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#16 How and Why You Should Boost Your Kid's Iron
21 Plays9 days ago
The Bean Talk - Episode 16: How and Why You Should Boost Your Kid's Iron
Iron is essential for your child’s development, affecting everything from energy and immunity to cognitive and behavioural health. In this episode, Rhiannon and Jeremy explore the importance of iron, the common signs of deficiency, and natural ways to boost levels through diet, supplements, and better absorption strategies.
Discover why low iron is more common than you think, how delayed cord clamping can make a difference, and why practitioner-grade supplements are key. Rhiannon shares practical tips, like pairing iron-rich foods with vitamin C and sneaky ways to add liver to meals.
Connect with Rhiannon and Jeremy on Instagram at @mungbean_health or visit mungbeanhealth.com. Don’t forget to drop your questions in their weekly Instagram Q&A!
This episode is packed with insights to help your little ones thrive, so tune in now!
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Transcript
Introduction to The Bean Talk Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mung Bean Health,
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Bean Talk with Rhiannon and Jeremy. Welcome back, guys. We have a real juicy one for you guys today.
Why is Low Iron Important for Children?
00:00:30
Speaker
I think it's important that we cover this topic as there's a lot of young kids suffering in the... Behavioral department? Yeah. Well, there's a lot of other issues and that can affect ah having low iron. Yeah, fatigue. Yeah, depression. Yeah, so many. Yeah, I guess that falls in behavioral there. Yeah. Yeah, this is definitely something that we essentially have picked from you guys, this one, because every week we put up a question box for our followers on Instagram and whatever you want to ask, you can ask. Obviously we answer as many as we can. There really isn't anything inappropriate, which is great. Very rarely will there be a little weird one chucked in, but it's okay. Some people think they're funny sometimes, but yeah, everyone loves it. They love asking questions and getting the feedback from our naturopaths, which is great.
00:01:21
Speaker
I have even people that are like not really interested, just so like I love reading these because I learn a lot. So good. like Anyway, so yes, this is every week, something that gets asked, which is all about how we can boost our children's iron. Because iron is so important. We actually need to make sure that we've got enough and they use a lot of it and require a lot of it as they grow. Firstly, I'm going to do little bean and big bean though.
00:01:47
Speaker
Oh, straight. twist Yeah, straight away. We're
Personal Wins: Little Bean and Big Bean Moments
00:01:50
Speaker
going to get into it. So we don't talk about this first. We always just put each other on the spot so we can really have something that comes to mind. Little bean. Okay. What's a little win you've had this week? Probably things flowing pretty smoothly in the warehouse. I would have to say yeah one it's pretty good. Love. My little bean would be, I'm still doing my oil pulling every day. I feel like that's great. Cause sometimes those little things, they're great and they're a good thing to do for your health, but they fall aside when you're busy.
00:02:18
Speaker
I've been doing that every day. Like I've just, I need to order more. Oh wow, that's good. I know, which is so good. And I've noticed I had a little bit of sensitivity on one of my teeth and I've noticed that that's gone. That is a little bean. Yeah, that is a little bean. And then big bean would be that we got Winnie back. Yes. Yeah. That probably is for you as well. Beautiful little Winnie in her diamond form shining forever. Love her so much. thank agree Yeah. What's your big bean? Big bean.
00:02:45
Speaker
Well, I guess it could be the same, but... Yeah, it was exciting. Yeah. It was nice to have her back. It is. It's good to have her back. Well-traveled. Little girl. She's been in Switzerland. She's been in America. She's back in Australia. Amazing. Yeah, so let's talk more about kids I am. Yeah.
The Alarming Reality of Children's Iron Intake
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. Studies show that nearly 15% of girls, specifically, aged two to three years of age, have inadequate iron intake, while 8.5% of young boys have low levels, which is really scary how common that is.
00:03:14
Speaker
In infancy, especially between nine and 24 months of age, the risk of inadequate iron increases due to the increased need for the iron because of rapid growth in that time and the inability to meet this with the foods that we're eating. It's crazy, yeah isn't it? So young girls, 15%. Suffering. oh Don't have enough. And look, this comes from the mum in pregnancy.
00:03:43
Speaker
where do you think that iron comes from? Them. They birth their baby and so many women are low in iron because they'll go to the GP and they'll be told to just get on the chemist brands like Ferragrad or Multifluor and maybe that doesn't work for them and then they'll be low yeah and then they'll pass that on to their offspring. Makes sense. So important for not only babies to have enough iron when we're starting to feed them, but also so important for the mom. Hence why I love doing preconception work. There's so many reasons why it's important to start that journey before you're even trying. Snowball effect. Yeah. So why is it so important for little ones? Well, cognitive function is a big one. That cognitive development, iron is essential for proper brain development and function. Growth and energy. We all know iron for energy, but it's also really important for their growth.
