Vitamin D Drops for BF babies ESSENTIAL

[cheshiremama89]

So DS is ebf and is 3 weeks old

Neither midwife nor HV told me I should be giving DS vit D drops

I found a free sample in a bounty pack and after reading about them and clear benefits I called my friend who is also a HV.

She states it is absolutely essential and couldn't believe neither MW/HV had said so!

Does else have experience of this xx

I was doing a HV placement recently and they advised mothers of breast feeding babies to give Vitamin D drops simply because we don’t get enough sun in this country and it’s already added to formula.

I wouldn’t say it was essential though, given that this is relatively new advise and we’ve all survived pretty well since. I’ve never heard of a child with a vitamin D deficiency (although of course it can happen) only adults.

If you didn’t give them it certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it is good to.

Student HV here. Are you taking vitamins? If so, and baby is ebf there's no need for baby vitamins. We're nearly all vitamin d deficient in the northern hemisphere due to lack of sun but if you're taking vitamin supplements the baby will get it through your breastmilk.

I understood that provided mother has sufficient vit d levels then baby does too via bm so i supplemented myself rather than baby.

When dd1 was born I visited a friend in another county and we were amused to find in my county they said essential for formula fed, in hers essential for breastfed. So neither of us was giving them.
It may be a good idea (my GP reckons they do no one any harm at whatever age over winter) but not essential.

My youngest was born in Holland where all babies are given vitamin D drops. I'd never heard of it with my older two in the UK.

If you’re breastfeeding you’re supposed to take vitamin D yourself. Baby will get it through your milk.

No one told me, though. Not the health visitors, midwives, breastfeeding counsellors, lactation consultants, or GP (at 6 week check).

My HV explained to me that it is recommended that exclusively BF babies take vit D from the age of 6 weeks or so, in addition to mum taking it. I did probe her about this because I was always led to believe that BF gives a baby everything it needs nutritionally, and she explained that because we typically don't get enough sun here in the UK it's a good idea to supplement- it supports bone development etc.

Student HV here. Are you taking vitamins? If so, and baby is ebf there's no need for baby vitamins. We're nearly all vitamin d deficient in the northern hemisphere due to lack of sun but if you're taking vitamin supplements the baby will get it through your breastmilk.

Health Visitors really need to agree on what advice they give parents because that’s not the advise the HV were giving out where I worked.

Never given them to any of mine and no one ever mentioned it.

Thats why hv get such a bad rep. No coherency in advice given.

I remember being told to supplement when ds was a baby and paying no attention because I took him out in the sunshine every day and he had a lovely tan as a result (fair skinned). But that was because I didn't understand that there is no Vitamin D in sunshine in winter (luckily it was May) and that my own Vitamin D levels might have been depleted. I wish the HV would make things much much clearer. I remember feeling angry that the HV was suggesting that breastfeeding was not sufficient in vitamins/nutrients and that formula somehow Was. But I had just misunderstood. By grace of God all the children went on going out in the sunshine A LOT and me too, so I think our levels were fine, but I wish there had been more information clearly explained at the time and recently. I only just recently found that ds 16 was deficient ( a lot of time spent in indoors and a rainy Uk summer) hopefully it had only been for the previous year.

give your baby the vitamin d drops and educate y our friends. Anyone with dark skinned or even olive skinned parents needs to think hard about their vitamin d status after a long winter (no vit d from sunshine in uk in winter months, and then in summer only from 11-3)

I've been hearing about this since before my youngest was born (he is now 10yo).

We were given them for dd who was born in Europe 16 years ago. However I don't think until 6 weeks old.

I had my pre baby visit the other week with a HV and she said it's a new thing from birth.

Take the child outside. Much better than giving vits

Unless the mother herself takes a consistent amount of vitamins (and in most multivitamins there is not much vit d - I now take 2000 iu a day on doctors advice, a multivitamin has at most 400 or less) If a HV had asked me if I was taking vitamins I would have said yes, but that doesn't mean that my Vit D levels were that high, or that I had understood the issue of being deficient in UK sunshine, ESPECIALLY if I had been darker skinned or covered up. No-one had tested my levels, how would they know?

GIVE THE DROPS. in old days children were given cod liver oil in uk, that contains vit d. They were given it for a reason.

@JustVent I know, it's a particular bugbear of mine. But each HV trust have best practice standards that outline what we should talk about at each visit. Ours specifically mentions vitamins at the new birth visit and again at the 6-8 week visit.

Hippy chick as a student H/V that is a worry . Look at unicef and nhs guidelines !!

My 5 week old is a neonate (has been home for 3 weeks now) and she was given vitamins. I'm expressing so she is having my milk, I'm taking a multi-vitamin staff in neonatal who prescribed the drops knew all this info and still baby has been told to have a daily dose.

I didn’t give them to mine.

I took vitamins all through pregnancy and BF. And then once they went onto food (EBF until 6 months and then did BLW alongside BF until they stopped BF at 3 and 4 years) they had their own vitamins and still have them daily now.

All very healthy so far!

The thing is unless you see the vitamins the mother is taking, how do you know what she is taking? She might think she is taking "vitamins" but it might be vit C, B vits anything really. why don't the HV have a standard dose vit mix they can GIVE to the mothers in those early days if they are unsure. It would help with PND, mild depression, rickets, all sorts of things.

I think it's a good idea but not essential unless the mother is already very deficient. Mine had Baby D drops (excl. breastfed) because I know I'm on the low side with vit D and had to be supplemented to get into normal range prior to falling pg with DS2.

All of us still take vit D daily now.

Thank you @0looktheresatractor but if you read the unicef guidelines you will see that the currently available vitamin drops with higher vit d content are only recommended after 4 weeks. That is set to change later this year and the best practice standards will likely be revised then. Regardless of what any HV personally thinks or knows they should only be giving advice based on their own trust protocols.

I have been told that as I’m breastfeeding it’s only me that needs to take vitamin D. I’ve also been told baby needs additional drops. So not confusing at all

Rickets is making a comeback in the UK so I think vitamin d supplements are important.
I had my levels checked recently and I was extremely deficient.
I take mine every day now.