To think that majority babies do not need vitamin drops

[Reallytired]

Why should my daughter need vitamin A, C and D supplements? She can get vitamin A and C from food and her skin will manufacture vitamin D.

Unless you are very dark skinned, the baby lives under a Burka AND has a poor diet, I fail to see why vitamin drops are necessary. I also think that telling a mother that her baby needs vitamin drops can undermine breastfeeding.

Are health visitors on commission? It would be interesting know if there is any research that shows that the promotion of vitamin drops makes a difference.

Sorry to ask a really stupid question but how does it undermine breastfeeding? Do you just mean by making people think that breast milk isn't good enough or is there something else?

Vitamin D difficiancy doesn't kill you so it wouldn't make the human race extinct. Adults can make enough in the summer to see them through the winter.

I've read everywhere about these drops - but they have remained a total mystery to me. I read about them on baby websites, books, NHS literature - but I've never actually seen any & couldn't find any when I asked.

When I asked my health visitor about it she gave me a blank look at first - & then said not necessary, don't worry about it.

Is there any reason NOT to give vitamin drops to your child? ANy known side effects? I was never offered them for DD, but I would have used them if offered. I agree that for most children they're probably not necessary, but would have thought it would be worth using them just in case?

how does this undermine breastfeeding? Its there to support it! Current guidance is that infants from 6m on need additional vits (including D)to prevent deficiency. Formula contains some added vits, breastmilk doesn't. The drops are there to FACILITATE extended BF, not undermine it.

The drops are available free via surestart and to people on low incomes/qualifying for healthy eating grant in pregnancy. Everyone else can get them pretty cheaply via the pharmacist.

Rickets really is on the rise - e.g. in Australia where the use of sunblock means babies aren't synthesising enough Vit D in sunshine (in the UK from oct to april you can't make enough from sunshine. thereafter you need to let sunshine fall on exposed (unsunblocked) skin for 20 odd minutes a couple of times a week to ensure sufficient supplies.)

if anyone is going to give their kids vitamin drops please be aware that some of them contain peanut oil as the source of vitamin A (i think its A), its in very small print on the box, and i am convinced that having them in the 70s as a baby/toddler is what made my sis develop severe peanut allergy in adulthood

zapostrophe, if you live in scotland the days, and therefore hours of daylight in summer are far longer than in the south of england. So if enough vitamin d can be stored in the body to last through the winter....

Or did you once visit the north of scotland in november and assume it goes dark at 3pm all year round

I never used vitamin drops. The children are outside most of the weekends and walk to and from school and nursery.

rickets might be on the increase but that doesn't mean that every child needs vitamin drops - only the ones at risk of malnutrition.

We are in Canada and here, ebf babies are to have vitamin D drops, from birth. When I told two different nurses at the hospital that I wanted to wait until he saw his doctor before giving him anything other than breast milk, both insisted that I should not wait (though I did anyway).

Fwiw, DH has MS, which has repeatedly been associated with vitamin D deficency and he is from a northern climate, so considering that DS already has a risk factor from heredity we were more than happy to give it to him.

We continued throughout bf until he began drinking whole milk at around 14m, as all milk sold here is required to be fortified with vitamin D.

For those wondering if giving vitamin drops can have side effects, what I've heard is that the form the vitamins are in may not be bioavailable for your DC, whereas if you take a vitamin supplement yourself then your DC will receive the nutrients via your bm in a form which his body will be able to digest. So maybe if DC's little organs are not mature enough to process the vitamins s/he is actually receiving less nutrients rather than more because the vitamin drops interfere with the amount of bioavailable vitamins s/he would have received from your bm. This is more of an argument against giving iron vitamin drops than vitamin D drops, and I'm still trying to verify this information (i found one helpful article here: www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamins.html and also here www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T023400.asp but would like to see more. All I know is that in Australia the official government websites and all pediatricians/health nurses say that babies do not need vitamin drops, so they must have a good reason for not prescribing them. I'm currently staying in Israel for a few months and they keep trying to force vitamin D and iron drops on me everytime I see the health nurse or doctor, which doesn't make sense to me at all given the ridiculous amounts of sunshine in this country! and to say 'it's a vitamin, not a medication, it can't do the baby any harm' isn't true, there is such a thing as Vitamin D overdose as well! vitamins.lovetoknow.com/Vitamin_D_Overdose Hope that's been helpful, and if anyone else knows anything else about this topic, I also would like to know!

This week's 'Case Notes' on Radio 4 was on vitamin D - it argued that basically in this country, we're all lacking in vitamin D, even in summer. Worth listening too.

Presumably that is why in the old days codsliver oil was considered a valuable supplement for children - it was a source of Vitamin D.
I still felt undermined by being told to give vitamin drops at 6 months when bfng, as if my milk was inferior to follow-on milk, why not encourage mothers to take children out and give fresh air and eat Vitamin D rich foods, and then if appropriate offer vitamin drops?

