Do you give your baby vitamins?

[sharond101]

I have been giving DS 9mo vitamin drops, do you?

[ceeveebee]

Yes, have done since they were 6 months old, mainly because I am concerned about vitamin D

[SizzleSazz]

no

[blacktreaclecat]

No because his baby milk is fortified. If bf or drinking less than 1 pint a day then you need vitamins. Will start when he goes onto cows milk
Hth

[MousyMouse]

yes, but only vit d3. and only in the winter.

[cassell]

Yes I give 10mo ds2 (and 3.11yo ds1) multivitamins daily, mainly for vit d as although I think they have a pretty balanced diet I think it's useful as a supplement just to ensure they have what they need.

[cassell]

To add - ds2 is ebf

[BananaPie]

Er no. I give her a balanced diet.

[MrsSpencerReid]

Yes, dietician recommended it

[bonzo77]

Yes. Because he was prem and the paed advised it.

[ceeveebee]

You can't get enough D3 from diet and sunshine alone, hence why NHS guidelines are to give a vit D supplement to all children under 5, excluding those having at least 500ml of formula per day

[batteryhen]

I asked my HV about this as I had heard of the recommendation. She said that babies over 6 months should be having vit d drops. She said at the start of weaning it is impossible for babies to have a balanced diet at this early stage.

[sweetiepie1979]

Yes I give 19 month old vitamins, I do my best with her diet but in days when she's only had fruit and won't eat veg for me it gives me piece of mind. Hv advised at weaning stage particularly for the vit d

[Lionsntigersnbears]

Oh yes. If I didn't I'd go bonkers trying to get her to eat things rather than just being able to say 'sure lady, it's your face the food's going into' life is stressful enough without having yo get a recalcitrant 2 year old to eat when they don't want to!

[piemistress]

Yes mainly due to lack of vitamin D. DD is 9 mo and BF and DS is,a fussy 3yr old.

[SolomanDaisy]

Has anyone got any tricks for actually getting them to take the vitamins? I have vitamin d drops, he won't have them on a spoon and there's no food I can guarantee they'd get eaten in. He'd probably take them easily if I hid them in calpol...

[Floweryhat]

Yes, since 6 months (EBF) and only vit D3 drops. I would have given them from 6 weeks if I'd not been certain my levels were fine during pregnancy and aftter birth.

[Floweryhat]

Trick them into opening their mouth and drip them straight in . The Holland and Barrett vit D3 drops require a teeny volume.

[needsadviceplease]

Only vit D3, since 6mo (ebf).

[HPsauceonbaconbuttiesmmm]

Yes, I use the nhs healthy start vits (a,c and d) and have done since DS went on to cows milk rather than formula at a year. Vit d deficiency is present in 20-25% of the population and rickets is becoming worryingly common in kids.

5 drops in his morning milk, easy.

[specialsubject]

interesting stuff. Apparently 10 minutes in the sun in summer will do the trick, but there isn't enough strength in the rays in winter.

if 25% of the population are deficient it sounds like way too much time is being spent indoors in the summer.

off outside, winter or not!

[Floweryhat]

I thought deficiency was higher than that HP? Where did the 25% stat come from? Perhaps I've mis-remembered.

It's not just about being indoors. Suncream (or makeup) is also a factor in preventing vit D generation by skin. 10 mins might do it at some latitudes between 11am and 3pm with arms and face exposed. However, even if you get enough in summer, it might not see you through the winter. V little can be realistically obtained from diet by most of us, and be wary of US sites talking about dairy produce, as those are fortified there but not here.

[honeytea]

I give ds (11 weeks) vitamin d drops, all babies/children are given them here in Sweden (it is very very dark for long periods and most babies are ebf) I just pull his little chin down gently and drop them into his mouth, he loves it, makes a change from milk I guess.

[needsadviceplease]

Re: %pop deficiency and the apparently teensy amount of summer daylight needed to make enough vit D - remember that's only based on caucasian children. I imagine dark-skinned DS would need quite a bit more than 10 mins exposure in UK "summer".

[BananaPie]

If rickets is becoming more common in kids, it's surely because kids are spending much more time indoors (watching tv.. On the computer) than kids did in previous generations. As long as your child doesn't fall into that category, I don't see why they'd be at more risk of getting rickets than we were as kids.

An argument to give supplements on the basis that rickets is increasing in the population as a whole therefore doesn't really hold.

[MousyMouse]

not just rickets, many health complains are likely connected to vit d deficiency.
chronic fatigue, ms, joint pains are just a few of them.