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

With my first he was prescribed Vit D drops and Iron drops from birth/6 weeks.

With no.2 nothing.

Sofia what supplements are best?

Again, it is clear on NHS choices to give from birth.

The area I'm in is going for baby friendly status so we have lots of training recently.
I have seen 1 18 th month old with rickets, a disease I never thought I would see.

Again, it is clear on NHS choices to give from birth.

then why is that not conveyed after birth? I know why, the nhs gives a fuck about women
not every woman will see a hv, but all will see a paediatrician and midwife after birth.

Really? I didn't see a paediatrician after birth or a midwife. But lots of HV's who pretty universally gave me useless information. However, this was 17 and 15 years ago in West London. Maybe things have changed.
Re: supplements. The ones that my dad is biggest on are: Vitamin D, Omega 3's, Krill Oil/Fish Eggs and CoQ10. He and my mom take an ever changing array in addition to those that vary according to his latest research (including Magnesium, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Turmeric and a variety of B's). I do Vitamin D and eat a lot of vegetables and a well balanced diet which is not enough in my father's eyes, but all I can manage in my hectic life.

I personally recommend giving them to be on the safe side.

Not a lot of Vitamin D is passed on breastmilk, so it's more about the baby's exposure.

What you have to bear in mind is that there is a huge amount of politics surrounding this issue.

The Powers That Be want to promote breastfeeding. They also know that if you start qualifying "breast is best" with "well... you will need to give your baby Vitamin D. No, the formula fed babies don't need to be given Vitamin D--only the breastfed ones" then this will muddle the message and send out signals to people that breastmilk is inadequate ,making it harder to push up breastfeeding rates.

This leads to an uncomfortable situations where a lot of people in charge of public health messaging do pretty much know that yes, Vitamin D would benefit breastfed babies, but are a bit squeamish about saying so out loud.

I "get" this reluctance--it's understandable. But in the mean time, there has been a definite rise in the number of Vitamin D deficient breastfed babies.

I would give the drops, honestly.

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.

Ds(4yo) has a vitD deficiency. Also an iron deficiency. (The vitD is new, as in developed in the past yr)
Didn't however have either deficiency as a ebf baby, and didnt have vitD deficiency as a toddler. has had numerous blood tests since weaning as has pica and restricted** diet.

As for iron, even the UN has admitted that the risk of iron deficiency is slightly higher when solids introduction is delayed to six months. However, their stance is that in developing countries, this risk is outweighed by the greater risk of gastroenteritis etc. There is a risk of hygiene-related disease in infants as soon as you introduce something other than BM, so in environments with a high disease burden, it makes sense, overall, to delay the introduction of solids/supplements as late as possible.

In developed countries, we don't have to worry about life-threatening gastro, so people should feel free to introduce iron-rich solids earlier if they want to, and supplements if iron levels are already running low. Many medical bodies have suggested routine screening for iron before six months.

As you can see from the above: it's important to understand how public health messaging works. Public bodies tailor their messages to be readily-understandable and appropriate for those segments who most need the advice, and global bodies like the UN tilt their advice towards developing countries, because that is where the need is highest.

For what it's worth, anecdata about "I didn't give my baby Vitamin D and they are fine" are worthless. Nobody is saying that every non-supplemented baby will be deficient, only that some of them will be. Whereas almost no supplemented babies will be deficient.

given that this is relatively new advise and we’ve all survived pretty well since.

it's not new at all. remember being given a spoon full of fish oil?

I really don't understand why they are rolling it out only now.

VitD is being routinely given to babies in countries much more blessed with sun than us, so if they do it what has taken us so long is a mystery.

Cod liver oil is also rich in VitA and that's easy to overdose and can be harmfu.l VitD isn't.

I really think this is just to cover the people who never see the sun. It's not true that we can't get enough vit d from the sun. I was deficient in early pregnancy (due to being in my office all day and wearing sunscreen every day) and was offered a massive dose by injection. Instead, and luckily it was April, I exposed my face and arms to the sun for 15 mins around midday every sunny day and when retested after 3 months my vit d was at the top end of the scale (87). Building up over the summer months then helps you over winter. You can only make vit d when the sun is above a certain angle, and while not wearing sunscreen (or makeup containing it)...but generally it starts in April 10 mins either side of midday and increases as summer continues until it's 2 hours either side of midday, and then decreases again and disappears by mid August (in the UK). I put my daughter in the garden for 3 five minute sessions every sunny day (during vit d window) with no top on and her vit d was fine.