Rickets was very common in the past, even 6,000 years ago. So was anaemia.

Not many foods are that high in Vit D. Eggs are good as is oily fish but that has its own problems and has limits on how often you should eat it. It might not be appropriate to reccomend that all 6 month plus babies are weaned onto fish and eggs straight away. Some foods are fortified but thats no better than taking the drops and marge isn't for everyone on account of it being vile. There is no point in telling people to go outside if its winter. Vit D production doesn't stop in winter because everyone is indoors toasting marshmallows, its stops because the skin doesn't make Vit D from the sun due to the wavelength of sunlight being wrong.

Also in Canada and given vit D drops from birth for both children, which I gave them until they drank more cows milk than bm.

Where do you get vitamin drops from?

And is there a reason why you wouldn't take them, apart from a philosophical position that it's not necessary, and creates extra bother and worry about b/feeding?

I just wonder, as my DD is still b/fed at 18 months, was born in the tropics and saw plenty of sun, goes out everyday without suncream but she is very little and slender so wonder if it might be a good idea (I mean the slender thing pointing to maybe her not eating tonnes so this could be a useful backstop.

Vitamin D supplements are prescribed as standard from birth in Germany. I never saw a problem with it, and I ebfed both dds for nearly 6 months. Either we dissolved the tab on a teaspoon and fed it to her, or it went in the expressed milk my dh fed her. I thought it was a good idea because winters in Berlin are incredibly dark and cold, meaning babies are not outside that much and wrapped in numerous layers when they are. I think I stopped the vit d at about 18 months because they were moving round more by themselves outside in winter.

I wouldn't agree with multivitamins for babies and children who show no signs of needing them.

Apart from that dd1 gets periodic anaemia, which is presumably hereditary, and then we feed her iron supplements.

yanbu

get outside

don't use sunscreen unless you are going to be out ages

eat foods with vit d in them

apparently only takes ten minutes of light on baby's cheeks daily to get enough (can't remember where i read that either so don't quote me on it!)

in australia the further north you go (and therefore the sun is more brutal) there has been an increased incidence of various illnesses due to vit d deficiency (can't remember which) because of sunscreen use. over there they have factor 30 or 50 cos the sun is soooo scorching. and it is, literally scorching! they don't allow kids outside without slapping on loads!

ok fair enough - i'm sure sitting in shade still exposes skin to vit d

i've not used them for my son but here's what the US says

October 13, 2008
Doubling of Vitamin D for Children Is Urged
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO (AP) ? The country?s leading group of pediatricians is recommending that children receive double the usually suggested amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it might help prevent serious diseases.

To meet the new recommendation of 400 units daily, millions of children will need to take vitamin D supplements each day, the American Academy of Pediatrics said. That includes breast-fed infants ? even those who get some formula ? and many teenagers who drink little or no milk.

Baby formula contains vitamin D, so infants fed only formula generally do not need supplements. However, the academy recommends breast-feeding for at least the first year of life, and breast milk is sometimes deficient.

Most commercially available milk is fortified with vitamin D, but most children do not drink enough of it ? four cups daily would be needed ? to meet the new requirement, said Dr. Frank Greer, who helped write the report.

The new advice is based on mounting research about potential benefits from vitamin D besides keeping bones strong, including suggestions that it might reduce the risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But the evidence is not conclusive, and there is no consensus on how much of the vitamin would be needed for disease prevention.

er maybe not? weloveyoumisshannigan so how can you get burnt in the shade - is that what yu are head banging about??

I'm banging my head because I have twice said that in a UK winter the wavelengh of the light from the sun means that we cannot make Vit D and people are still saying 'just go outside'. This is true north of Birmingham even if you speant the whole winter outside, naked. I feel like I am wearing an invisability cloak.

I know doctors who still cover their children in clothing, including a large sun hat and factor 50 to go for a 10 min walk, so the Vit D message isn't getting through to many. Having said that, I am red-haired so sympathise with Riven's problem which is that her children burn within 10 min, so you can't exactly rush up to their school and only allow them 10 min then apply the cream/hat etc to allow the optimum time of sun exposure.

I let mine out without sun screen mostly (I don't use it anyway unless on a beach abroad as dd1 is allergic to most brands) but plop a hat on after half an hour or so and wouldn't leave them playing in the midday sun for hours (why siesas are such a good idea). I am a bit fed up with being told by my dd1 that she has to have a hat and sunscreen for school, we get notes about it all the time and she insists the teacher is right, but they are only out for two short breaks, and at lunch-time she only has about 20 min left after eating her lunch. So, that seems fine to me without a hat. My dd2 is in a preschool and they play outside a lot, so I do give her a hat and make sure she's pretty covered on her top.

But it is a judgement call if they burn easily.