# Blackstrap molasses



## SoInLove (Aug 1, 2005)

Where do I buy this? And is it safe for 9m babies? Is it like syrup??? A lot of sugar???


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## Leilalu (May 29, 2004)

It's where brown sugar origionates.It is actually pretty healthy, albeit sweet, and has alot of iron. It is really good in a glass of milk for older children. I think you might be able to use a tiny bit in something, but I wouldn't personally. I think alot of sugars, besides from breastmilk hinder proper development for young babies. For older toddlers, children, it tastes really good in a glass of milk!


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## SoInLove (Aug 1, 2005)

Would you use it to raise iron levels for 9m babies?? My girls have low iron and I had to give them the drops, they taste gross and they have alcohol in them!


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## Leilalu (May 29, 2004)

Ohh......

Ok,I see. Look here at Kelly mom about iron,
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi...emia-gone.html

And I would suggest some spinach too, pureed. And if you added a bit of molasses, it might make it go down better? Dark leafy greens are very high in iron. I would stop th edrops though, they can cause candida overgrowth as they are not readily absorbed by the body. Being synthetic and all. So, egg yolks are also high in iron if you do eggs. My dd loved egg yolk mashed up in anything from sweet potatoes, to yogurt when she got older, to homeade rice cereal, etc.


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

I read KellyMom's info and tons more info on breastfed babies and iron, and decided to supplement for my baby's low iron as well.

He is 10 months old and we've been using Floradix "Floravital Iron + Herbs" sold online or in Whole Foods. It is much more easily absorbed than iron drops (it's not ferrous sulfate), doesn't cause constipation, and no alcohol. Make sure to dose it right for a baby. Babies need 10 (can't remember if its mcg or mg) / day of iron and so 2.5 ml of Floradix 1-2x/day (depending on what else the baby is eating) provides adequate iron.

The other thing to try is red meat and liverwurst (organic, uncured). Also sold at Whole Foods under the brand Wilshire Farms. There is an unknown factor in red meat/organ meats that increases absorption.

Always serve iron rich foods with Vitamin C rich foods. Vitamin C helps iron absorption.

Re: your OP, I think blackstrap molasses is probably okay, though is theoretically subject to the same precautions against honey (botulinum), as corn syrup, maple syrup, and all the sugar syrups carry some (even if infinessimally small) risk.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Periwinkle, I just got myself some Floradix and have been giving Jett (11 mo) a sip when I take it. I was wondering, technically, if it was "okay" for him, but my instinct said don't worry about giving it, since it was just food-based.

Glad to see it come up here. We give Jett molasses in oatmeal when we have that and occasionally he gets a taste of maple syrup or honey. I figure it's one of those overkill things, but maybe I'm too lax.


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## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

Another thought, since molasses is the left behind stuff in processing, I think it would be especially important to get it organic, since the chemicals would be left behind in it. Ick.

We always do organic molasses, we get it at the local health food store or Wegman's grocery, if you have that near you.


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

:

Same with maple syrup... organic only!


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

I have been giving Sage 1/2 tsp pf Molasses in one of her ebm bottles each day at the sitters. I am extremely anemic and was throughout my pregnancy also so I am concerned that she never had the iron stores she should have (I had 2 transfusions and was on IV Iron yet still could not raise my levels above 8)

She is not on solids yet. Should I stop the molasses? I tried the Poly-vi-Sol with Iron. I think it hurt her tummy, she never fusses and she fussed for 2 days when I gave her that and burped Irony smelling burps for 2 days. I haven't given it to her since.


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

Mommyto3girls, your girls are beautiful and I just wanted to say your website about Sierra moved me to tears. And what a wonderful thing you are doing for grieving moms.

****

I wouldn't give a baby who is exclusively breastfed anything but breastmilk. I think the evidence shows it can do more harm than good. The AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, and if Sage was 7 weeks premature then she won't be "equivalent" to 6 months old until January-ish, right? If I were you - and I think you have reason to at least raise an eyebrow (your poor iron levels and Sage's prematurity) - take her in and get a CBC. It's a finger or heel stick... not that big of a deal actually. Some peds do a venipuncture which is marginally more accurate. It would be a good idea to know for sure before you start supplementing, because only a baby (any baby) who has low iron should be supplemented. Most exclusively breastfed babies have great iron levels/stores.

Other things that affect iron levels: prolonged illness, prematurity, hereditary diseases such as hemochromatosis, and some argue cesarean birth and not delaying cord clamping though this is not conclusive in the literature.

Fer-In-Sol (the iron drops) are the worst IMO. They are ferrous sulfate and are highly upsetting to some babies' tummies, constipating, etc. Plus, ferrous sulfate interferes with the baby's ability to absorb the good/easily absorbed form of iron in breastmilk. This means more iron leftover in the gut to feed the bad bacteria. This makes the gut get out of whack and can cause all sorts of problems including malabsorption of nutrients, candidas, foul smelling/loose poops, etc. etc.

By the way, that is also a REALLY good reason not to give breastfed babies infant cereals as their first (or second or third) food! These baby cereals are loaded with ferrous sulfate.