00:04:35
Speaker
Iron is a critical component of enzymes and proteins that contribute to the growth of cells and tissues. It's necessary for the production of energy and the metabolism of nutrients as well. So that's got a lot going for it. What do you think of when I say low ironing kids? Not eating enough meat. That's what I go straight to. And how do you think that would come out in them? What would you see in a kid with low iron? Tired. Yeah. Low low energy.
00:05:03
Speaker
and Yeah. Behavioral issues. Yeah. A lot of rage. I see a lot of that rage in kids with low iron. They're just like, ah, let's don't have enough iron. I'm not happy. Yeah. Not happy. Also immune function. So iron supports immune cell development and helps maintain the body's defense mechanisms, which of course is so important for our little ones. Uh, we want them to be warding off infections and illnesses because those daycare bugs are real. Yeah. It's no fun when the kids are sick. So annoying.
00:05:35
Speaker
Also, neurological functions such as mood balance and sleep as well. So it also helps them sleep. Another thing, rage, not sleeping well, we're going to be checking in on that iron. So yeah, some real big signs. Signs of low iron would be growth delay, restlessness, decreased motor functions, moodiness, big emotions and traumas. Tantrums.
00:05:57
Speaker
sleep, disturbances, breath-holding, low appetite. You used to do that. Yeah, I used to do that a little too. Oh my gosh, Jeremy. And the rage, I guess. His mum always tells me about when he was young, and you say it as well, the breath-holding spells where they don't breathe. Yeah, until I passed out. That's so crazy. I don't remember any of it. I do remember one particular diet, actually. Do you? Yeah. Yeah. You must have been that young. Oh, I was probably like five, four or five.
00:06:25
Speaker
and that His mum took him to the doctor because what do you do? You're like, what's wrong with my kid? He's broken. And the doctor was like, oh, don't worry. When he passes out, he'll start breathing. What advice is that? It's true though. At least you think, okay, they're not going to die, but also I need to do something about this. She obviously didn't check your eye levels. Yeah. Another one is brittle hair, brittle nails and hair loss.
00:06:50
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Pretty interesting actually with the hair and the nails. People don't think about that as a low iron sign, but it is. The the um iron is also really important for our thyroid, which in turn affects the thyroid's response with so many things. Energy, metabolism, thought process, I guess that growth and development thing, bowel function, so much more. So yeah, it links in there.
Causes and Effects of Low Iron in Children
00:07:14
Speaker
Some causes as to why your little one might not have enough iron.
00:07:19
Speaker
is obviously not eating enough, like Jeremy said, so inadequate dietary iron intake. A lot of our little ones have an aversion to foods that are high in iron. and might just prefer vegetarian sources of vine, which isn't very well-absorbed and isn't very helpful. Evie's like this. She'll eat meat. We, we get her to eat meat each night. We usually eat pretty well, organic, good quality meats. She likes lamb and she likes steak, but chicken's not a big one for her. There's a Thai place that does chicken skewers, which are just, she doesn't like any of the saute sauce. She just like the chicken skewers, which is in turmeric, which is cool.
00:07:58
Speaker
She loves that. We get these really good organic nuggets as well. That Cleaver's brand, love them. She will eat those. And then also I got her some sausages the other night from that c Cleaver's brand as well. So it's organic and they're lamb ones and the the ingredients are so good. There's no rubbish in there. And I called them princess sausages and I was like, this is what the princesses eat. And Tady, this is what the Hulk eats. And they ate them, which is good. yeah Because it's hard, it is hard trying to force a kid to eat something which they don't want to. But she would gladly eat a whole plate of just vegetables and salad, like raw capsicum, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and then meat. It's like, okay, you got to eat meat, baby. And she's just like, you got to feed it to me. I'm a princess, to remember? She'll get one of us under her spell and make us feed her.
00:08:52
Speaker
yeah Also the absorption of heme iron is not affected by gastric acid and occurs through a separate transport system. The absorption rate is up to 30% while absorption of non-heme iron is five to 10%. So it's a lot less. That's why you want to be making sure you're eating the heme sources of iron. Also it can come down to the intestinal iron absorption disorders. So things like celiac disease, gut inflammation, which is very common in little ones.
00:09:21
Speaker
leaky gut, that sort of thing. So if you've got dysbiosis, it can be affecting iron intake as well as other nutrients. So constipation, loose stool, they're really gassy, they're complaining of a sore tummy, that sort of thing. Right. Yeah. A lot low iron levels of mum during pregnancy.
00:09:42
Speaker
big one. As I was mentioning before, it's where it starts and that obviously starts in the woman. So if your mum was low in iron and then you don't get your iron levels up, you're going to pass that onto your offspring as well. So preconception work is key.