My mother was very keen on getting all of her grandchildren outside in the pram for 'healthy fresh air' twenty odd years ago. She had me and my siblings in the pram in the garden every day, and not for a few minutes either. I seem to recall being told to take my children out in the pram by HVs etc too, and I don't recall any talk about vitamin drops, although it was a while ago.

I know that there have been cases of rickets in the UK, but these are generally children in the midlands or further north, often with dark skin and with parents that cover skin more than average.

Personally I'd much rather my children (and me) got their vitamins from sunlight and food than through artificial supplementation. We are all pale skinned so careful about burning, but surely sunscreen is for the midday sun period in the summer, not for mornings and evenings in the summer or in spring and autumn? You only need about half an hour a day after all. Too much vitamin D also can cause issues so supplementing (at least with high doses isn't without issue).

The sun needs to be at a high enough angle to allow exposed skin to make vitamin D. In the UK that's not mornings and evenings except maybe round the solstice!

So I try to get 15 minutes exposure without sunscreen around midday. Sunscreen for us is for days outside with little shade. Our weather is northern so either we are usually wrapped against the wind or it is cloudy with rain. I can see our habits would be somewhat different if I lived in Kent.

In hospital a midwife told me to give my newborn drops after she was 4 weeks old. Then the health visitor told me that she didn't need any additional vitamins so I've not been giving them. Reading this, it's clear the HV's advice was very wrong, so I've got the drops out to give to my 6 week old. The leaflet itself says to give from 6 months but then the dosage section explains how much to give from 0-6 months so it seems even the NHS vitamins don't consistently have the correct information!

Question though - it says to give the drops from a spoon to avoid overdosing. Will a bf baby accept a spoon?! And I'm presuming it needs to be sterilised if so, right?

The Powers That Be want to promote breastfeeding. They also know that if you start qualifying "breast is best" with "well... you will need to give your baby Vitamin D. No, the formula fed babies don't need to be given Vitamin D--only the breastfed ones" then this will muddle the message and send out signals to people that breastmilk is inadequate ,making it harder to push up breastfeeding rates.

This leads to an uncomfortable situations where a lot of people in charge of public health messaging do pretty much know that yes, Vitamin D would benefit breastfed babies, but are a bit squeamish about saying so out loud.

Pretty much, although I find the reluctance rather less understandable than you do.

And yes, the people saying well my kid was fine and I didn't supplement are not providing helpful information, especially in cases where they don't actually know what the child's levels were anyway, and if rickets is your barometer for a problem then you need a new barometer.

I have exclusively bf 3 to age 2. Noone ever mentioned it.

you don't mean EXCLUSIVE, do you, Ooee? I hope your kids had solids from about 6 months, anyway.

It’s new advice and based on good science. Both mum and baby should take vitamin D

My dd is 19 months but everyone told that bf babies needed supplements in our area. Dd didnt as she is ff. hv were vvv keen on telling everyone as think the research had just been realised 19 months ago.

I got some - the packaging says 4 weeks, HV said from birth, other sites say 6 months, it needs to be standardised

Hedgehog. I don't see why you need to sterilise a spoon. Presumably you don't sterilise your nipples? I never had any problem with getting a 6 week old to take liquid from a spoon. Mine were colicky babies and were hitting the gripe-water hard at that age. They may not like the taste but it's all over in seconds.

just come across this post.

i too was given conflicting information in regards to vitamin d . I asked my midwife about it postnataly as i too received the vitamin drops in the bounty bag. She was very blase about it. As was my hv. After research, i made the decision to give her the drops. LG is now 6 months old an i intend to now give her a multivitamins which include vit d and iron as she has started weaning. I know iron content of bm starts to reduce at 6 months. As we are blw, it may be a while before she eats enough food to up her stores of it naturally.

it does kinda put a spanner in the works when the go on about bf being free though. £10 for 60 drops. then there's the vitamins for yourself £10 (if you choose to take them ) and then all the stuff that goes with expressing, bottles and storage. Though that is a different subject entirely.