6mo BF and BLW- do I need to give vitamins?

[JuniorMint]

DD is 6 and a half months old, she's breast fed on demand and we've just started BLW this week. She's nibbled/sucked enthusiastically on the usual veg fingers, fruit, grated cheese, jacket potato, omelette strips, rice cakes, probably not swallowing a huge amount but learning and having fun.

I vaguely remember hearing that after 6 months, BF babies need additional vitamin supplements that FF babies don't need as its added to the formula- is it vitamin D? Had a look on NHS website but can't really find a definitive answer, and if so what is the best way to give it- drop etc?

TIA

[noblegiraffe]

Yes, any baby not getting 500mls formula a day needs a supplement, up to 5 years old.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/vitamins-for-children.aspx

[DeffoJeffo]

Yes you are supposed to. The most important afaik is iron and vitD as they build this up in the womb and by now their stores are depleting! I just buy the stuff called abidec on advise from my mum (paediatric dietician) - she's normally v relaxed about weaning stuff but does insist on the vitamins, especially during winter :)

[AnythingNotEverything]

You can buy vitamins D drops in asda - only a couple of pounds. Breastfeeding mums should be taking them too apparently.

[Orangedaisy]

We use wellkids baby drops bought in a big tesco (same situation as you re how we feed). Only took a week or so for DD to gobble them down. Couldn't find any others with iron in. Guess it's pretty rare for babies to have no formula at all at this age hence not a massive market. If you find any others with iron please shout!

[JuniorMint]

Thank you everyone

Is it really quite rare for babies to have no forumula at this age??

[noblegiraffe]

Only about 1% of babies are still exclusively bfed at 6 months.

[McSqueezy]

I give my 6 month old drops. 5 drops a day in one go. She has been being weaned since she was 4 months, and I use babyfood in jars. Other than that she only has breastmilk.

My middle child was pretty much only drinking breastmilk at 6 months. He was was extremely slow to wean - had interest in food at all! He doesn't seem to have suffered any negative effects (though I took BF supplements), but I wouldn't recommend it.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Noble - that 1% figure only includes babies who've had nothing but breastmilk - no top ups, so occasional formula, and no food before 26 weeks.

Despite the fact I can count the oz of formula dd has had since leaving hospital on my fingers and toes, it's frustrating we don't count in that statistic. (Due to low blood sugar she was tube fed formula after birth and started blw at 22 weeks when she grabbed my banana from me!)

My point is, more babies than 1% are having less than 500ml of formula per day after 6 months, but they aren't classed as ebf in the stats

[AnythingNotEverything]

I should add - she's still feeding at 13 months.

[JuniorMint]

Wow I am surprised by that 1% figure! I suppose we don't qualify either as DD had formula top ups in hospital for the first 3 days due to slightly low birth weight (5lb 7oz), although none since leaving hospital at 3 days old, and no solids until we started BLW at 27 weeks.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Feels a bit like a kick in the teeth doesn't it.

[JuniorMint]

I suppose that's why the stat is so low.

[noblegiraffe]

It's not clear that exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months does mean exclusively breastfed from birth, and with some indicators, subjects were only asked about the previous 24 hours.

Anyway, more stats from UNICEF
"• Across the UK, at three months, the number of mothers breastfeeding exclusively was 17% (up from 13% in 2005) and at four months, it was 12% (up from 7% in 2005). However, exclusive breastfeeding at six months remains at around 1%.

• Rates of ‘any breastfeeding’ showed a rise. At six weeks, the number of women breastfeeding at all was 48% in 2005 and 55% in 2010, while at six months they were 25% in 2005 and 34% in 2010."

So any bfing at 6 months is still a minority.

[AnythingNotEverything]

This shows how the WHO define exclusive:

www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Everyone should be supplementing with vit D....

[UmmAbdillah]

My DS is 6.5 months EBF and I hadn't realised about supplementing until now so thank you for this thread... Will pick up the wellbaby drops from tesco today but I notice there's sugar in the ingredients - I guess this can't be avoided?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

When I say "everyone" I mean babies/children/adults....

[Foodylicious]

AnythingNotEverything - how many drops do you give? The box just says up to 8? My LO is nearly 27 weeks

[hymy76]

We've given vitamin D since baby and Wellkid multivitamins even with a pretty good balanced diet. We also try to add 100% pure berry powders every day so a porridge or smoothie to add natural vitamins. You can get the really nutritious bilberry powder (it's blueberry but wild and with more vitamins) now from the UK, through Amazon and a Finnish company //www.finnberry.co.uk

[LostMySocks]

I don't know anything about the make up of berry powders bit the drying process would destroy many natural vitamins. Do the manufacturers add extra vitamins as part of the formulation?

[AnythingNotEverything]

Sorry foodie. Only just saw this. We give 8 drops most days. Some days she demands the spoon and not so much goes in ...