Breast Milk and Maternal Iron Levels
00:09:55
Speaker
Another one is non-breastfed babies. So I know it's not always the choice of the mother. There's some things that can obviously stand in the way of breastfeeding, but Iron is present in small amounts in both breast milk and cow's milk, but about 50% of the iron in breast milk is actually absorbed, whereas only 10% of the iron in cow's milk is absorbed. Well, see the breast milk easily absorbed way better. Helps with the iron. Yeah. So even if you are lowering iron as a mum, yeah then you can catch up a little bit with your little one by making sure you're assessing those iron levels while you're breastfeeding. Okay, cool. Awesome. Which is great.
00:10:33
Speaker
It's also excessive consumption of cow's milk. It can affect the absorption. A lot of people struggle with dairy. Just absorption that gut. And if you've already got inflammation there or dysbiosis, that gut can essentially just suffer more. And yeah, a lot of people are walking around. Exactly. A lot of people walking around with mild, some severe, but mild dairy intolerances. Pretend birth is another one or low birth weight.
00:11:00
Speaker
Or having a lot of perinatal blood loss can obviously affect iron stores and cause inadequate amounts of iron and can really force baby to develop an iron deficiency in the first two to three months of life. Get that iron good quality. Yeah. That's the key, isn't it? Yeah. Good quality, easily absorbable.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah. So being a mum, if you're not able to breastfeed, we can still support you. But if you're able to breastfeed, then there's heaps we can do to make sure we're giving you, which is going to support enough for you. And then also get through to bub as well. It seems like you're fighting a bit of a uphill battle with the iron levels for women, especially because every time we have our cycle every month, then we lower our iron, lower our iron, lower our iron. That's why it's easier for men to maintain because you're not bleeding every month. And then obviously pregnancy requires a lot and breastfeeding.
How to Boost Children's Iron Levels
00:11:51
Speaker
There's amazing ways that we can boost iron levels. Finding the root cause of why it's happening is obviously important because as naturopaths that's what we're always trying to do. So find out why you're not absorbing it, what's going on here. It's not always as black a and white as just here, take this iron supplement. Sometimes we need to restore the gut first.
00:12:09
Speaker
or remove the triggers, like dairy or whatever's affecting that absorption in the cup. Feeding your little ones iron-rich foods regularly, so grass-fed beef, organic lamb, chicken, duck. I love duck, duck's so young. Turkey, pork, fish and seafood, eggs, spinach, silver beet and rocket, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains, dried fruits, and try and pair them with vitamin C-rich foods.
00:12:38
Speaker
You just want to avoid pairing with calcium rich meals because iron and calcium don't go great together. They'll compete. So you want to make sure that you're doing vitamin C and iron to help with that absorption. So honestly with their dinner, give them some freshly squeezed OJ, the nudie brand. yeah Haven't had that in ages.
00:12:57
Speaker
We do get a lot of fresh juice still, but I haven't had the moody one. That's a good one. Yeah. It's good that it's easy. Cause yeah, we love Harris farm and they deliver as well. Now though, we've got the dimples. They're going so well. I've got to check out their juice rain. I wonder if they've got some fresh juices happening. I know they've got milk, but yeah. Anyway, so we've dinner or while they're having a iron rich meal, give some fresh orange juice.
00:13:24
Speaker
You can even water it down a bit if you wanted to, but just make sure it's real juice, not the stuff in the center of the supermarket that doesn't need to be in the refrigerator. because that's just sugar. Adding beef liver to meals. So you can get, this is what I would do for Evie is get the liver and put it in the freezer. So I'd get it from the butcher, chuck it in the freezer in a clip seal bag. And then when I was ready to put it on top of the meals, I'd get it out and I'd just grate it on. I'd get the real fine, you know, that really tiny fine grater that you can do. Lemon zest and garlic. Yes, yes, yeah. And I would just do that with the frozen liver and it does taste better that way.
00:14:01
Speaker
It's easier to use. Super rich in iron, right? Easier to manhandle, yeah I find. Oh, yeah, yeah. Looks frozen. So good. Such an easy way. So put it on the top of like, if you're giving them spaghetti bolognese or curry or, I don't know, soups and stews, rice dishes. I find it goes better on warm things. yeah But you can also get the capsules if you're using any cold things. And some people find the dried one easier than the fresh.
00:14:28
Speaker
get the primal energy capsules, open it and sprinkle it in. You can put in the eggs, you can put it in there, smoothies, yogurt, you know, well, yeah, coconut yogurt would probably be better. But yeah, they would never know. Absolutely. Chuck it into anything like that. Obviously, practitioner grade supplements.
