Just been told to give my b/f 6 month old multi-vitamins?

[pinkdolly]

I saw the hv yesterday, who informed me that b/f babies over 6 months should be taking daily multi vitamins. Why?

If breast milk is great until they are 2, why do I need to add vitamins to her diet? Has anyone been given this advice?

[lemonaid]

The advice tends to come because there have been cases of bf babies suffering from Vitamin D deficiency. In the UK this is unlikely to be a problem unless you are dark skinned and/or the baby doesn't get exposed to much sunlight. There are also concerns over iron levels but if you are starting solids this can generally be dealt with by introducing iron-rich foods.

In my very unqualified opinion, if you are dark skinned it's worth considering vitamin D supplementation. And potentially if your DD is very picky with solids and won't eat anything iron-rich it would be worth considering iron supplementation. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.

[pinkdolly]

thanx lemonaid- having some issues re solids at the mo. DD has had chicken pox followed by a chest infection and gone right off solids. Am trying to reintroduce them, but she seems v.picky at the moment.

I am not dark skinned so cant see that it should be a problem.

[NotQuiteCockney]

The iron thing isn't a problem exactly at six months, and how much of an issue it is, depends on how your iron stores were in pregnancy, and maybe even how they are now.

Dried apricots are a very good source of iron that is very baby-friendly. (You can stew them, to make them softer.)

[pinkdolly]

thanx, notquite. had no probs with iron levels during pg, so should be fine now. thanx for the tip on apricots, will give that a go later.