, so it’s fair to ask about it. Only give iron drops or supplements on your doctor’s advice. Too much iron is dangerous for little ones, so keep any supplements well out of reach.

Where to start this week

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. This week, pick one meal a day, add an iron-rich food to it, and finish with fruit. Next week, add a pulse to the pot, or bring in chicken or beef. Small, steady changes add up faster than you think. If you’d like the planning done for you, my ebook 50 Simple and Easy Recipes  gives you 50 high-protein, iron-dense meals from 6 months, each with its nutritional values. And when you’re wondering which food to try next, my free Mauritian 100 first foods list is there to guide you.

I started this journey with an A4 sheet and a lot of doubt. I hope this post gives you a little more confidence than I had, and a pot full of iron on your stove.