Another Q. about iron drops w/ a toddler

[C99]

Nate's iron is low so the ped prescribed the Ferrous Sulfate iron drops. 1 ml to be taken in OJ and drunk through a straw twice a day. He won't *touch* the stuff. And he's 18-months now, so he's at the age where he won't open his mouth if he doesn't want it. Argh. This, and the fact that the rules for taking it are so convoluted (how am I supposed to give him it 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating when he eats or snacks just about every 2 hours of his waking day??), I'm not sure that the course will be successful for us. Any other suggestions for getting him to take the stuff? What am I missing? I wonder if I should call my ped and ask about just giving him the Shiff drops that Elisabeth mentioned instead?

[lfp2n]

Hi Caroline

You got my sympathy- DD has low iron and I'm having trouble getting drops in her too. Whats the concentration of the iron in the new drops, is it much higher than the polyvisol or schiff, if its the same it seems like you could take either.
I think the rules for times of day are because other things in the stomach affect absorption. I am mixing the polyvisol/iron drops with milk, as that and water, are the only liquids DD takes, but apparently thats a bad idea as milk is too alkali, and less iron then gets absorbed. I should be mixing with something more acidic (hence the OJ), or I think applesauce is supposed to be good. People always suggest Iron and Vit C together, I'm not sure if thats because something in VitC helps absorbtion or its because Vit C is ascorbic acid, anyway I'm rambling here.
It seems that depending on the type and size of snack, he was eating it might not be so crucial to time it right. Of course I'm not a doctor, only a scientist so I might be wrong!

My latest campaign is to get DD to eat more red meat which really is by far the best iron source however so far she doesn't want much to do with it.

Lucy DD 3/03