00:14:47
Speaker
So making sure you're doing a right iron that's been prescribed from your practitioner so that then you're getting the right dosage, the amount, how to take it. Because there are some little tips and tricks that we have up our sleeve depending on the client of how we'll do it. Also supporting that gut. So if you've got gut issues going on, we need to support that gut. So important to help with absorption. Definitely breast milk.
00:15:06
Speaker
for babies where we can and correcting mum's iron levels from preconception is best. But if you've already fallen pregnant, you're like, oh gosh, or you're 28 weeks now, or, you know, you've just had a baby and you're breastfeeding, like it's never too
Delayed Cord Clamping and Iron Deficiency Prevention
00:15:20
Speaker
late. Yeah. Yeah. And especially if you're planning on having any more babies or you'd like to, like not only is it important for you and the offspring you've got,
00:15:29
Speaker
But then if you're gonna have more babies, it's like, okay, just get on top of that now, because you can change the narrative. And there are some formulas that have iron in them as well, if we can't do breastfeeding. So we can definitely help you with that.
00:15:40
Speaker
And a fun little fact, which I find amazing, is that when we do delayed cord clamping, so anywhere between, they've done the study on like one to three minutes, it actually decreases the risk of not getting enough iron, so that inadequacy, whereas early cord clamping, so less than 30 seconds, increases the risk of low iron. And for people who don't know what delayed cord clamping is, it's when the baby's born and instead of clamping and cutting the cord straight away, the umbilical cord, and you just let it basically pulse out and turn white. Yes. And then clamp it and cut it. Yeah. So you want all that blood from the placenta and from the cord to go back into the baby. Whereas when they cut it first, it all just gets stuck. Yeah. We're not really meant to do that. That's not the way it's meant to be if we look back at caveman days, but that's one to three minutes, like 20 minutes if you're able to, or when it stops pulsating and it's turned white. And if everyone's sort of happy with that, we've done that with all of our babies.
00:16:39
Speaker
Well, except for Minnie, obviously, but it's a different story, but it's nice to be able to just wait. And you're also in the moment of, okay, I'm going to pop them on my boob or put them on my chest or my placenta takes a little while to come out. Actually it takes an hour, an hour and 20, which they only like it to be an hour, but oh well, my body. What are you going to do about it? So I'm pretty sure mine would have already turned white. I think before it came out, I think they cut Rome's one. Yeah. I think we cut, cause it was taking and it was an hour and 10 or whatever.
00:17:08
Speaker
And then it was fully white and they were like, are you happy for me to cut this? Cause I wanted to get up and go on the toilet, just sit on the toilet and help the placenta come out. So I do, so you could do squats, but yeah, that's not fun after you just had a baby. And I remember her going, look, it's white. Are you happy for me too? Or we can wait. And I was like, yeah, it's good. So yeah. Amazing. That is.
Liver Capsules for Enhanced Iron Intake
00:17:30
Speaker
how to increase your iron levels of your kids and also a bit of support you can do for yourself. If you can do it for the kids, you can do it for yourself. So get the liver out, grade it on your food, or if you're having a smoothie, chuck some of the liver capsule in there. Yeah, Aramela was just saying she just chucks the whole capsule in because it's just a gel, so it just dissolves instead of breaking it. And having to muck around. Yeah, do it for you, but like your kids obviously yeah sprinkle it over, but for yourself, you can just chuck the capsules in. Yeah, for the kids. Yeah, that's cool. Smart girl. Yeah, it's just gonna dissolve.
00:18:00
Speaker
That's Bella in our warehouse. She's amazing. Just chucks the whole capsule in. Love. Actually, I remember hearing one crazy thing, which is so wrong. Do not recommend. Was this person when I worked in a health food store and they used to put all their like medications in the blender. what Yeah, I know. Cocktail. Yes, actually. This is actual that actually put it in like blended up and get it down that way. One.
00:18:22
Speaker
It's not how you meant to take it. There's a reason that they're in certain types of capsules that are coded in certain things to get down further in your digestive system. I was like, I don't think that's right. Anyway, don't do that. yeah ah Just with the capsules, it's fine. Yeah, just qui the with the liver. With the liver only. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Connect with Us: Instagram and Website
00:18:40
Speaker
Anyway, if you've got any other questions or you have any questions for our question box, it's usually posted on a Monday or the start of the week. So come and ask. We are on Instagram, mungbeanhealth, M-U-N-G,
00:18:51
Speaker
B-E-A-N underscore health. Or on our website, you can visit www.mongbinhealth.com. Amazing. Thanks guys. Bye. See ya.
00:19:05
Speaker
And that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness. I'm Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother. Thank you for joining us. Stay connected with us on Instagram at mongbin underscore health.