Breastfeeding and vitamins??

[MissBax]

Sorry to post here for traffic, but I can't get through to my HV and I'm a bit concerned I've not been given vitamins.
Should I be taking any? Should I be giving DD any drops? She's 4 months now and noone has told me I should have. On the NHS Healthy Start website however, it states I should be?!

I think there was a change in advice not to long ago which suggests that Vit D drops can now start from birth. I had the same conflicting advice.

You can get the drops from a SureStart/Children's Centre if you are lucky enough to to have one locally.

I was taking vitamins myself, but was advised by a professional that they were unnecessary. Which is good, because they were bloody expensive!

I was told that you only give them vitamins from 6 months if bfing once they start weaning? And you can buy them from supermarket. It's recommended you take some vits with vitamin d in especially if you have a poor diet but I always forgot postnatally! When I did remember I just used the pregnancy ones left in the cupboard.

I believe the advice is that baby is given vitamin D. We found it really difficult to find vitamin D by itself so we bought a general multivitamin (Abidec I think) which contained vit D plus a few others.
I don't think you need to take any as long as your diet is varied and you are getting enough iron etc. That being said I have taken the Pregnacare multivits for breastfeeding since DS was born.

When babies get to 6 months they will sometimes need some extra iron if they don't take to solids straight away as by then breastmilk isn't providing enough for them - we were using Well Baby as DS didn't really eat until he was 7.5 months!

You should take vitamin d, get the healthy start vitamins from the children’s centre (if you have one nearby). Don’t stress about it though, your baby will be fine.

Ah okay, do I buy Abidec from any pharmacy?? I'm a bit miffed I wasn't told this 4 months ago!

Sorry – I mean get the drops for baby. You can buy vitamin d cheaply at the supermarket or chemist.

Yes, if you go to the pharmacy they’ll be able to advise you on what’s best.

Had first meeting with health visitor this week. Advice was that both me and baby should be taking vit d if breastfeeding. Although she said in a multivitamin was fine.

I took pregnacare breastfeeding for me and tried to get out in the sunshine every day - the latter not so much use if you're in the UK at this time of year!

Started DD on vitamin drops at 6 months as per advice from HV and on bottle. However NCT friends in a different postcode were told vitamin d drops from birth. I would just check with your dr, but don't worry if you haven't started giving your baby vitamins yet - it's only a precaution and babies have thrived without them for hundreds of years :)

Pop into a pharmacy and they will find one that is suitable for the age of your baby. We bought Abidec from boots but it doesn't taste/smell very nice and it's quite a bit to get down him. If you can find these, they're just one drop and strawberry flavoured: www.healthaid.co.uk/all-products/vitamins/vitamin-d-k/Vitamin-D3-200iu-Drops

Also just had a quick look and www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/vitamins-for-children.aspx says that they recommend all babies have vitamin A, C and D from 6 months to 5 years so a multivitamin may be best then.

Agree with PP though - don't worry too much. We didn't start until about 8 weeks and even then I only gave it to him when I remembered which was only about half the time

You can get them for free if you are on certain benefits just like the pregnancy vitamins from your local health centre. I buy them from the health centre and the vitamin drops for Baby are 1.20 a bottle. Hope that’s helpful