HV says 8 month exck-bf DS needs vitammin supplements ...

[Cratchit]

I asked a question in passing, almost for something to say really. STUPID! "Can I drop a feed now he's 8 months and eating meat and cheese etc," I asked innocently. She just looked at me, daggers, and said: "Are you still breastfeeding? Exclusively? What no formula at all? Well you need to give him a vitamin supplement because your breastmilk's not good enough now".

Distinct lack of bedside manner obviously but do i really need to give him ABIDEC or something?

In Switzerland we were prescribed vitamin d drops for the first year and our paed was shocked it wasn't standard in UK, although it is into UK formula anyway. Thought it was 20 minutes of direct sunlight per day(but could be a week) to get the quota, which is not practical with covered up babies in winter nor in direct heat of summer sun.

I will dig out the research and post it when I have time.

I am pretty certain it's 20 mins. PER WEEK (so about 3 mins. per day) in DIRECT sunlight. Behind a window is no good as glass and plastic do not allow Vit. D to pass through. Also sun cream is no good. It will block vit. D.

RedZulaika - in the summer I bare my son's arms and legs (so just his vest and nappy on) - the advice is that Vit. D is best absorbed via bare limbs. Of course if you have a very fair child then do not sunburn him. My son has dark brown hair like me and although fair skinned does not burn easily, again like me.

In the winter face and head are good too, but as these do not absorb as well you would need a longer time in the sun in winter to absorb the same amount of vit. D.

I have had many people stare at us in the park when I have taken his trousers and t-shirt off in the summer sun, it's quite amusing ! they probably think I am raving mad !

I have discussed this with LLL and they agree that supps. are unnecessary if the baby has an adequate, varied diet and plenty of natural sunshine.

I copied this from kellymom.com:

World Health Organization information [Butte 2002, p. 27 ] states, "Two hours is the required minimum weekly amount of sunlight for infants if only the face is exposed, or 30 minutes if the upper and lower extremities are exposed." This guideline is from a study [Specker 1985] of exclusively breastfed Caucasian infants under six months old at latitude 39°N (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA). Darker skinned infants may require a longer time outside (three to six times the sunlight exposure) to generate the same amount of vitamin D [Good Mojab 2002].

You can read the info. on bf and on vit D and iron on kellymom.com :

have a look at \link{http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-d.html\this}

Thanks. I was asking because I'm walking the dog every day with my daughter - so while she's wrapped up at the moment because it's so cold, she is having her face exposed for a good hour daily.

god, i had no idea about this! According to this definition I'm still bfing my 7 mth old baby (started him on solids 2 weeks ago). obviously in this weather I'm not going to strip him off, but he goes out and about, fairly wrapped up, in his buggy on average 40-60 mins a day - is this enough exposure to vit D then, or should I take something? if so, is it safe to take a standard vit D supplement or is a specific formulation necessary? Sorry for the slight hijack RZ - in same situation as you!

sorry, meant according to yr hv's definition, I'm still exclusively bfing my baby..

Red - that sounds good. You child will also have plenty of vit. D stored up from warmer suniier days.

Misschief - sorry didn't mean to get any one paranoid about this ! It's a shame that our so-called health profs. know so little about excl. bf babies, otherwise the kind of research I have posted would be more readily available.

No need to bare all in the freezing cold !! I take my son to the park when it's sunny, like it was this morning here in London. I only take his trousers off for about 20 mins. in the summer, not in the winter !!

The research says 2 hours PER WEEEK (that is only about 17 mins. per day) in the winter when only the face and head are exposed to sunlight. So yes, your daily 40 - 60 mins. of sun on the face is more than enough !!

Koolcat, you are probably right as to the per week, I was only trying to remember a conversation I had about 12 months ago.

For the record ds was exclusively breastfed for 6 months, then weaned ontp solids alongside breastfeeding and never had vit drops. My HV wouldn't have dared suggest it as our local bfc is also the infant feeding co-ordinator for the primary care trust.

I'd better keep giving dd her vits in that case because there's no way she gets that amount of sunlight a day or week atm. We run from house to car then from car to playgroup etc. Certainly not the weather for pram pushing - way too cold and wet most days

Norwegian babies - virtually all of whom are breastfed - get cod liver oil supplements (yum!) from a very young age, and the whole of the population take it, too.

It's not a big deal, I don't think, to give a bf baby Vit D supps. We live in a part of the world where we get little sunlight, and we live indoors a lot of the time, or use cars when we are outside. That's not the way we lived for thousands upon thousands of years when breastmilk was evolved to meet the baby's needs. Nature assumes we get more sunlight on our skin, and breastmilk is made accordingly.

Formula babies get supplements, too, because the Vit D is added artificially to the formula.

Giving Vit D to a bf baby over 6 mths is not a comment on breastfeeding, or an undermining of breastfeeding mothers. Seems like common sense to me.....though you can of course ensure the baby does get out plenty, and does get Vit D in other parts of his diet.