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

Thank You for the compliments Periwinkle







I need to get some new pictures of Maia and Sage up, I think those are about 2-3 months old.

Sage has a check-up tonight so i will request the bloodwork. We are not planning on doing the infant cereals, never did with Maia either. I plan on starting with avocado when we do start solids, I would like to delay all grains for awhile. When we do start them I was thinking of starting with ground Millet.


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## SoInLove (Aug 1, 2005)

Just wanted to say thanks for all the good info...I have the drops but I am not going to give them to my girls. They had just gotten over colds when their levels were checked. My only concern is that they were early. I think I will just try to raise it through diet.

Oh, I also read that their can be all sorts of issue when they are older due to lack of iron. Do you think b/c they had low levels at their 9m check I need to be concerned???


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

If a baby tested at 9 months as low iron -- meaning, not just "on the low side" but hematocrit/hemoglobin were actually _below the normal range_ -- then I definitely would get them rechecked 1-2 months later but at least by 12 months. There are many reasons for that, including babies with low iron can develop anemia, failure to thrive, are more susceptible to illness, and are at high risk for lead poisoning, since iron helps clear the lead out of the system. So whenever you get checked for iron you should also get checked for lead levels - it doesn't require a separate stick.

Whether you should supplement with iron drops (and here I mean Floradix "Floravital Iron + Herbs", not necessarily Fer-In-Sol) vs. trying to get iron rich foods in the diet depends on how low the iron levels are. If it's high 20's or up, I'd think it would be prudent to try to raise the levels with eating iron rich food (not to mention lots and lots and lots of mama milk!) but if the levels are lower than that it make require iron drops. My baby's level was 28.3 and I opted to do both - i.e., the food plus the Floradix.

The unfortunate thing is that the amount of iron in a mother's bloodstream does not impact the amount of iron in breastmilk. Otherwise that would logically be a great way to boost iron in breastmilk.

Don't forget to serve Vitamin C rich foods when giving iron supplements or iron-rich foods. It really helps absorption. Broccoli, tomatoes, white potatoes (regular potatoes), and any kind of meat also help with iron absorption.

Here are some things that hinder iron absorption: whole grains, sweet potatoes, spinach (kale, chard, collard, and beet greens too - basically any of the dark leafy greens), and soy products. Coffee and tea served black is also bad, but if you drink it with milk (or serve it to an older child with milk) then it's okay because the milk binds with the chemicals in tea/coffee that inhibit iron absorption. Fun fact #432.









Here's a helpful link that shows what is high in iron and what helps and hinders absorption:

http://www.healthcastle.com/iron.shtml

FWIW, my son (then 9 months) had been pretty much vegan up until we got the low iron results - and just fruits and vegetables at that (no grains aside from a little brown rice here and there). He was born full term and is very healthy. But he is a very big boy ("off the charts") and was also born by c-section, thus may not have gotten his full share of iron-rich cord blood (but as I mentioned in my PP, there is some debate about how much of an impact delayed cord clamping has on iron stores). I have always had a tendency toward anemia and thus his iron stores may not have been great during pregnancy and/or he may have inherited my tendency toward low iron.

Anyway, we got fairly low iron levels at 9 months from a routine CBC (though fortunately undetectable lead level) and decided it was time to introuce meat.







That was our decision. But we weren't keeping him vegan for ethical reasons just trying to hold off on allergenic foods (including grains) and keep breastmilk primary as long as possible (still is). No one else in the family is even vegetarian. So for us, it made sense to do liverwurst, ground beef, and so on (all organic of course) but if your child is vegan, you might want to use iron drops (Floradix, which is vegan) because although there are iron rich vegan food sources, I'm not sure how easy it is for a baby to consume 1/2 cup of molasses or pounds of lentils, kwim?







It might be easier at least initially, especially if dealing with a younger baby, to give the Floradix.


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## SoInLove (Aug 1, 2005)

My girls tested at 9.6 and 10.2. I put a call into my dr to discuss other options, maybe I will bring them back in for retesting. I have done some solids with them but I don't think enough to be able to supplement with food. i will be choosing those foods higher in iron and Vit C though.


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

SoIn Love and Periwinkle. I think you are talking different Iron levels. One is Hemoglobin and one is Hematocrit (I think) One normal is like 10-12 and the other is above 30 or something. Not positive on it all but I do know they talk to me in both numbers at times. For me on the last check one was 8.2 and the other 23.5


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

Here are the normal reference ranges for an infant 6-12 months of age:

Hematocrit: 33%-42% (37% is average). fwiw my ped said he'd take anything above 30 in a healthy BF'd baby.

Hemoglobin (g/dcl): 10.5-14 (12 average)

My son's hematocrit was 28.3 and his hemoglobin was 8.7. So Mommyto3 it sounds like our dc's are similar.

SoInLove, you were reporting the hemoglobin result but I reported hematocrit.







Thanks Mommyto3 for pointing this out. Hope this makes more sense now!


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

Thanks for the info Periwinkle. Actually the levels I listed were my own







I have never had Sage tested but I will request it at ther appointment. (It is next Monday, not tonight, I was wrong)


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## SoInLove (Aug 1, 2005)

Thanks for all the info...makes good sense now


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